Relaxation Techniques – Stress Management for Your · PDF file1 Updated on November 25,...

1 Updated on November 25, 2013

Relaxation Techniques – Stress Management for Your Mindy & Body

Do you have 5 to 10 minutes of time at home, at work, or the middle of store to lower your

body’s reaction to stress, anxiety, or anger? If so, read through the following pages to learn how you

can easily reduce the tension in your thoughts, muscles, heart and lungs through simple steps.

Think back through the past seven days when you became extremely stressed, anxious, or angry. Identify one

situation that is easy for you to recall. How did your body feel when you experienced one or more of these

powerful emotions? Do you have the experience in your mind? Did you notice that your:

• heart was beating faster than normal – perhaps pounding at a fast rate

• breathing changed to short, shallow breaths and that your lungs worked harder than they normally due

when you are calm

• body increased sweating in your hands, head or other areas of your body

• mouth became dry

• jaw clinched or you may have grinded your teeth

• body was absorbing tension in certain areas, such as your neck, shoulders or temple

• body began to shake or feel jittery

Make a note of all the sensations that you could identify when your body reacted to your strong feelings of

anxiety, stress or anger. Your experience is known as the fight-or-flight response that was triggered by stress,

anxiety or anger. Your body is designed to trigger the fight-or-flight response to handle emergencies, by

increasing your

• heart rate and blood flow to multiple areas of the body, including the brain

• breathing (to take in more oxygen for increased energy),

• arousal of certain senses, including sight, vision and smell,

• flow of blood sugar, fats, and cholesterol for added energy, and

• tension in muscles that will be required to move fast

The problem is that you rarely use the system to fight or flight; so your body is filling up with unused fuel; i.e.,

sugar, while draining your body of its energy. You may not run when you are stressed, but you become

exhausted, anyway. Further, the fight-or-flight system was designed for a short burst of energy while you run


away or fight; the system was not designed to stay on for hours. If you struggle with stress, anxiety, or ongoing

anger, the fight-or-flight system may stay on for hours, causing even more exhaustion and tension.

The good news is that you can learn how to shut off or slow down the fight-or-flight system through a variety of

stress management and relaxation techniques. You can slow down your heart rate, breathing, and flow of sugar

in your body.

Are you ready to find the shut-of switch? If yes, keep reading:

You can build a tool-box of stress management techniques to manage your fight-or-flight system. The fight-or-

flight system can impact all areas of your body, including your thoughts; so you can use a variety of tools to

slow down different areas of your body.

Before reading the list in the table, consider these guidelines for expanding your tool box of stress management

techniques:

• Prepare for slow changes, not major reductions – stress management techniques will help you

manage your emotions while you approach your valued-driven objectives each day – these techniques

are not designed to eliminate stress, anxiety, anger or chronic pain, but rather help you navigate through

these feelings as you move forward

• Use the simple techniques first – select the techniques that seem to be the easiest for you to use first

and expand your techniques over time – we recommend using deep breathing first followed by other

tools

• Use preloading techniques to plan how, when and where you will start using one or more of the

stress management techniques – develop a detailed plan in your head for the next day for how you will

use a brief stress management technique in your busy schedule (see module 4 for more details on pre-

loading your brain)

• Prevent stress, anger or anxiety before it grows into a monster – use stress management techniques

to prevent these emotions from getting out of hand, by using them in the morning before you become

anxious or angry – a nice combination is:

1. to eat something for breakfast within 60 minutes of waking,

2. preload your brain for today’s or tomorrow’s important objectives while you are eating breakfast,


3. practice deep breathing for 5 to 10 minutes before or after breakfast,

4. complete 5 minutes of gratitude journaling just before you preload your brain (it helps expand

your thinking), and

5. add in exercise, such as walking, during your lunch break at work or after work.

Effective and brief stress management techniques are listed in the following table. Each technique is described

in the following sections.

Stress Management

Technique

Body area Benefit

Pre-loading your brain with

24-hour plans

Improves your thinking while you are stressed,

anxious or angry – has a preventive function in

that you can plan in advance

Pre-loading plans can help

you complete tasks while

your stressed or angry

Gratitude journaling Improves your thinking and brings your thoughts –

mental rules, into the present time frame

Can increase mental

energy and has a calming

effect

Exercise – walking or any

other low, moderate or high

impact exercise

Helps to burn off unused sugar in your blood

stream, fat & cholesterol that was released when

you became stressed or anxious

Helps all areas of the

body, can help with sleep

& increases energy

Deep breathing Helps to slow down your breathing and heart rate

to normal levels

Effective for stress

management

Mindfulness exercises Helps calm down your mind and keep you focused

in the present and for slowing down the heart rate

Effective stress

management technique

Progressive muscle

relaxation (PMR)

Used to release tension in muscles around the

body

Effective for stress

management, chronic

pain, & increasing energy

Visual imagery (VI) Helps to calm down the mind Effective for stress

management

Preloading your brain

Review the technique of pre-loading your brain in Module 4. Use preloading to plan for the next day or the

week.

Gratitude journaling

You can expand your brain’s capacity to think by writing down a short sentence about someone in your life who

has been helpful or kind to you in the past few days. The exercise is simple, but effective because you can get

your brain to start thinking positive thoughts based on real experiences, which can increase your sense of hope

and support.

Your thinking becomes narrow and one-dimensional when you experience stress, anxiety or anger for hours

each day. You probably noticed that you struggle to come up with ideas when you’ve been thinking about

stress, anxiety or frustration, instead of thinking about how to approach your value-driven objectives. Gratitude

journaling is an easy way of expanding your thoughts the same way jogging can expand your lung capacity. Set

aside about 5 to 10 minutes every 3 to 7 days to complete the exercise and follow these guidelines:

• think about a person who was kind or helpful to you in the past few days, such as your partner, friends,

or a stranger


• think about how the person helped you or went out their way to be a better person because of you, such

as

o your partner cooking a fantastic meal,

o a coworker helping you at work when you were tired,

o a stranger giving you directions when you were lost, or

o your daughter or son worked hard on their homework last night after following your advice

• write down the person’s name and why you have gratitude or appreciation for what the person did to

help you or show you extra kindness

• select simple acts of kindness or help because these events tend to occur frequently, like a coworker who

was sincerely concerned about you when they asked if they could help or a family member who always

remembers to call you to check in

• don’t force yourself to come up with positive experiences and, instead, spend a few minutes looking for

those moments in your day that made a difference to you, even if it was small

• avoid writing down situations where someone stopped irritating you, as this will only serve to remind

you of how frustrated you were with the person – it will feed your anger or stress

Exercise

Walking or any other exercise can help burn off the fuel that is building up in your blood stream from stress and

anxiety. Exercise can also help you increase your energy, which can be drained by stress, anxiety, anger,

depression, or chronic pain. Any additional body movements can help you, including adding 10 minutes of

additional walking each day; so pick any type of activity that gets your body moving.

• Start small and add a few more minutes to an existing activity, such as adding additional walking time

when you walk around the block

• Exercise in the morning to help kick start your body and mind (helpful for people who struggle with

sleep)

• Avoid exercising late at night as this can disrupt your sleep

Deep Breathing

Deep breathing is the easiest stress management technique for you to start or increase. Deep breathing works

by resetting your lungs to breath more slowly and stops the short, shallow breathes that you may be taking when

you become stressed or anxious. Stress or anxiety triggers a breathing a pattern of short, shallow breaths that is

helpful for a few minutes if you need to move fast (e.g., running away from danger), but can be exhausting if

you experience stress for several hours.

You may not be aware that your breathing pattern is leading to exhaustion when you are overwhelmed with

stress or anxiety. A deep breathing exercise for 5 to 10 minutes in the morning can help to return your body and

lungs to a more normal breathing pattern while also providing a calming effect.

Take a deep breath through your nose that expands your stomach for 3 to 4 seconds and exhale for another 3 to

4 seconds through your mouth (inhale and exhale at the same rate). Repeat this pattern for 10 minutes in the

morning and whenever you notice your breathing becoming constricted or rapid. If your stomach expands

when you are breathing, you are doing it right. You can also sneak in deep breathing exercises in crowded

places, on a bus, or in your office. People won’t notice if you take deep slow breaths through your nose and

slowly exhale through your mouth, so use deep breathing in any situation.


Mindfulness and Staying in the Moment

You can slow down your heart rate as well as your racing thoughts through mindfulness exercises that can be

done within 5 to 10 minutes. You may worry about the distant future or you may concentrate on your past

mistakes and pain. Either way, your mind dwells in the past or future, but not in the present. Mindfulness

exercises can be used to direct your thoughts to the present as well as slow your body down in the process.

The MW&R website has several mindfulness exercises that you can use to refocus yourself in the present. Each

exercise can be completed in 5 to 10 minutes, but you can practice for longer periods if you find these

techniques relaxing.

Now, before reading on to complete this module, stop what you are doing and listen to your heart beat for two

minutes – breath normally, but stop moving your body (and sit down while you are listening to your heart).

Block out any sounds in your environment and focus on the feel and sound of your heart beating. Focus on the

feeling of each beat, which you can feel in your upper chest. As you focus and listen, you can probably pick up

the quiet sound of each heart beat in your body. Now anticipate the rhythm of your heart rate – focus on the

speed of beats in the minute.

Can you feel and hear your heart beat? If so, you just completed your first episode of mindfulness. Another

easy mindfulness exercise is to observe your breathing in the morning when you are doing your deep breathing

exercise. You can add two comments that you can say in your head or out loud, such as:

• I’m breathing in air to my lungs and

• I’m breathing air out from my body

While you are breathing, focus on the sensations of your body as you take in deep, long breaths. Notice that

your chest is expanding along with muscles around your chest area. Notice the smells in the air as you breathe

in and notice the feel of your throat as you breathe out again.


Sound simple? The technique is easy to do if you can stay focused on the sensations of your body. The biggest

challenge is keeping your mind focused on the sensations of your body or any other mindfulness target (e.g.,

focusing on the sounds of birds at the park). Because you tend to drift into thoughts about the future or the past,

you will also practice bringing your focus back to the target of the mindfulness exercise. Don’t worry if you

can’t stay focused at first. Everyone struggles at first to stay focused, but it gets easier over time. Keep

practicing for about 5 minutes each day and you will be able to extend your concentration.

Select a mindfulness technique that works for you. For instance, if you need to wash dishes and find time for

mindfulness, use the time to engage your senses involved in the process, such as focusing on

• the touch of water (how hot or cold it feels on your hands and wrists) as it pours over your hands,

• the smell of the soapy water

Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)

PMR is a technique for reducing muscle tension, increasing flexibility, and reducing stress and anxiety. A

common and normal response to stress or anxiety is for you to tighten your muscles. Tightening your muscles

can be useful if you plan on using them immediately to exert a lot of energy, such as running fast. However,

extended periods of stress or anxiety can lead to a buildup in muscle tension in multiple areas of your body.

This build up in tension can lead to soreness and pain. You may not be aware that your muscles have become

tense, but you can often detect the problem through symptoms of soreness, fatigue, irritability and impatience.

PMR, like the other stress management techniques, can be completed in 10 minutes, although you can spend

more time if you would like to release tension throughout your body. Instructions for PMR are located on the

MW&R website.

You can start the technique now by practicing with your hands. Clinch your right fist for 5 seconds by counting

in your head “one thousand & one, one thousand & two……” and then slowly release your fist for another five

seconds while noticing the tension leaving as you slowly unfold your fingers. Repeat the exercise with your left

hand. You have completed your first exercise in PMR. You can repeat this technique with other muscles in

your head (e.g., your eyelids & face), back, shoulders, arms, legs and feet. Any amount of time will help; so

pick a few muscles that absorb most of your tension and expand the exercise to other muscles if you have time.


Visual Imagery

Visual imagery is a relaxation technique for your brain, just like PMR is a relaxation technique for your

muscles. Visual imagery is used to reintroduce positive mental states in your mind.

Extended anxiety or stress can alter your thoughts to create an underlying sense of hopelessness and negativity.

Your sense of confidence can be undermined by overwhelming anxiety that prevents you from participating in

valued activities and social events. Consider your thoughts to be like your muscles; when you focus your

thoughts on achieving valued activities, your thoughts tend to appear positive, flexible and energizing.

Visual imagery can be used as an energizing workout for your thoughts. Like PMR, visual imagery can be

completed within five to ten minutes. With practice, you can create powerful positive images that include

sensations, smells, and sounds. You and your wellness coach can work on developing scripts for you to

practice visual imagery. Instructions for completing VI can be found on the MW&R website.

The key to VI is to use several of your senses, including smell, touch, taste, and vision to expand your brain’s

thinking process. You can write down a script of a place you would like to go and practice the script in your

mind while involving your senses. For example, in the picture above, you can think about how hot the sand

would feel on your feet as your start walking barefoot, you could notice the smell of salt in the air near the

ocean, and the sound of seagulls flying above you. Pick a place where you can identify a range of sensations.

Assignment

You have reviewed an extensive range of stress management techniques; so now it’s time to begin adding some

of these techniques into your daily routines. Remember the preloading technique to add in stress management

techniques, such as:

• Over the next seven days, select at least one stress management technique that you will practice for 5

minutes each morning before 10:00am (you can pick any time frame that works for you, but the

mornings are the best time for stress management), e.g.,

o Monday – deep breathing after I get out of bed and before I have breakfast in the kitchen

o Tuesday – preloading my plans for Wednesday – I will sit down after dinner, around 7:00pm,

and plan out my value-driven activities that need to get done on Wednesday

o Wednesday – I will practice gratitude journaling at the kitchen table while I’m eating breakfast

and before I leave the house for work

o Thursday – I will practice deep breathing and PMR for 10 minutes in my office at 9:30am before

I have to go into a series of very stressful meetings

o Friday – I will walk with my office mate at lunch for 15 minutes

Relaxation Techniques – Stress Management for Your · PDF file1 Updated on November 25,...

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