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All work and no relaxation makes Alice & Jack burnt out providers...
Guidance on Relaxation Relaxation exercises are easy to learn and implement, and can be remarkably effective in addressing stress, test anxiety, all kinds of phobias, and other similar concerns. Below are two exercises recorded by Dr. Steve Sprinkle, director of the Counseling Center here at USD, and Dr. Bonnie Lambourn, a staff psychologist at Hobart and William Smith Colleges’ Counseling Center. Dr. Sprinkle’s exercise will direct you to systematically relax your major muscle groups by briefly flexing your muscles and then slowly releasing the tension. It begins by having you flex your facial muscles and continues with your neck and shoulders, down to your arms, abdomen and legs. The exercise ends by directing you to breathe deeply and slowly as you review parts of your body. The recording is about nine minutes long. The website maintained by Mind Tools, is a great resource for free stress management and relaxation tools, articles, and videos on managing stress.
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Below are some tips for using these or any relaxation exercises:
1. Try to practice whichever exercise you prefer at least once or twice a day. Expect your ability to relax to improve as you continue practicing and expect to practice two or three weeks before you become genuinely proficient. Once you learn how to do one of the exercises, you may no longer require the recorded instructions and you can tailor the exercise to your own liking. 2. You might want to avoid practicing within an hour before or after a meal (either hunger or feeling full may distract you). Also avoid practicing immediately after engaging in vigorous exercise. 3. Sit quietly and in a comfortable position, with your legs uncrossed and your arms resting at your sides. This is especially important when you are first learning the exercise. 4. Adopt a calm and accepting attitude towards your practice. Don't worry about how well you're doing or about possible interruptions. Instead, know that with repetition your ability to relax will grow. 5. When you are ready, close your eyes, begin listening to the recording and follow the directions. As you complete the exercise, you can expect your mind to wander a bit-when this happens you can simply re-direct your focus back to the recording. 6. Once you've finished, stretch, look around and remain still another minute or two. 7. As you become more skilled, try applying the exercises to specific situations that might otherwise be anxiety provoking, such as tests, oral presentations, difficult social situations, job interviews, insomnia and so forth. |
Cultivate Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a moment to moment non-judgmental awareness. Just as the muscles of our body hold on to stress and tension so does the mind hold on to tension by attending rigidly to our judgments and negative emotions.
If we spend any time noticing what is going on in our minds we will see that we are almost always judging and evaluating. "I could have/should have done that better." "I resent the way that person spoke to me last week." "I am worried that I am not going to be prepared for that presentation or test next week and everyone will think I'm a fool."
Cultivating mindfulness in our daily experience and activities is a very effective way to counteract our innate tendency to judge and hold on to negative emotions. Practice mindfulness by setting aside at least 15 or 20 minutes for quiet time each day during which time you would suspend your judgments and normal problem solving activity in order to just 'BE'. Practice giving your full attention to one activity at a time rather than multi-tasking (e.g., when preparing or eating a meal, taking a walk outside, working in the garden).
If we spend any time noticing what is going on in our minds we will see that we are almost always judging and evaluating. "I could have/should have done that better." "I resent the way that person spoke to me last week." "I am worried that I am not going to be prepared for that presentation or test next week and everyone will think I'm a fool."
Cultivating mindfulness in our daily experience and activities is a very effective way to counteract our innate tendency to judge and hold on to negative emotions. Practice mindfulness by setting aside at least 15 or 20 minutes for quiet time each day during which time you would suspend your judgments and normal problem solving activity in order to just 'BE'. Practice giving your full attention to one activity at a time rather than multi-tasking (e.g., when preparing or eating a meal, taking a walk outside, working in the garden).