Relaxation for the body, mind and spirit Part 2

On Monday I looked at general/body relaxation which you can read about here. This part 2 where I’m going to look at relaxing the mind/spirit.

Relaxing the mind and spirit

Nicci and I have not been very good at this as the mind is buzzing with work related issues. Of course, Nicci is in a worse situation as she also has to contend with the 3 a.m. “good ideas”.

I was once very good at relaxing the mind but that was a few months after the death of Angus/Paula. Perhaps it was a form of self-preservation at those times. Indeed, one aspect of mental relaxation is your relationships which can help to provide calm and happiness in daily life rather than purely internal factors.

Nicci struggles with cleaning her mind especially at bedtime. She says it’s like the volume of her thoughts have been turned down during the day as she focuses on work. Once the lights go out the volume is turned up to full welly. Her subconscious mind won’t allow her to sleep until she has written down her ideas because it fears she will have forgotten them by the morning.

Emptying the mind

“Stress is the trash of modern life – we all generate it but if you don’t dispose of it 
properly it will pile up and overtake your life.” 
Terri Guillements

Then there are those 3am “good ideas” that she keeps on having. So Nicci is currently perfecting a visualisation technique to help her mind have the confidence to risk sleep. Her thoughts get carefully placed in a secure bag. The bag is them sealed. Checks are done to ensure that none of the thoughts can “escape”. Once she is happy that all the thoughts are safe the bag is placed outside the bedroom door ready for her to find, and open in the morning.

So, both of us need to relearn the trick of emptying the mind if only for a few minutes. To do this you, at first, need somewhere quiet with no distractions.

We do this as we are going to sleep as it helps a lot. We listen to Russell Treasure who is a regular contributor to the CNBC Magazine. Russell has a great mindfulness Facebook group where he shares more of his techniques. Click here to find out more.

We are also starting to practice a little Reiki, so we’ll see how that progresses. It will take a little time as, with most things, you need to practice before you begin to see the benefits

Relaxation is personal

Whilst I have shared with you the ways we are finding to relax more, remember that what works for one may not work for another. In part 1 I talked about running with others however, Nicci can’t run because of her knees, hips and back. I can’t run with three dogs so that’s out at the moment. Well at least until the dogs are better trained for it and I’m a lot fitter. We are experimenting with different things to help with our relaxation of mind, body and spirit. It is obviously still work in progress, but we are beginning to feel a little more relaxed.

Practice makes perfect

It’s all well and good writing about things in theory: however, we need to start applying what we learn. If you are feeling stress and are having trouble sleeping or switching off, today’s activity is to investigate different ways to relax the mind.

To help you keep track of all your work for the daily activities mentioned, we have created a Monthly Diary for you to record your progress. To download your copy of “My January Canbace Diary” please click here.

Be kind to yourself …

In CANBACE friendship!

If anything I have written resonates I’d love to hear from you in the comments. I appreciate that this can be a difficult subject to speak openly about. If you don’t want me to publish your comment on the website, please let me know. I will keep your words private.