Relax, Wherever You Are
By Ursula R. Stehle, Ph.D.
- Take a few minutes each morning to be quiet and meditate. Sit or lie down and be with yourself.
- Gaze out the window, listen to the sounds of nature, or take a slow and quiet walk.
- While your car is warming up, take a minute to quietly pay attention to your breathing.
- While you're driving, become aware of body tension. Are your hands wrapped tightly around the steering wheel? Are your shoulders raised? Is your stomach tight? Consciously work to release and dissolve those tensions. Does being tense help you drive better? What does it feel like to relax and drive?
- Don't play the radio; be with yourself, if you can.
- Stay in the right lane and drive at or below the speed limit.
- Pay attention to your breathing. Consciously notice the sky and trees when you are stopped at a red light or toll plaza.
- After parking your car, take a moment and orient yourself to where you are going.
- At work, school, meeting, or wherever you're arriving, check in with your bodily sensations and tension levels and consciously attempt to relax and let go of unwanted tensions.
- Use work breaks to really relax. Instead of having coffee or a cigarette, take a short walk. When shopping, include a brief walk in the park in between stores.
- At lunch, change your environment; preferably, take your meals amid natural, comfortable environments.
- At work, try closing your office door and taking some time to consciously relax. At home, your bedroom is available all day and not just at night time; use it for brief intermittent relaxation.
- Decide to stop whatever you're doing for a few minutes every 90 minutes if you can. Be aware of your breathing and bodily sensations. Make adjustments as needed.
- Use everyday cues in your environment—the phone ringing, turning equipment on or off—as reminders to center yourself.
- Take time to talk to co-workers, friends, family, and school acquaintances; choose topics unrelated to your line of business or your children
- Choose to eat one or two lunches every week in silence. Use them as a time to eat slowly and be with yourself.
- Attend to how you respond to people or handle equipment. Do you treat them with care or do you express tension in your interactions or use of tools and equipment?
Attend to transitions consciously. Pay attention to how you feel
when you leave one place and anticipate going to another. If you tend to
lose things, like keys, transitions are extremely important. Are you
rushed? Do you have all the things you need? What energy do you bring to
the place you are going to? Stop yourself from leaving the here and now in
your thoughts.- Be aware of your entry into a new surrounding. When do you actually arrive? Does your breathing or body pasture change in anticipation of your destination? Listen to your body and breath and make adjustments if necessary.
- Use time in the car for active relaxation. Feel your breath, and feel the areas of your body that touch the ground or chair you are sitting in.
- Sing to release anxieties and tensions (noone will hear you). Singing helps you to exhale more fully.
- At the end of your day, recall the days activities, experiences, and how you felt. Acknowledge and honor your accomplishments and appreciate your experience (all experience). Make a list for the next day. Then let go of that which remained unfinished, was frustrating, upsetting or otherwise aggravating.
- Always remember: our senses and our breath can connect us, at any moment, very directly to an experience of self.
Do daily work with grace and beauty and you will enjoy a more relaxed and satisfying life.
Adapted from Santorelli, Saki in Family Therapy Networker, March/April 1996.
Last modified on 01.13.10
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