Look After Your Mind – Deep Relaxation
The word relax comes from Latin and means to loosen or open. It is also linked to free, as in free up. Relaxing deeply is not just a physical process, but also a loosening up of thoughts; a kind of quiet and gentle concentration that focuses the mind on pleasant things. Here’s a script I use when I want to relax. If you try it, I recommend getting someone with a soothing voice to record it for you, speaking quietly and slowly. When you wish to listen, sit somewhere peaceful where you will not be disturbed. Close your eyes, though this is not essential, but if you keep them open stare at the floor or a blank space on the wall and don’t let your gaze wander. Now notice your body and deliberately relax your muscles, then enjoy…
‘As you sit here quietly, undisturbed, begin to let your thoughts come together to create an impression of a place that’s pleasant and comfortable, a place that you can enjoy. And to make that place clear and vivid in your mind, notice the colours you find there; picking out those distinct and separate colours in this place where you imagine yourself to be. (Pause) And you can notice the sounds you find there, becoming more aware of those clear and individual sounds in this place where you imagine yourself to be. (Pause) And if you’d like to explore the textures you find there, then in your mind you can reach out and feel the shapes and the surfaces of things and be delighted by the great variety of textures in this place where you imagine yourself to be, this place which is so pleasant and comfortable and enjoyable for you. (Pause) And I don’t know if you’ll imagine a place that’s well known and familiar to you, or allow yourself to enjoy somewhere that’s delightfully new and different… And I’m not sure how far you’ll deliberately choose the features of this place where you imagine yourself to be, or simply allow ideas to drift into your mind all by themselves. But you know, whatever happens, you can increase your enjoyment of this place that you’re thinking about by continuing to notice new and interesting details. And however those details come into your mind, you’ll find yourself enjoying this place more and more as you become more and more relaxed moment by moment; more and more relaxed as you simply enjoy this place and this experience of where you imagine yourself to be…’
There’s no need to come back to the here-and-now at this point. Even after the recording has finished you can keep your imagined place in your mind’s eye. If you imagine the same place each time, you’ll find it becomes increasingly vivid, and because you’re associating it with feeling relaxed, each time you mentally recreate your special place you’ll find that your state of relaxation becomes ever deeper.
Steve Bowkett
Christmas Cheer with Best Wishes
