One Snarky Chica with Issues

It often seems that life is full of stress. From demanding bosses to crying children to rush-hour traffic, we all have various factors in our daily lives that result in unwanted stress.  Without management of it and its effects on your body, stress can take a serious toll on your well being. Persistent stress can lead to chronic health problems including: headaches, fatigue, a lack of concentration, depression, irritability, isolation, resentment and insomnia. 

Relaxation techniques are an often overlooked form of highly effective stress management.  Taking time out to relax should not be something that is done as a result of being stressed out, instead is should be a habit that is part of a daily regimen to combat stress before it overwhelms you.  Relaxation techniques are not only a simple and effective way to combat stress; they are a free way for you cleanse your life of its daily stressors.

While you can go to a professional to learn relaxation techniques for things such as yoga; there is really no need to spend any money on such things when you can learn them on your own either online or from books or DVDs, which you could get for free from a local library.

Meditation offers a great way to use relaxation techniques to overcome your stress you might be feeling.  With meditation you have a few different options as to your specific technique. You could use body awareness and imagery by imaging a peaceful place in your mind, the focus on slowing your breathing and relaxing your body limb by limb.  Another form of meditation which I am most familiar with involves your focus on tensing up and then relaxing your body muscle by muscle. When I do this, I sit in a comfortable chair and start with my feet and work my way up tensing and then relaxing each muscle. What happens is that by the time you are done your body feels almost weightless as every single muscle in your body is at a complete and total state of relaxation. Time seems fluid and you feel as if you are just floating in your chair. Whenever I do this I feel completely refreshed and stress free. I recommend doing this with a ‘nature sounds’ CD or sound machine on in the background. I like to listen to ‘summer rain’ as I do this relaxation technique. The other type of meditation is completely visual and relies on using visual imagery to take you to peaceful places. Once there, you should try to employ all six of your senses for a full experience.

Besides mediation, other relaxation techniques you can do at home include yoga, listening to classical music or nature sounds as mentioned above, tai chi, gardening, light exercise, massage and hypnosis.  If you consider yourself to be artistic and enjoy doing artistic things, painting, drawing or writing might also prove to be great relaxation techniques for you.  There are also some people that achieve relaxation in cooking.

Some of these techniques are even able to be utilized at work.  If you are getting stressed out at your job, take along a relaxing CD to listen to or utilize the empty stairwell for some light meditation or exercise. If the weather is nice out, you may also want to consider taking a short walk. Getting away from the office and experiencing a bit of nature will do wonders for your stress level.