Know the saying ‘if a job’s worth a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing well’. Well, why should relaxation be any different?
There really isn’t an all encompassing ‘quick fix drive thru’ approach to relaxation. If you think you can’t afford to relax, then think again as you really can’t afford not to.
At the simplest level, relaxation is about doing stuff you enjoy just for the fun of doing it. The amount of time you invest in relaxation will have a knock on effect and energise all aspects of your life.
The next step is to actively engage in a programme of relaxation. This is about taking control of your mood, emotion and energy. It’s really about taking control of your life by building time into your schedule to sit still, do nothing and re-energize.
People rarely make the excuse that they don’t have enough time to eat, drink, sleep, breath or go to the lavatory. If they do then it suggests that maybe their lives are out of balance and therefore they are not completely in control.
Make minor changes
The first step is to find out where all of your time is going by keeping a note of everything you do for a week. This is the basic data on which you create a new life plan.
Sometimes minor changes can have a great impact. For instance, you may find that sitting still, deep breathing and letting your body relax for just twenty minutes at the end of the day will help you get better sleep, increase your energy levels, improve your performance and free up even more time.
Although there isn’t a quick fix, a good first step is to learn how to breathe properly again. We tend to breath more shallowly when we’re stressed affecting our physiology and adding to the stress. It becomes a vicious circle.
Practising deep breathing exercises can help you regain control of physiology. In sports psychology relaxation has become a ‘basic skill’. Top athletes need to be able to control their bodies and being able to relax is part of that.
