Relaxation Techniques
Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is the act of breathing deep into your lungs by flexing your diaphragm rather than breathing shallowly by flexing your rib cage.
This deep breathing is marked by expansion of the stomach (abdomen) rather than the chest when breathing. It is generally considered a healthier and fuller way to ingest oxygen, and is often used as a therapy for hyperventilation and anxiety disorders.
A common diaphragmatic breathing exercise is as follows:
Sit or lie comfortably, with loose garments.
Put one hand on your chest and one on your stomach.
Slowly inhale through your nose or through pursed lips (to slow down the intake of breath).
As you inhale, feel your stomach expand with your hand. If your chest expands, focus on breathing with your diaphragm.
Slowly exhale through pursed lips to regulate the release of air.
Rest and repeat.
Exercise
Physical exercise is manual activity that develops or maintains physical fitness and overall health. It is often practiced to strengthen muscles and the cardiovascular system, and to hone athletic skills. Frequent and regular physical exercise boosts the immune system, and helps prevent diseases of affluence such as heart disease, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity. It is also improves mental health and helps prevent depression.
Exercises are generally grouped into three types depending on the overall effect they have on the human body:
Flexibility exercises such as stretching improve the range of motion of muscles and joints.
Aerobic exercises such as cycling, walking, running, hiking, and playing tennis focus on increasing cardiovascular endurance.
Anaerobic exercises such as weight training, functional training or sprinting increase short-term muscle strength.
Listening to music
Music is an art form consisting of sound and silence expressed through time. Elements of sound as used in music are pitch (including melody and harmony), rhythm (including tempo and meter), and sonic qualities of timbre, articulation, dynamics, and texture.
The creation, performance, significance and even the definition of music, vary according to culture and social context. Music ranges from strictly organized compositions and performances to improvisational or aleatoric forms. For purposes of discussion and exploration of the topic, music is divided into genres and sub-genres, although the dividing lines and relationships between music genres are often unclear and/or controversial. Within “the arts”, music can be classified as a performing art, a fine art, or an auditory art form.
Music may also involve generative forms in time through the construction of patterns and combinations of natural stimuli, principally sound. Music may be used for artistic or aesthetic, communicative, entertainment, ceremonial or religious purposes and by many composers purely as an academic instrument for study.
Massage
Massage is derived from the Greek word meaning “to work with the hands, as in kneading dough”. Massage is the practice of manipulation of the soft tissues of the body in order to fulfill any of several physical, functional/mechanical, and/or emotional goals. This may be achieved via structured, unstructured, stationary, and/or moving pressure, tension, motion, or vibration — manually or with mechanical aids. The target tissues may include muscles, tendons, ligaments, skin, joints, or other connective tissue, as well as, lymphatic vessels, and/or organs of the gastrointestinal system. Massage can be applied with the hands, fingers, elbows, forearm, and feet and there are over 80 different types of massage. The most cited reasons for introduction was patient demand and clincal effectiveness.
There are many beneficial effects of massage, including pain relief, stress reduction but also relief of many diseases.
Theories behind what massage might do include blocking pain signals to the brain (gate control theory), activating the parasympathetic nervous system, stimulating the release of endorphins and serotonin, preventing fibrosis or scar tissue, increasing the flow of lymph, and improving sleep.
Massage can be performed by a professional Massage Therapist, or by other health care professionals, such as Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Athletic trainers, and/or Physical Therapists. Massage therapists work in hospitals as Allied health professions, nursing homes, sports and fitness facilities, spas, beauty salons, cruise ships, private offices, and travel to private residences or businesses. Contraindications to massage include, deep vein thrombosis, bleeding disorders or taking blood thinners such as Warfarin, damaged blood vessels, weakened bones from cancer, osteoporosis, or fractures, and fever.
In professional settings, massage involves the client being treated while lying on a massage table, sitting upright in a massage chair, or lying on a pad on the floor. Except for modalities such as Acupressure, Shiatsu, Tui Na, Thai Massage, or Barefoot Deep Tissue, the massage subject is generally unclothed or partially unclothed, also referred to as disrobed, and their body would be “draped” with towels or sheets. The client and therapist should discuss the type of treatment expected which includes the intention of the massage (relaxation, invigoration, etc.), preferred techniques, areas to be massaged and to be avoided, and the amount of pressure that is comfortable. They will then gather the patients medical history, informed consent, and data on their current physical condition.
Meditation
Meditation describes a state of concentrated attention on some object of thought or awareness. It usually involves turning the attention inward to a single point of reference. Meditation is often recognized as a component of eastern religions, where it has been practiced for over 5,000 years. Different meditative disciplines encompass a wide range of spiritual and/or psychophysical practices which can emphasize development of either a high degree of mental concentration, or the apparent converse, mental quiescence.
The word meditation comes from the Latin meditatio, which originally indicated every type of physical or intellectual exercise, then later evolved into the more specific meaning “contemplation.”
Eastern spiritual teachings, including meditation, have been adapted and increasingly practiced in Western culture.
Qigong
Qigong or chi kung is an aspect of traditional Chinese medicine involving the coordination of different breathing patterns with various physical postures and motions of the body. Qigong is mostly taught for health maintenance purposes, but there are also some who teach it as a therapeutic intervention. Various forms of traditional qigong are also widely taught in conjunction with Chinese martial arts, and are especially prevalent in the advanced training of what are known as the Neijia, or internal martial arts where the object is the full mobilization and proper coordination and direction of the energies of the body as they are applied to facilitate all physical actions.
There are currently more than 3,300 different styles and schools of qigong.[citation needed] Qigong relies on the traditional Chinese belief that the body has something that might be described as an “energy field” generated and maintained by the natural respiration of the body, known as qi. Qi means breath or gas in Chinese, and, by extension, the energy produced by breathing that keeps us alive; gong means work applied to a discipline or the resultant level of technique. Qigong is then “breath work” or the art of managing one’s breathing in order to achieve and maintain good health, and (especially in the martial arts) to enhance the energy mobilization and stamina of the body in coordination with the physical process of respiration.
Attitudes toward the scientific basis (or lack of it) for qigong vary markedly. Most Western medical practitioners, many practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, as well as the Chinese government view qigong as a set of breathing and movement exercises, with possible benefits to health through stress reduction and exercise. Others see qigong in more metaphysical terms, claiming that breathing and movement exercises can help one tap the fundamental energies of the universe.
Reflexology
Reflexology, or zone therapy, is the practice of massaging, squeezing, or pushing on parts of the feet, or sometimes hands and ears, supposedly to encourage a beneficial effect on some other parts of the body or to try to improve general health.
Reflexology practitioners do not agree on how their practice might work. The one unifying theme is the claim that areas on the foot correspond to areas of the body, and that manipulating these can improve heath.[citation needed] Some practitioners[attribution needed] believe these zones reflect energy (Qi), and that blockages of energy in the body are reflected through “grit” or “lumps” on the foot.
Reflexology has no basis in science, and there are concerns[attribution needed] over the efficacy of this treatment, and about the safety of using such a therapy instead of conventional medicine.
People use relaxation techniques for the following reasons, among others:
• Anger management
• Anxiety attacks
• Cardiac health
• Depression
• General well-being
• Headache
• High blood pressure
• Immune system support
• Insomnia
• Pain management
• Stress management
