Yesterday I had you breathe with me. Today, I want you to again find a nice quiet place where you can relax for about 15-20 minutes. We are going to practice some guided imagery. Guided imagery is another great way to completely relax and take control of your thoughts. Anytime you feel your thoughts start to stray during this process, just bring them back to focus on our task at hand. I have gone through a few YouTube videos that I thought were really nice to listen and relax to. I had no problem escaping into these peaceful places. Just click the links under the three pictures below. The last one was my favorite ;-) Click a link, close your eyes, listen, and relax.
I hope you found this blog interesting and relaxing. I know the research was certainly relaxing after sitting there with my eyes closed and going through several videos til I found a few I really liked. I'm going to actually get ready to head to bed soon.
Today I just want you to breathe with me for a while. Find a place that you can be uninterrupted for about 5 minutes. If you are at home, make this a zen moment. Fix a cup of tea. Light some candles. Turn all distracting noises off and turn a fan or other white noise on.
Relax
Inhale deeply through your nose for a 4 count
1 2 3 4
Hold that breath for a 7 count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Exhale through your mouth for an 8 count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Feel a bit clearer headed?
Let's do this again. Repeat the above steps beginning with relax. Repeat until you have some mental clarity and control of your thoughts.
I have found myself doing this up to four or five times til my brain is focusing on my breathing only and not on anything else around me. At this point, I am clear headed and ready to move on to spending some time in my "Happy Place," doing guided imagery exercises (which I have only done twice now), or commencing whatever task I was preparing myself for. In today's case, it was my blogging. I have found that doing these controlled breathing exercises in the morning with my tea helps me wake up faster and be more alert. This technique was taught to me by my therapist as one way to cope when dealing with anxieties. When you start to get anxious, do these breathing exercises and take control of your brain and thinking processes before your anxieties do. The process of keeping track of the breathing and the counts allows you to have control of the thinking. The deep breaths allows nice full loads of oxygen to get to your brain for better mental clarity.
