Using Yoga to Relax

It is as much important to relax as it is to work. It is important to sleep and take rest if you want to recharge your nervous system and regain your physical, mental and emotional balance.

With all the stress of the daily routine of our jobs, traffic, commuting to and fro between schools, jobs, studies, and all of these responsibilities, it becomes absolutely essential to have some kind of a relaxation technique on to which we can fall back and relax.

With yoga we can relax whenever we want to and effectively too. This form of yoga is called the relaxation pose or the corpse pose.

It is not very difficult, in fact, it is not difficult at all. It does not involve any difficult flexibility exercise. It mainly involves lying down motionless while at the same time applying the combination of mental suggestions and deep square breathing.

You can perform this pose in the following manner:

• Begin by lying motionless on the back. Keep your legs and arms slightly extended.

• Breathe deeply in the counts of five, that is, in ratio of 5:5:5 involving inhalation, retaining, exhalation.

• Continue this for some minutes. After that, make auto suggestions to your limbs beginning from your toes and working your way up while reaffirming mentally that “my toes are relaxing. My feet are relaxed.” Work your way up taking in your internal organs also.

• When you have done this for several minutes, resume the initial breathing patterns for another two or three minute.

• Then, begin to chant this particular Yogic quote in your mind: “I am that pure consciousness or self” if you are not comfortable saying this then instead you can even say some verse from your any book of your religious faith, anything that energises you; it can be as simple as “I am feeling relaxed and very energized right at this moment.”

• Continue to affirm this phrase in your mind for many minutes. After that, roll to the right side. Remain in this position without moving and all the while maintain the breathing pattern for one more minute.

• Now, arise from your position.

You can use the timed metronome or even focus of the steady ticking of your wall clock so that you can keep proper timing and sequence. Besides that, you can do this technique in spurts also. You can do this in your office too. Simply sit back and follow the deep breathing patterns and autosuggestions, mainly with closed eyes.

This is a perfectly safe as well as effective way to relax your mind and body. Everybody needs a break, so, take your break with this technique and you will return energised and more productive than ever before.