Eight techniques to induce relaxation for the mind and body

July 13, 3:19 PMDenver Health and Happiness ExaminerLibby Murphy

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Relaxation techniques deactivate the body’s five senses temporarily so it can calm down, and then replace the negative perceptions with nonthreatening ones, intercepting the stress response so the body can return to homeostasis. Both the mind and the body must relax, and this allows for increased self-awareness. Although it might sound complicated, these techniques are fairly simple to find, and chances are you've probably heard of them before!

Music therapy: Singing, listening to, or performing music in order to promote relaxation and homeostasis. The biochemical theory of music therapy postulates that when music is interpreted through the eardrum, the brain converts the sounds into neurochemicals, and a person identifies them as pleasant or not. The metaphysical therapy states that music is a give from God, and a way to refresh the spirit, or find entrance into a higher world. It promotes relaxation, reduces pain, and can help with mental imagery.

Meditation: Calms the mind from sensory overload, and allows a person to reflect internally, achieve higher awareness, and to live in the present moment. There are many ways to meditate, but the goal is to promote relaxation, mindfulness, and an altered state of consciousness. Meditation helps to improve mental health and help people change behavior to combat problems like unhealthy habits (smoking or drug use, for example) and insomnia.

Biofeedback: A process that measures information regarding specific bodily functions (heart rate, body temperature, and respiration). It can help treat pain insomnia, stress, headaches, ulcers, hypertension, bruxism, and Raynaud’s disease. It helps people learn to recondition their responses to stress so they can become more empowered over their bodies’ response to stressful stimuli.

Hatha Yoga: Improving the overall health status of practitioners, it relieves chronic pain and stress through diaphragmatic breathing and postures (asanas), relaxation, and it increases body awareness through these methods. Practicing yoga can help a person attain individual peace, which will help them maintain emotional balance during stressful situations.

Guided imagery: Guidance through a series of suggestions by an instructor, therapist, or counselor to enhance one’s imagination; a sort of mental training or rehearsal for a positive, desired effect. It involves many components of meditation, and expands awareness of consciousness in the mind’s eye, turning down the five senses in order to focus on the imagination. It promotes a calming effect like meditation, and also has a healing effect for some.

Nutrition: Involving digestion, absorption, metabolism, and elimination, nutrition describes how the body process the foods we eat. Eating healthful foods that include the right amount of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals is essential to maintaining healthy levels of stress, weight, and immunity. Conversely, when we eat foods that are deficient in these components, we are less able to handle stress, have unhealthy weight, and our immune systems suffer. When it comes to food, I think the best thing I can say about it is that knowledge is power, and researching what you put in your body is of the utmost importance.

Physical exercise: Strengthens the integrity of the body’s physiological systems by increasing heart rate and blood pressure to redistribute blood from the abdominal region to the limbs, increases ventilation and circulation for more oxygen, and releases catecholamines and stress hormones to metabolize fat and carbohydrates. While it activates the fight-or-flight response, the difference between physical exercise and stress is that after physical exercise, the body goes back into homeostasis (parasympathetic rebound), and even more so for those who are well-trained. In addition to stress, it also helps to reduce insomnia, chronic pain, frustration, anger, anxiety, and weight.

Tai Chi Ch’uan: Achieving harmony and balance with the vital life by moving with energy in unison with the universe. It is a low-impact exercise that releases the body’s network of meridians to maintain good health (biologically, psychologically, and sociologically). Not only does it promote the use of energy, it also combats hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular deficiency, osteoporosis, reduced libido, chronic pain, cancer, and senility. It is a “moving meditation” and requires the correct use of diaphragmatic breathing with graceful movement, gait balance, low center of gravity, and consistent speed to integrate the mind and body.

Many people try one or a combination of these techniques to manage stress and maintain a healthy mind-body balance, and it may take some experimentation before you find what works best for you. It is important to consult with your healthcare practitioner before starting a new wellness program, especially if you are currently under the care of a practitioner for a pre-existing condition.