Wellbeing Wednesday, relaxation techniques

Welcome to Wellbeing Wednesday a new segment where we sit down with selectability’s in-house Counsellor Suzanne Bocking to ask her about some wellbeing techniques, tips and tricks that you can add into your daily routine to improve your mental wellbeing.

To start Wellbeing Wednesday we sat down with Suz to chat about relaxation techniques.

Life can sometimes through curve balls at us often at times we least expect, resulting in strong emotions including increased levels of stress.

Relaxation can be something small that you can add into your daily, weekly or even monthly routine to help relive any symptoms of stress.

Before we touch on Suz’s top relaxation techniques we asked her to help explain what stress is…

"Stress is quite common, we all need a bit of stress each day- this helps us get out of bed for work, make appointments on time etc. Some level of stress is in fact normal and should not be confused with anxiety or depression.

"You see stress is one of our body’s instant responses."

 At times when your levels of stress rise you may find it quite difficult to find a sense of peace and calm.

But that is where relaxation techniques can be useful!

"Relaxation is simply put a state of peace and release from tensions, anxiety and fear and techniques can help to relax both the mind and body.” Everyone will have different ways to relax depending on the type of stress.

"For example some people will prefer breathing exercises or progressive muscle relaxation where you can physically feel relief. While others will use techniques that are driven internally such as meditation and mindfulness."

Learning to relax will take practice and you shouldn’t be hard on yourself if a technique doesn’t work the first time around. Maybe try another technique and remember that practice makes perfect.

Here are Suz’s top four relaxation techniques
And the best thing is you can repeat these as many times as you need

1. Breathing exercises – Box technique
   Box breathing is an easy technique that you can do anytime, anywhere – it is easy for you to slip this breathing exercise into your day.
   a) First, you will want to breathe in through your nose while counting to four internally.
   b) Second, you will hold that breathe for the count of four.
   c) Third, exhale your breathe out through your mouth while counting to four.
   d) And finally, internally count to four to reset your box.
2. Muscle relaxation
   A simple and quick technique you can do is to tense your whole body.
   a) Starting from your head tense your muscles all the way down to your toes.
   a) Sit or lay with that tension and hold for as long as you can (without feeling any pain).
   b) Working backwards – starting from your toes back up to your head – slowly release the tension you are holding.
   c) When you a realising your tension take time to acknowledge the physical feeling of that sensation leaving your body.
   
3. Grounding activity
   Another easy technique that you can do almost anywhere!
   An activity called 3-2-1
   a) The first step is to look around the room and name 3 things that you can see around you. For instance, a painting on the wall. It can be helpful to say these things out loud.
   b) The second step is to focus on 2 things that you can feel. Suppose that you notice how the sun feels on your skin or the couch that you are sitting on.
   c) The third step is to name 1 thing that you can hear around you. For example, you may become aware of the traffic in the background.
   d) The fourth step is to notice two things that you can smell around you right now. To illustrate, you may notice the smell of grass or perhaps the smell of perfume wafting around. If you can't smell anything around you, then it can be helpful to name two or three smells that you like such as fresh baked bread or a flower.
   e) The fifth step is to focus on one thing that you can taste. If you can't taste anything, then instead you can choose to name a taste that you like.
4. Affirmations
   Affirmations are a great way to give your mind a quick little realistic reminder…here are some examples:
   "Today I am calm and relaxed"
   "When I feel stress today I am going to take time to sit with my feelings"
   "Remember that this feeling of stress and discomfort will pass"
   "I am strong enough to handle what life throws at me"
   "This may be tough, but so am I"
   "If I stay strong I know I will get through it"

For more information about selectability and our clinical services visit selectability.com.au or reach out to our friendly team on 1800 133 123.