Audio / MusicDecember 19, 2006 12:56 am
ExercisesDecember 17, 2006 10:52 pm
Jacobson’s Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Progressive relaxation is a technique of stress management developed by the American physician Edmund Jacobson in the early 1920s. Jacobson argued that since muscular tension accompanies anxiety, one can reduce anxiety by learning how to relax the muscular tension.
Jacobson trained his patients to voluntarily relax certain muscles in their body in order to reduce anxiety symptoms. He also found that relaxation procedure effective with ulcers, insomnia, and hypertension. There are many parallels with Autogenic training, which was developed independently.
Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation is still popular with modern therapists.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation steps
Sit in a comfortable chair–reclining arm chairs are ideal. Bed is okay too. Get as comfortable as possible–no tight clothes, no shoes, don’t cross your legs. Take a deep breath; let it out slowly. Again. What you’ll be doing is alternately tensing and relaxing specific groups of muscles. After tension, a muscle will be more relaxed than prior to the tensing. Concentrate on the feel of the muscles, specifically the contrast between tension and relaxation. In time, you will recognize tension in any specific muscle and be able to reduce that tension.
Don’t tense muscles other than the specific group at each step. Don’t hold your breath, grit your teeth, or squint! Breath slowly and evenly and think only about the tension-relaxation contrast. Each tensing is for 10 seconds; each relaxing is for 10 or 15 seconds. Count “1,000 2,000…” until you have a feel for the time span. Note that each step is really two steps–one cycle of tension-relaxation for each set of opposing muscles.
Do the entire sequence once a day if you can, until you feel you are able to control your muscle tensions. Be careful: If you have problems with pulled muscles, broken bones, or any medical contraindication for physical activities, consult your doctor first.
- 1. Hands. The fists are tensed; relaxed. The fingers are extended; relaxed.
-
2. Biceps and triceps. The biceps are tensed (make a muscle–but shake your hands to make sure not tensing them into a fist); relaxed (drop your arm to the chair–really drop them). The triceps are tensed (try to bend your arms the wrong way); relaxed (drop them).
-
3. Shoulders. Pull them back (careful with this one); relax them. Push the shoulders forward (hunch); relax.
-
4. Neck (lateral). With the shoulders straight and relaxed, the head is turned slowly to the right, as far as you can; relax. Turn to the left; relax.
-
5. Neck (forward). Dig your chin into your chest; relax. (bringing the head back is not recommended–you could break your neck).
-
6. Mouth. The mouth is opened as far as possible; relaxed. The lips are brought together or pursed as tightly as possible; relaxed.
-
7. Tongue (extended and retracted). With mouth open, extend the tongue as far as possible; relax (let it sit in the bottom of your mouth). Bring it back in your throat as far as possible; relax.
-
8. Tongue (roof and floor). Dig your tongue into the roof of your mouth; relax. Dig it into the bottom of your mouth; relax.
-
9. Eyes. Open them as wide as possible (furrow your brow); relax. Close your eyes tightly (squint); relax. Make sure you completely relax the eyes, forehead, and nose after each of the tensings–this is actually a toughy.
-
10. Breathing. Take as deep a breath as possible–and then take a little more; let it out and breathe normally for 15 seconds. Let all the breath in your lungs out–and then a little more; inhale and breathe normally for 15 seconds.
-
11. Back. With shoulders resting on the back of the chair, push your body forward so that your back is arched; relax. Be very careful with this one, or don’t do it at all.
- 12. Butt. Tense the butt tightly and raise pelvis slightly off chair; relax. Dig buttocks into chair; relax.
-
13. Thighs. Extend legs and raise them about 6″ off the floor or the foot rest–but don’t tense the stomach’ relax. Dig your feet (heels) into the floor or foot rest; relax.
-
14. Stomach. Pull in the stomach as far as possible; relax completely. Push out the stomach or tense it as if you were preparing for a punch in the gut; relax.
-
15. Calves and feet. Point the toes (without raising the legs); relax. Point the feet up as far as possible (beware of cramps-if you get them or feel them coming on, shake them loose); relax.
-
16. Toes. With legs relaxed, dig your toes into the floor; relax. Bend the toes up as far as possible; relax.
Now just relax for a while. As your days of practice progress, you may wish to skip the steps that do not appear to be a problem for you. After you’ve become an expert on your tension areas (after a few weeks), you can concern yourself only with those. These exercises will not eliminate tension, but when it arises, you will know it immediately, and you will be able to “tense-relax” it away or even simply wish it away.
source :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_relaxation
Websites / BlogsDecember 16, 2006 6:34 pm
This is an aesthetic website with very soothing background music
click here to download its background music.
ExercisesDecember 3, 2006 10:03 pm
Abdominal Breathing
Abdominal (BELLY) breathing is one of the simplest, yet most powerful stress management techniques you can perform. Basically, belly breathing can change your life for the better!
Your breathing directly reflects the level of tension you carry in your body. Under stress, your breathing usually becomes shallow and rapid, occurring high in the chest. When relaxed, you breathe more fully, more deeply, and from your abdomen (belly). It’s difficult to be tense and to breathe from your abdomen at the same time.
A newborn child breathes with the abdomen. As the child gets older, breathing becomes partially intercostal ( i.e. chest breathing). During adult life most of us breathe only through the chest. Abdominal breathing is almost forgotten.
RAISE AWARENESS
The key to natural, diaphragmatic and abdominal (belly) breathing is to begin to learn to sense unnecessary tension in our bodies and to learn how to release this tension. This requires great inner attention and awareness. It requires learning the art of self-sensing and self-observation…that is developing of a mind-body awareness.
PRACTICE
To practice abdominal breathing, sit comfortably with your back straight. Always breathe through the nose, which filters warm air. Place your right hand on the chest and your left hand on your belly. This will help you to be aware of your abdominal muscles as you breathe. As you begin to inhale, your left hand on the belly should begin to rise, while your right hand should move very little. Now exhale as much air as you can while contracting your abdominal muscles. Once again your left hand should move in as you exhale, while your right hand should move very little. This is abdominal breathing. Breathing through your abdomen will gradually become automatic if you practice it on a regular basis.
BENEFITS
Deep, abdominal breathing helps…
* Detoxify inner organs, promote blood flow and peristalsis, and bolster our immunity.
* Increase oxygen supply to the brain and musculature.
* Stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system: Promotes a state of calmness.
* More efficient excretion of bodily toxins.
* Improved concentration.
* Greater feelings of connectedness between mind and body. Anxiety and worry tend to keep you “up in your head.” A few minutes of deep abdominal breathing will help bring you down into your whole body.
source :
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~rccc/Breathing.htm
