The activity we participated in to promote relaxation was
similar to meditative exercises that I have practiced before. Relaxation is essential
to our hectic lives and chaotic schedules!
The basis of relaxation
activities is incredibly beneficial and worthy of practice; however I am much better
at guiding myself through relaxation than I am at listening to another’s
interpretation of it. I seem to be distracted by the speakers’ voice; instead
of focused on what he is instructing. For example, I was working at my own
pace- relaxing my mind and body- and then was disrupted by the speaker and his recommendations
to move on and work on another aspect of relaxation.
Overall, I think this concept is great for reducing stress,
managing anxiety, and increasing concentration. I would advocate creating your
own guide to relaxation; based on personal preferences of pace and also putting
specific attention on problem areas. Get started by playing a soft melody in
the back ground; while possibly glancing at a checklist until you are more
familiar with your custom-made routine of relaxation. After a few sessions, you
will know what works for you and how long you need to effectively relax your
body and mind! Good luck!
R. Mitchell,
ReplyDeleteI am encouraged to try my best to get the point you and other people in this class have reached-attaining relaxation. It seems to me that it is not something you wake up and master, it needs some level of training and perseverance too. Hopefully next time I will give a positive and successful report. Kudos for your own success
I think it just takes some effort, and time! The effort would be easier to put forth if we could just find the time! At least that's the problem I run into! Thanks for the response and good luck with finding both!
DeleteThe voice is hard to get past sometimes, but I think it's the frame of mind I had when I first tried listening to it. I really just had to get past the outside interruptions I had and tell myself I really want to see how this works and to do that I needed to listen, but not focus so much on the voice that was instructing me. I hope that makes some sense. Anyway, once I did I was really glad because I found the exercise to quite beneficial. I was truly amazed at the power of my mind in order to relax. I will continue to try and incorporate this exercise in everyday if I can.
ReplyDeleteI like you suggestion for those that can't get past the speakers voice. They should listen to the exercise and then go back and do one for themselves with their own background music. One that meets their needs.
I am better at guiding myself to relaxation instead of listening to another try to guide me through words. I tend to pay too much attention to what is being said instead of doing what is being said. That's why I gave the exercise a second go around to see if I could become more relaxed than I did the first time and it worked. I love the fact that you have suggested creating a personal relaxation routine that is specific to you. That truly is a wonderful idea. I know what relaxes me and being able to do so without the interruptions is very nice. Great idea and suggestion!
ReplyDeleteLeanne
The exercise we're doing is a very specific kind - it's called "Autogenic Training". Look it up :), long history, very interesting. While creating one's own relaxation tape it great, this one is used especially to learn how to use your mind to control/influence what's happening in your body - in this example, blood flow to the hands. This is just 15 minutes, an entire autogenic training (or progressive relaxation, as it's sometimes called) session lasts for an hour.
ReplyDeleteHere's an article from WebMD that talks more about it
http://www.webmd.com/balance/tc/autogenic-training-topic-overview
Prof Betty