Well, what can I say about that exercise.
It was pretty much the same experience that I have done a fair few times in the past. This type of guided relaxation exercise isn't anything new to me. My last term I took a Stress Management class and I got to do tons of these things. To top it off, part of my training in massage therapy was all about relaxation and different techniques to help reach a relaxed state of being, so there you go.
Still effective, but nothing new.
Oh well, I will give a description of it anyway.
I did this exercise in a recliner with my laptop on my legs. It was fairly quiet in the house since my son was down for his afternoon nap. Normally, I try to lay down on either the floor or my bed to do meditations like this, but I wanted to do something a little different. I was still able to reach a level of relaxation...that is until my husband turned the carpet shampooer back on downstairs. No worries, I was still able to experience what the exercise talked about.
Instead of directing the blood flow to my arms and hands, I directed it to my shoulders since that is where I tend to feel my stress gather. In my mind I made a diagram of my body, with a bright red pulsing color which represented my blood flow. Most of it was in my stomach region. When the voice told me to make it flow to my arms and hands, I simply imagined the red color seeping slowly to my shoulders and staying there. I immediately felt my shoulders get rather hot, like someone had draped a hot towel across them. My shoulders also felt heavy and it felt like they moved down a little. When the voice said to redirect the blood flow back to my stomach, I imagined the red color draining out of my shoulders and pooling back to my tummy. As I did this, my shoulders became cool again and my tummy got a little warmer. After that, I played around for a moment or two, sending my blood to different parts of my body and feeling them get hot and then cold. It was kind of interesting.
When the shampooer came on, that brought me back to awareness and I left the exercise. All in all, it was good to feel relaxed even if it only lasted for a short while.
Melissa "Mel"
It's funny you said you played around with it...I tried and tried and even though I have beeen successful with similar exercises I couldn't get the reaction out of my feet. Maybe it just goes to show how stressed I really was at the time and trying again under different circumstances may produce the wanted result.
ReplyDeleteHi Mel,
ReplyDeleteThat is very cool that you have experienced this before also that this is part of what you do for your work. I on the other hand have never experienced anything like this before. I really liked it however feel as though I did not experience it to the fullest. I was relaxed and was able to direct the blood flow to my arms and hands however felt extremely tired and was almost falling asleep. The man said that one should feel energetic and I was far from that. I am definitely going to try and find other relaxation exercises or try this one again after reading your post. Thanks for the encouragement to try this further.
-Ashley
Hi Mel, This is a great explanation of the exercise. It is really cool that you have a lot of experience with this, I wonder if one becomes better able to connect with the body the more times you do this type of exercise? It's very interesting that you said you played around with the blood flow a little, that is so very cook that you have that ability. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSue