Excel Training & Consulting

Often people are time-poor and can’t meditate for 20 or 30 minutes a day.  Alternatively, why not invest just a few minutes and use one of these quick techniques? Remember you can do quick techniques slowly!

Breathe

When we’re anxious or stressed we tend to breathe in a quicker and more shallow fashion. It therefore makes sense that if you want to feel calmer then breathe differently.

Aim for a point just below the navel. Breathe easily and comfortably (not deeply) down to this point. Practise holding your breath down at that same point for the count of 2 before you exhale. You could add to this method of breathing by taking a shorter breath in and a longer breath out.

Yoga, Tai Chi, Mediation, Hypnosis and Self Hypnosis usually revolve around breathing. Typically we breathe without being aware of it (unconsciously), but you can breathe consciously and take more control over how you feel.

Imagine

Sit comfortably and imagine a place that you associate with relaxation or serenity. Choose a beach, a garden, the countryside, or maybe somewhere indoors, such as laying back on a cosy chair.

As you think about that place, immerse yourself into the experience, step into yourself as if you were there right now. Utilise your senses. Breathe how you’d breathe if you were there. See, hear, feel, smell and enjoy the experience. Feel the texture of the chair, or the grass or feel the sun on your arms, or the warm sand between your toes, notice the scenery around you, both near and far, and the sounds of nature, or your favourite music, or simply the stillness in the air, and what smells do you associate with an enjoyably relaxed state? Just pretend you can smell the aroma, scent or perfume in the air. Immerse yourself in the experience and gently bring yourself back.

Remember the more vivdly you imagine an experience the more your unconscious mind thinks it’s real.

Talk to yourself!

This is probably what you’re trying to stop doing! You may have found this is very challenging. Try now to stop thinking for the next 15 seconds. Most likely you found yourself thinking about when those 15 seonds were going to be up!

We are thinking beings, so the idea is to take at least temporary control over that internal voice. Change the content of the thought to a very simple, ‘My thoughts are slowing down’. At the same time slow down the pace of your internal voice so it’s a quarter of the speed that it just was and change the tone to a very relaxing one (known as submodalities in NLP). My….thoughts…are…slowing….down….

Use a scale

Counting down methods are simple and quick ways to relax. For example you could:

1. Imagine walking down a set of 10 stairs.
2. Imagine going down a set of escalators.
3. Imagine going down in an elevator/lift.

 .

A method I like to use is to close my eyes, allow myself to relax and let go and then just notice where I am on a scale between 1 and 10. 1 represents deep calmness and 10 represents stress. Let’s say I’m at 6. I then play a game and just pretend I'm one number lower. How do I breathe when I’m one number lower, how much more comfortable would I feel? What part of my body would feel more comfortable? What about going down to 4 or 3 or even 2? Don’t try, just pretend or imagine that you are going down the scale and enjoy the results.

Move your body

• Adopt a different posture. How do you hold your body when you feel relaxed?
• Alternatively, just move your body, maybe some light exercise for a few minutes.
• Maybe you could just sit or lay back in a comfortable place for a short while.

Ultimately you want to send a message to your brain that you’re in a relaxed state and changing your posture, facial expressions and the way you're breathing is probably the quickest way of doing just that….now ……before we finish……

Remember that relaxation is a discipline. You get good at it by investing regular time practising techniques.Sso start those few minutes. Pick your favoured technique, take a comfortable breath and relax.