Relaxation Exercise

In theory, it's pretty straightforward. One good way to feel more relaxed, is to fill your mind with a relaxing experience. Pick a time in your past when you felt very relaxed... in a pleasant sort of way. We want to make that memory as vivid as we possibly can. In the unlikely event that you cannot remember a time when you were relaxed, make up a situation in which you would feel relaxed, or imagine someone else who is relaxed and step into their body so you can share their experience.

Let's begin by setting the context. Where were you when you had this experience that made you feel so pleasantly relaxed? Were you inside or outside? Was it day or night? Go back in time and pretend you are there again. See what you saw then, as if you are there again. Hear what you heard. Re-experience the body sensations you felt then. For example, if your relaxing experience happened while walking along a beach, you might pretend that once again you feel the warm sun on your shoulders, your legs rhythmically moving, the sand crunching under your feet and the cool water occasionally wash over your ankles.

Let's re-build your experience, step by step.

What did you see during your relaxing experience? Re-create it again in your imagination. For example, if you choose the beach, you might imagine seeing a beautiful blue sky with a few puffy white clouds, the clear blue water, the sand littered with sea shells waiting to be examined...

STOP

Take a few moments, and re-create in your imagination what you saw during your relaxing experience.

What did you hear during your experience? For example, if you choose the beach you might hear the breeze as it gently rustles through the palms, the water as it washes onto the shore, and perhaps the distant call of a happy seabird.

STOP

Take a few moments and re-create in your imagination what you heard.

Do you remember any smells during your great experience? If you're really good, recall the odors that went along with your experience. For example, if you choose the beach, you may even be able to smell a delicious mixture of fragrant tropical flowers and the salty sea.

STOP

Take a few moments and re-create the odors that went along with your experience.

Now, let's put all of your re-created great experience together. Whatever the context was, get into it again. Take a few minutes to go and "be there" again, to re-experience all the sensations that you had in that glorious moment ...what you felt, feel again...what you saw, see again...what you heard, hear again...what you smelled, smell again...

STOP

Take a few moments to be there, again, feeling so relaxed.

Once you have all the context in your imagination, pay attention to your internal dialog. What are you saying to yourself in your head as you go through your wonderfully relaxing experience? What pictures are you making in your head? How do you feel, inside your body? Take a few moments, go back in time and re-connect to the context: re-experience what you are doing with your body, what you are saying to yourself and what pictures you are making in your head... during your deeply relaxing experience. What I am really asking you to do is to go back in time and fully re-experience that moment.

STOP

Take a few moments to be there,now, feeling all those relaxing feelings

How do you feel, now? To the extent that you were able to fill your mind with a re-experience of your deeply relaxing moment, you probably feel a little more relaxed. That's because emotions arise primarily from events in the conscious and unconscious mind. If we are thinking relaxing thoughts on both those levels, then we tend to feel relaxed. This exercise works by giving you the opportunity to modify what you are consciously, and to some extent unconsciously, thinking. As with many things in life, practice makes perfect (OK. OK. How about better?). If you didn't get great results the first time through, it just means you could use some practice. Hope this helps.

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