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Top Five Ways To Relax When Flying
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Number One - The 5-4-3-2-1
Use the 5-4-3-2-1 Exercise. This is a "band aid" fix. More powerful control that works automatically is available by taking an advanced course on fear of flying.
Start by doing the 5-4-3-2-1 every five minutes. Then every fifteen minutes. Then every hour. It is nothing more than a focusing exercise, something to intensely occupy your mind so disturbing thoughts can't take hold.
- Sit or recline comfortably.
- Focus on some object in front of you.
- Keep your focus on that throughout the exercise.
If your eyes drift off, just bring them back. Do the exercise out loud first. Then, try it silently. See if one works better for you than the other.
- Say "I see" and name something in your peripheral vision.
- Say "I see" and name something else in your peripheral vision.
- Continue until you have made five statements.
For example: I see the lamp, I see the table, I see a spot on the lamp shade, I see a book on the table, I see a picture on the table.
- Say "I hear" and name something you hear.
- Say "I hear" and name something else you hear.
- Continue until you have made five statements.
NOTE: you will have to repeat something if there are not five different things you can hear.
- Say "I feel" and name something you hear. (not internal, like heart pounding or tension, but external).
- Say "I hear" and name something else you hear.
Continue until you have made five statements.For example: I feel the chair under me, I feel my arm against my leg, etc.
That completes one cycle. It takes intense concentration. That is exactly what you want. As you concentrate on non-threatening things, the "fight or flight" hormones in your body when you started the exercise get burned off. As they are, you get more relaxed. You don't make yourself relax. You use up the stress hormones to let yourself relax.
Start the next cycle, but make one change. If you always made five statements, you soon could do the exercise without intense concentration, and your mind could drift back to "bad" thoughts. You can keep concentration intense by making one change each cycle. Instead of doing five statements again, do four statements. Then, in the following cycle, do three statements. Then, in the next cycle, do two statements. Then, in the next cycle, do one statement.
Stop when you are as relaxed as you want to be. If you want to be more relaxed - or to fall asleep - continue by starting again at five statements. If you lose count, that is a good sign because it means you are getting relaxed, so relaxed that you are losing count.
Number Two - Worry Once
The first time you worry about a flight and imagine something going wrong, you probably are aware that you are engaging in imagination. So long as you know you are just imagining something, it isn't hard to dismiss it. But if you repeatedly imagine something going wrong, that thing you imagine becomes memorized. Once memorized, it comes to mind - not via imagination - but from memory. That makes it hard to dismiss. It seems factual. This makes it hard to dismiss as imagination, for after all, it isn't imagination any more. By memorizing it, you gave it the same authority as something that has actually happened.
The best approach is preventative. Worry so masterfully the first time that you don't need to revisit the issue. If you do keep coming back, quickly turn to the 5-4-3-2-1 to calm yourself. A calmer mind may be able to dismiss the subject.
Number Three - Rubber Band
This is therapist Jerilyn Ross's invention. Wear a rubber band on your wrist. As soon as you are revisiting the problematic thought, snap the rubber band. After a few times, the sting of the rubber band will stand in the way of continued thought.
Number Four - Music Filters Out Plane Noises
Keep the "auditory channel" of your mind occupied. Bring along an audio player with plenty of music.
Or, if you have an iPod or other MP3 or MP4 player, you may want to download "Take Me Along" which coaches you through your flight, explains what causes the motions and the noises, and what is going on in the cockpit.
Number Five - Keep Visually Busy
Anxiety is primarily triggered by visual imagination. Though a sound may startle you, it is the visualization that you are up high that make the sound a problem. Keep the "visual channel" of your mind fully occupied with something concrete to keep imagination from gaining a foothold.
Buy several magazines with splashy color pictures. Just flip through the pictures to keep the "visual" part of your mind busy. This is a great time to focus on needlepoint or puzzles, if you like those activities.
Or bring a DVD player, or a video game. Still bring magazines; you are not allowed to use the DVD player or video game during takeoff or landing.
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