Try This Simple Relaxation Technique

We're often told to relax more often. You maybe even manage to relax every now and then. But relaxing on a regular basis is kind of a lost art nowadays. There's just too much hustle and bustle to be able to take the time out to even kind-of relax, let alone do it properly.

Meditation is one way of relaxing. I personally think it's a good way but not everyone has the time or the inclination to go down that route.

So what else can you do to relax?

Start by setting aside some time each day to actually relax. You'll need enough time for your brain to slow down - it's a bit like a supertanker in that respect, it can't go from full-on status to totally relaxed in a few seconds. That's one of the reasons that most people suggest you relax before you go to sleep, rather than watching television or answering emails or surfing the web or playing a computer game. All of those involve your brain at some level and all of those mean that you can't turn your brain off in the same way you switch off whatever device you were using.

So pick a time to relax. Maybe unwind before you go to bed. Maybe after a day working. Whatever works best for you.

Set an alarm to remind you for the first two or three weeks - it takes most people that long to build up a habit.

And don't be tempted to skip your daily relaxation practice. Like most things in life, it takes time to get good at relaxation. Especially since you've had years to get out of the habit!

Sit in a comfortable chair. Somewhere you won't be disturbed.

Turn your phone to silent - ideally without the vibrate setting either!

Then, starting at your toes, work upwards through your body, asking each part to relax as fully as possible.

This may sound a bit weird but go along with it and see how well it works.

If you don't know the name of a particular body part, don't worry. Just get a sense of where it is and use wording such as "the next part of my body" to cover for the fact that you haven't got a degree in human biology. Your brain is smart enough to know what you're talking about!

Spend anything from a few seconds to a minute or so on each body part. Just gently will it to relax. If find that the first few parts take longer to relax than the later parts. In fact, by the time I get more than about half way up my body I find it's almost a matter of saying "and now it's your turn to relax... " to the next part of my body and it's already there.

The other thing to remember when you're doing this is to tell each body part that you're moving on to the next part now but that you expect it to stay relaxed.

When you've completed this, you can stay with your whole body relaxed for a length of time. The precise amount of time is up to you - personally I normally aim for around 15 minutes, taking the complete exercise to around half an hour. The first few times I did this, I'd either set my alarm on my phone or put on some relaxing music that I knew would last about half an hour or so. Once I'd got in the routine a few times, I found myself naturally getting more active again at around the half hour mark as though my body was anticipating the end of the session.

Practice and do whatever works best for you!