Quick Relaxation

At times you may have only a couple of minutes but you know that you need to calm down.  I am going to describe a technique that takes about two minutes to do and works very well.  Close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths.  You can continue deep breaths with slow exhalations throughout or return to normal rhythmic breathing.  Try both and see what works best for you.  With your eyes closed, focus passively on the top of your head and mentally say, "the top of my head is relaxing."  Focus on your temples and say, "my temples are relaxing."  Continue with your eyes, cheeks, mouth, jaws and chin, neck, arms and hands, back, chest stomach, lower abdomen, legs and feet.  With each part, focus passively, mentally say that that part is relaxing, then move on.  It should not be rushed, but don't linger on each part either.  If any part of your body is particularly tense, you might take a bit longer with it.  For example, if your back is tight, focus on the top of your back first, the middle of your back next and your lower back last.  Then say, "my whole back is relaxed."  Once you have gone through your whole body, do a quick body scan.  If any part is still tight, again focus on it and say that it is relaxing.  Finish by mentally saying, "my whole body is relaxed."  You can do this little exercise every one to two hours if you wish.  You will find that at the end of the day you are significantly more relaxed than you usually are.