Host: How do I get my body to relax?
Jeannette Bessinger: The quickest way to get your body to relax is to actually tune into your breathing. If you notice the fact, if you take your attention and put it on breath, you bringing your attention into your body and that alone can sometimes begin to trigger a small amount of relaxation.
If you are able to spend the time, spend a couple of moments, you can allow your eyes to close focusing on the gentle inhalation and exhalation and natural rhythm of your breathing, your body will begin to shift into the parasympathetic state.
Another trick is to take a deep breath in, hold it for a moment and make your exhalation longer than your inhalation. In other words, you breathe in, you hold it and then you have a long gradual exhalation. When the body is in its stressed state we do not hold our breath, we do not exhale slowly. This tricks it into thinking that s in a more relaxed state.
The third possibility is to use a technique called progressive relaxation. In this technique, we systematically move through your body from your head to your feet or from your feet to your head clenching your muscle sets, holding them for a moment and then relaxing. This will trigger the body if you are holding chronic stress to let go and relax.
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