Day 10 "Relaxation"

Today we learned to relax, letting our minds and bodies 'chill out' for 10-15 minutes per day. Steven gave us a simple, 9 step, relaxation technique. I found the steps easy, but with ADHD it takes concentration to get my mind to quit thinking about things that just pop into it. In step 7 Steven does tell us that this can be tricky and with some practice I'm sure I'll get better.

There are other relaxation techniques and Steven tells us that whichever one we use we need to make it a daily thing.

1. Choose a quiet haven for you. Your bedroom, the bathroom, the garage, anywhere where you won’t be disturbed.

2. Do a few gentle stretching exercises to loosen up your muscles, so muscle tension won’t be a distraction for you.

3. Get comfortable in a chair, or lye down on a mat of some kind.

4. Start to slowly breath in, as you breath in let your lungs fill and push your stomach out, a la pregnant pose. When you exhale, do it slowly, and when you exhale pull your stomach in to try and get your stomach to the inside of your back, in other words pull your stomach in as far as you can. Do this 5 times.

5. Now gently tense, then relax, each part of your body starting from you feet and work your way upwards.

6. As you are tensing each area, think of a warm glow coming into that area, with a relaxed heaviness.

7. If any thoughts come to mind, just let them drift by without attaching to them. This can be tricky at first but with practice you will learn to let thoughts drift through your mind.

8. Once you have completed a round of tensing and relaxing your body. Take a few minutes to go to a place in your mind that you find extremely relaxing: A garden, a waterfall, the beach, anywhere that brings you a feeling of peace and serenity.

9. Stay like this for about 15 minutes. Now take some deep breathes in, pushing out your stomach, and exhale slowly pulling in your stomach. Lie for another few moments before getting up.