Have you ever seen someone who is always relaxed under pressure. Someone who is relaxed under sickness, pain, insults or hardship? You will notice that they hardly complain like other people do. These are people that have probably learned some form of relaxation meditation. People who continuously practice this type of meditation are always more relaxed.
You can learn relaxation meditation by being professionally trained or by reading simple instructions that can help you to carry them out. There are different forms of relaxation you can perform in order to get maximum results. In this article, we are going to talk about progressive muscle relaxation, guided relaxation and how these relaxation techniques help to reduce stress.
What is Progressive Muscle Relaxation?
Progressive muscle relaxation involves a two-step process. First of all, you tense and relax different muscle groups in the body. Secondly, you try to spot and counteract muscle tension that goes along with stress in these muscle areas. Some people start progressive muscle relaxation from the top of their head to their feet, while others start from their feet to the top of their head. The muscle groups involved include the following.
- Face
- Neck and shoulders
- Left arm and hand
- Right arm and hand
- Back
- Chest
- Stomach
- Hips and buttocks
- Left thigh
- Right thigh
- Left calf
- Right calf
- Left foot
- Right foot
Now that you know what progressive muscle relaxation is and the muscles of the body involved, let’s see what guided relaxation is.
What is Guided Relaxation?
Guided relaxation involves imagining a scene in which you feel at peace and free to let go of tension and anxiety using all the five sense on a conscious level. You will have to go through relaxation techniques like deep breathing, yoga and visualization to carry this out effectively. Deep breathing can be combined with other relaxing methods like aromatherapy, music, nature and binaural beats recordings to achieve guided meditation. This will cause your mind to be in a relaxed meditative state to achieve a peaceful life and enjoy the benefits of meditation.
Do Relaxation Techniques Help with Stress Management?
The known ways of dealing with stress involves eating right, getting regular exercise, taking control of daily activities and having more effective time management. As good as they sound, relaxation meditation have been known to help relieve stress better. This is because this kind of meditation directly taps into the body’s natural relaxation response, which is known to be a powerful cure for stress.
When practiced regularly, these activities lead to a reduction in your everyday stress levels and a boost in your feelings of joy and serenity. This is why relaxation meditation is very powerful for stress management. If you cannot learn these techniques on your own, then professional training like yoga will go a long way to help you out.
Relaxation meditation is not difficult when you know exactly how to carry it out. You have seen that there are different types, including progressive muscle relaxation, where each muscle is tightened and released as you progress from muscle to muscle from the top of your head to your feet. You have also seen how guided meditation can help and how it helps in stress management. From now on, you can use what you have read to relax yourself