5 Relaxation Techniques you should know

Stress wherever the eye looks

Stress, pressure and strain are constantly increasing. According to a study, six out of 10 adults in Germany are electrified. Almost one in four state that they are often stressed out.

The greatest stress factor is the daily work (46%), but also high standards for ourselves are at the forefront (43%). At the same time, we are no longer only stressed by work, and even in our free time, we can not shake off the burden: 33% of respondents say that they suffer too many appointments during their free time. 30% can be disrupted by road traffic and 28% by the constant digital accessibility.

Now stress is not so bad at first. It is a natural reaction of our body to a challenge. When faced with such a challenge, an emergency program is activated : the pulse and blood pressure rise, our senses are sharpened, breathing becomes faster, the muscles become tense and the body provides additional energy.

This energy allows us to work at high pressure, to react immediately and to think highly concentrated. It helps you to complete your tasks quickly and effectively.

So far so good.

It only becomes problematic when the stress becomes chronic.

For every phase of stress should be followed by a period of relaxation so that the released stress hormones can be broken down again. If this does not happen, the tension is maintained.

Our body can not bring maximum performance in the long term. At some point his reserves are exhausted , the batteries are empty and it comes to collapse. Chronic overloading will sooner or later lead to physical discomfort , depression or burnout.

If you do not want to get that far, stick to this simple principle: relaxation should be followed by tension!

Therefore, it makes sense to practice relaxation techniques and to take them into everyday life to give your body and mind the well-deserved rest. In this way, you not only regularly provide for balance, but train your brain also incidentally to be more stress-resistant.

And that's not so complicated.

Because relaxation techniques are like sand on the sea.

5 effective relaxation techniques

In order to find one of the relaxation techniques that you like and work for you, here are five of the most effective and popular mental relaxation techniques.

1. Meditation

Meditation is actually a collective term for various mindfulness and concentration exercises and can therefore take on very different forms.

The aim of meditative procedures is to distance oneself from one's thoughts and worries, but also from external stimuli, and to evoke a deep state of relaxation. This is achieved by focusing attention on a particular image, object, melody, word or breath.

The procedure is usually as follows: You sit upright but comfortably in a quiet place and concentrate on the meditative object (image, breath, etc.). Thoughts are perceived but not pursued. You let them pass, like clouds in the sky.

A detailed description and beginner meditation can be found here: Meditate properly!

Scientific studies show that regular meditation can help with health problems such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, heart problems and pain. In addition, it seems to have a positive effect on the immune system and to be associated with fewer anxiety and depressive symptoms. It also improves brain activity and makes it more stress-resistant.

2. Body Scan

The body scan is a method in which you consciously take time to feel yourself . Piece by piece you scan your body from the bottom up. And of course you do not need an external device, just your attention.

That is, you focus on individual parts of the body to relax.

A typical course is that you focus on your toes first and then let your attention wander up the feet, calves and thighs. This is followed by the hip area, your stomach, your lower back, etc., all the way up to the top of your head.

The goal of this exercise is to consciously perceive your body without wanting to change anything without judging or reacting to it. You are practicing mindfulness that is directed to the body.

The Body Scan was made famous in particular by the American physician Jon Kabat-Zinn and is often used in psychotherapies.

3. Fantasy iron

My favorite relaxation technique is the fantasy journey, because you can let yourself be abducted to an ideal and carefree place.

Again, this is an imaginative process in which you use the power of your imagination to create deep relaxation.

Classically, you lie down for a fantasy journey, close your eyes and listen to the narrator's voice, which takes you to a wonderful place where you can relax completely. So that you can imagine the scenario as well as possible, as many pleasant sensory impressions are built into the story.

All you have to do is listen and present the inner pictures to the words of the narrator.

Even fantasy iron can be used wonderfully therapeutic, for example, by overcoming your fears in the stories of the narrator or find a solution to your problem. A nice side effect is that fantasy iron has been proven to boost creativity.

4. Autogenic training

Autogenic training is an absolute classic relaxation technique.

It is based on auto-suggestion . Your thoughts are directed to specific parts of the body by repeating certain formulas such as "My right arm is very heavy". This leads to a relaxation of the respective muscle parts. In addition to gravity, there are also rest, heat and breathing exercises.

Unlike many other relaxation techniques, autogenic training must be learned before it can be used successfully. In this respect, it is not suitable for the inexperienced, in order to reach a state of relaxation in the short term.

But also the autogenic training has proven itself scientifically: It can lower the blood pressure, increase the ability to concentrate and is used, inter alia, in the treatment of anxiety, depression, headaches, tinnitus and sleep disorders.

5. Breathing exercises

Finally, I would like to introduce you to even the simplest relaxation technique. A technique that you always carry, easy to perform and 100% free. A technique that is also perfect for emergencies of all kinds, such as when you need to calm your nerves just before an exam.

We are talking about breathing exercises.

Even a steady, deep and slow breathing has a calming effect on you, because body and mind are connected. This is evident, for example, in the fact that we breathe very flat and hectic when we are stressed. Your mental condition affects your physical processes.

Conversely, this works very well. That is, when you consciously breathe long and deep, your body relaxes.

That's why in stressful situations you always hear everyone talk about taking a deep breath first.
There are many different breathing exercises. Two of my favorite ones are the following:

• Count on inhale and exhale : Exhale for five seconds on and five seconds off. Depending on what you enjoy, you can also take any other interval, the main thing is that you breathe calmly and evenly. Inhalation should be through the nose, exhaling through the mouth. This technique also works well against nausea and pain.
• Breathe in twice as long: For example, exhale for one and six seconds for three seconds. As you exhale longer and more, your body will be forced to breathe a little longer and deeper in the next step. So your breath is getting deeper and your body and thus your mind more relaxed.

Try the different relaxation techniques for you, choose your favorite and integrate the method into your everyday life.

"Everybody should know and use at least one relaxation technique! Which is yours? "