Within my course material there was an
exercise in relaxation called ~Journey on Relaxation. Basically it was an audio of a soft spoken
gentleman guiding the listeners in feeling the blood which, in a resting state
is centrally located in the core of our bodies, move into our arms and hands
using our thoughts to promote the muscles in those areas to relax. Using slow,
deep breaths and quiet, inner thought suggestions, I was able to feel the
blood from my core (which makes it heavy and warm feeling) move into my arms
and hands which in turn made the warm and heavy feeling enter those parts, and
then return to my core upon issuing a new thought to do so.
This, like many other relaxation tapes proved
to be highly effective in focusing my attention (which is typically spread out
in many directions) to the present moment and onto myself. I was able to stop my mind from wondering to the many things that I have to get done to this one task.
After spending time with my mom, quite a bit
of time reading, designing this blog and completing other class work, as well
as other day to day interruptions to my information and thought processing for
both courses, this brief exercise in focusing my thoughts and energy to relax
my muscles and mind, seemed to relieve me of the stress and tensions I did not
even realize I was feeling at the time until, by experiencing this exercise, they were gone and I felt better.
Now I can return to my work, less stressed,
less anxious, and better able to focus and process my thoughts into words.
Sandy
