A stiff body is often a sign of a ‘stiff’ or stressful mind, it’s thought. Now the harmful stress that comes from negative thoughts and ideas shows itself in the form of muscle tension in your body which compounds detrimental effects suffered by arthritis sufferers.
You can help relieve your body’s tension, even soothe arthritic pain and release your mind’s anxiety just with the simple relaxation methods listed here with step by step instructions.
DEEP BELLY BREATHING
Most of us breathe shallowly when we are stressed. It’s affecting the way our bodies can and can not relax. When we take shallow breaths, we aren’t getting as much oxygen into our bodies and into our bloodstream as possible.
This hinders our body’s ability to release tension.By following these steps outlined, you’ll be able to relearn the correct way of breathing.
• Sit in a comfortable position with your back straight and your chin up.
• Take one hand and place it on your chest.
• Take the other hand and place it on your stomach.
• Try to take breaths that allow the hand on your stomach to rise and to fall. It might feel a little weird to move your stomach in and out, but it gets easier with time.
• Continue to practice this movement until it becomes second nature.
You can practice this deeper breathing no matter where you are and what you’re doing. In time, you will begin to breathe this deeply all the time, keeping your body as loose and as limber as possible.
MEDITATION
Meditation is so beneficial but it seems to have received some poor publicity over the years as many varied groups even New Age practices well, seemed weird. But while the New Age craze might have popularized meditation, it’s actually a practice that has been around for centuries.
Like daydreaming, you take your mind to a place where there is no pain and no stiffness. And as you practice doing so, you can teach your mind to be this still and calm all the time.
Here is a simple way to meditate:
• Find a comfortable spot to sit (laying down often leads to a nap).
• Close your eyes and think about how you are breathing.
• Simply count your inhalation and then your exhalation. Breathe in One. Breathe out Two. Continue to count to yourself in this way.
All you are doing is focusing on your breaths, in and out. Whenever another thought comes into your mind, accept that it’s there and then try to release it in order to empty your mind once more.
Just 10 minutes a day has been shown to not only help arthritis sufferers reduce pain, but meditation especially with a relaxation meditation CD also helps to strengthen the immune system and lower anxiety levels.
Found between 8-12 Hz, alpha brain waves are shown by an alert mind yet very calm. When you relax and close your eyes these brainwaves are increased. These brainwaves work to move you towards imagination, thinking that is intuitive, and deep relaxation. Other effects are being able to recover from harmful stress or emotional distress and brainwave meditation, try a free alpha MP3
Mind Power MP3 can be extremely theraputic for some offering deep relaxation states and restorative sleep.
Choosing to become a bit more relaxed will help you and your body. You can choose to try all of these techniques or just some – something is better than nothing, after all.You can also improve your health and finances even with mind movies .
