Man does not live in a dream world where the sun always shines and the birds sing. From birth, a person is faced with various situations that cause tension, stress, anxiety and fears. The psyche is connected to the body, so the result of constant emotional stress is muscle tone. Relaxation helps in various ways to relieve excessive muscle tone so that a person relaxes. The online magazine psytheater.com will explore this concept.
Why does a person need rest? After all, any desire to relax is aimed at rest. The human body simply needs to change its work mode to sleep or rest mode. So, a person sleeps every day. If a person misses sleep, then he feels some lethargy, loss of strength, and loss of the ability to rejoice. It's similar to depression or apathy. However, the person is not sick, his body just hasn’t rested, hasn’t rebooted, hasn’t gained energy, so it works on what’s left.
It turns out that rest is vital for a person. You can note that most often and more people get sick when they are physically exhausted. The immune system becomes weak if a person gets little rest, is constantly overexerted, and is not filled with new energy and positive emotions. Thus, various methods of relaxation become important only for the reason that a person becomes physically strong.
Another important pattern is that a person in a state of relaxation is spiritually strong and self-confident. All those qualities that a person constantly tries to develop in himself can be felt in a state of rest. If anxiety, fear and stress reign inside, then a person is unlikely to feel normal.
What is relaxation?
The concept of relaxation implies conscious muscle relaxation in order to achieve internal calm, relieve emotional stress and obtain additional energy. A person may resort to techniques, medications, or exercises that help them relax. Any methods that help calm the body and soul will do.
To some extent, relaxation is similar to meditation. However, this is just a first impression. Meditation has several levels of immersion of a person into his own unconscious or dissolution of his own “I” in the endless world. Relaxation involves only the first stage, which is used in meditation, when a person simply relaxes his muscles.
Relaxation is used in hypnosis, yoga, and health practices. It helps in solving many physical and psychological problems.
- First, you should understand that a person is constantly exposed to stress on himself. In a state of stress, his muscles automatically tense, which is a reflex reaction of the body to, if necessary, leave the place that causes fear. If a person is constantly under emotional stress, it exhausts him. Often such a person becomes lethargic, passive, and drowsy.
- Secondly, if internal tension leads a person to increase muscle tone, then he begins to get physically tired. All this takes away energy that could be directed to performing some actions or maintaining the functioning of the entire body. Muscles tense for natural reasons - in response to emotional fear, anxiety, and a feeling of helplessness. If muscles are constantly toned, they get tired. This is akin to the fact that a person will play sports all the time - how much will it be enough?
Muscle tension often leads to the development of various diseases. It should be understood that the natural state of muscles is their relaxation. If they are constantly tense, then the human body and the functioning of all its systems change.
If previously a person was under pressure from an aggressive environment in which he had to hunt and survive, then the stresses of the modern world are various conflicts, turmoil, lack of desired goals, disapproval or criticism of others. Stress may seem insignificant, but it is there. It puts the muscles into a tense state, which requires a lot of energy.
Relaxation techniques are aimed at relieving muscle tension by consciously influencing them. The effect of exercise will be felt by a person whose muscle tone is increased. If the muscles remain relaxed, then relaxation methods do not produce a noticeable effect.
In order to achieve certain results in the direction of constantly maintaining calm, both psychological and muscular, you need to systematically engage in exercises, bringing them to automatism. In addition to sleep, a person needs rest during the day. That is why it is very important to quickly restore your balance, so that at the same time the muscles of the body relax.
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How to relax: 9 sensible tips
Give up cigarettes and alcohol as stress relievers. Brew soothing teas with healing aromatic herbs - chamomile, lemon balm, thyme. It is better to buy natural ones at the pharmacy than to buy tea bags with flavors. Use aroma oils - in aroma lamps, when taking a bath, for massage. Avoid people and situations that make you nervous
No matter what it is - communication with your mother-in-law or the sound of a leaking faucet, fix it. Change your activity - if you have been sitting at the computer for a long time, get up and walk, if, on the contrary, you have worked a lot physically, read a chapter of a book or a newspaper article. You are more in contact with nature and animals. If you can’t visit zoos or go out of town, plant a few homemade flowers and get a kitten. Make it a spa day with a massage, jacuzzi and chocolate wrap. Unleash your creativity - now there are a lot of handicraft products, clay modeling courses, as well as intuitive drawing lessons, find a hobby you like. Sign up for my consultation and I will help you find tensions and psychological internal conflicts, together we will find solutions without the use of antidepressants and sedatives.
Relaxation methods
There are many relaxation methods. Some people, although they did not specifically study this topic, could also resort to various relaxing techniques on a subconscious level. Relaxation is the relaxation of muscles in order to restore mental comfort and calm. A relaxed person is strong and active, a worried person is passive and weak. Let’s not forget about the energy that a person wastes if he doesn’t relax.
During the day, a person periodically gives himself relaxation because he needs it. Some people do this consciously, while others do it unconsciously. But this works in any case:
- The knowledge that you are returning home after a working day, where you will relax, eat and watch your favorite shows, already gives you some relaxation. You feel it, although you may not notice it.
- Deep breathing, which allows you to reduce the speed of the process that is the result of stress. In a state of nervousness, a person begins to breathe quickly. Here you need to consciously slow down your breathing rate. Breathe in for 10 seconds and inhale for the same amount of time.
- Embrace. Many people ignore this method of relaxation, but it is very effective. Hugs have a good effect on children. However, do not forget that people in a state of fear or despair also quickly calm down when they are hugged (as if they are being protected and protected, they feel protected).
- A massage that can be used not only to eliminate cellulite, but also for relaxation. Massage at the end of the working day, in the evening, is very useful. Soothing, smooth and deep movements along the back help you relax, calm down and feel peace. Some people even fall asleep during the massage, which is a good result.
- Aromatherapy. Smells are good for relaxation if they are pleasant to the person. We will not describe which essential oils should be used for relaxation, since the main thing is that you personally like the smells and give a feeling of calm.
- Music. Each person has his own favorite tracks that he constantly plays. At the moment of a violent outburst of emotions, music will help. The main thing is positive lyrics in songs. There is no need to listen to what causes sadness and additional sadness.
- Drinking warm herbal tea. Even just warm milk will do. The main thing is that the person enjoys the process and calms down, thinking about good things.
- Visualization. You can close your eyes and imagine yourself in another place where you would like to be. You bask in the warm sun, you are surrounded by friendly people, you receive only positive emotions. You can visualize anything that gives you a feeling of peace and relaxation.
The main technique in relaxation is the conscious release of tension in the muscles. To do this, you can use imagination or autogenic practices. The person closes his eyes and begins to mentally pronounce the phrase that his body is relaxing. He addresses each part of the body, focusing his attention on it, while observing how it relaxes, and then moves on to another area.
- Sport. To relax your muscles, you can first give them a good workout. It should be understood that muscle tension as a result of negative emotions is a slow waste of energy. The muscles will not get tired soon. However, if you play sports, that is, throw out all your energy, then your muscles will get tired, which will help in their relaxation.
- Laughter. In getting rid of nervous tension and muscle stiffness, laughter, a positive outlook on situations, and seeing the funny in what is happening will help. Laughter helps in relaxation.
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Psychotechnicians for behavior correction tasks
Decreased arousal
Effectively use:
- distraction and switching of attention;
- goal setting (consider different options);
- physical relaxation;
- psychomuscular and autogenic training;
- breathing exercises for relaxation.
Resource Activation
Effectively use:
- autogenic training for mobilization;
- increased motivation;
- breathing exercises for activity;
- plot performances;
- memories of active emotional states and the situations that caused them;
- mental and sensory stimulation;
- heterosuggestion.
Mental desensitization
Effective:
- presentation of successful behavior;
- self-hypnosis of confidence and neutral attitude towards harmful factors;
- deliberate passive attitude.
Effective:
- listening to music;
- relaxation;
- substitution;
- rationalization;
- fantasy.
Effective:
- meditation;
- suggested dream;
- self-hypnosis for quick recovery.
Relax away from home
On the eve of vacations and summer holidays, everyone has a question: how to relax? We’ve been working for almost a whole year, now we need to give our body the opportunity to calm down, relax, enjoy life, and do what we want. Everyone chooses the vacation that is most interesting to them. Here, everyone often focuses on their positive memories: what activity did you achieve maximum relaxation and enjoyment of life?
Some people go to the mountains, while others prefer sandy beaches. Here everyone is right about one thing - you need to relax, spend your vacation away from home. Why?
If you decide not to go anywhere, then most likely you won’t have a vacation.
- Firstly, when you are at home, you periodically remember that you need to do something. I completed one job, completed another task, and completed a third. So the holiday will be spent doing homework. How is this different from ordinary weekdays?
- Secondly, native walls remind of daily problems. In psychology there is such a thing as an anchor. Every time you return home, you look at your native walls, which “anchor” your usual emotions. How can you rest if something reminds you of your problems?
Psychologists recommend not to relax at home, but to go as far as possible. Here the choice is yours where you want to go. It doesn't really matter. The main thing is that the area is unfamiliar to you. And if it turns out to be beautiful, pleasant and relaxing, then you can definitely relax.
Where exactly to go and how exactly to relax is everyone’s choice. If you like to relax actively, then choose places where you can make your desires come true. If you prefer a beach holiday, then go to the seas or oceans. The main thing is not to be within your own walls, where you constantly spend your time.
What is important is new experiences, unexplored places, complete passion for the type of recreation that you have decided to do. At the same time, it is important not to be in a place where you will again have to work, labor, and solve everyday problems. That's the whole secret of a good holiday!
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Breathing technique
They are used not only to treat stress and depression. Respiratory therapy is also widely used to treat many diseases such as bronchial asthma. Thus, relaxation techniques can be used in combination, but also separately. For example, there are different breathing techniques. When choosing, you should rely on individual preferences.
Basically, each of them comes down to deep and conscious breathing, which allows you to saturate the cells and blood with oxygen.
Technique for entering the alpha state
There are several phases and states in the human brain. Each of them replaces the other. These phases can be tracked using a modern encephalogram. Brain activity is determined by many factors and processes occurring in the body.
Alpha frequencies, which can be seen on this device, determine a relaxed state and a resting position. If you stimulate this kind of brain activity in this direction with alpha frequencies, you can completely immerse a person in dreams and inspired reality. You can use various techniques for this.
The most beneficial effects are audio recordings based on sounds that are not perceptible to our minds, as well as changes in certain frequencies and rhythms.
