Looking for relaxation but struggling to fit it into the week? Sometimes we need an incentive to motivate ourselves to pick up a new habit. Here are some ideas of alternative practices to spice up the week, doing something different while finding some inner calm. Hopefully this will provide the variety to break up the monotony while helping you recharge and restore some energy; taking care of yourself at the same time.
Gong baths — Chilled vibrations
The gong’s benefits are being given a resurgence as people look for new ways of finding relaxation and improving their wellbeing to manage the stress in their lives. It is a tool you can trust with it having been used for thousands of years in healing, meditation, ritual and ceremony. Some of the earliest types are recorded to have been from 3500 B.C. during the Bronze age!
I should begin by saying, gong baths are not baths filled with water. It is when you lie down and let the vibrations of the gong wash through you. The vibrations provoke relaxation. The vibrations lower the heart rate and blood pressure while encouraging warmth in the body. The vibrations help slow breathing, creating longer, even inhalations and exhalations. Sweat glands in the skin reduce their activity.
As you calm and naturally fall into a meditative state, certain parts of the brain are activated:
- Amygdala — linked to the limbic system which affects mood.
- Hippocampus — linked to emotions and memory.
- Pre-frontal Cortex- responsible for attention and alertness.
This practise allows the brain to recharge, and take thoughts in different directions in a calm way, exploring new ideas while you can allow a serene feeling to take over. This can help to process and release different emotions that you have held in your body.
Staying in-sync with yoga
To function we need our mind and body to work together. Stress can disrupt this team effort, sometimes spinning our thoughts into overdrive. We end up carrying too much tension in our bodies. It’s important we take care of our whole selves. It can help clear those cobwebs and bring that inner peace and fluid movement. Yoga is a series of breathing and stretching routines (also involving balance) on a mat on the floor.
It is an excellent way of soothing that over anxious or thought-crammed mind and syncing it with your body, as well as improving physical fitness. With yoga the mind and body both benefit resulting in feeling peaceful in your head as well as strong and enabling muscles to be relaxed physically.
While it benefits those of all ages, research shows that an 8-week intervention of Yoga helped the physical respiratory system of inactive middle aged people. It can help improve certain symptoms of various illnesses, alongside the treatment. The concept of yoga originated from Ancient Indian philosophy. There are different schools and types of practice. The physical exercises are called Asanas. Different types of breathing are incorporated into the routines as part of the meditation. These techniques are called Pranayama.
The Benefits include:
- Increase in flexibility
- Better coordination
- Strength and muscle tone
- Through breathing and meditation calm and focus the mind leading to greater awareness and diminishes anxiety.
- Reduction of distress and lowering of blood pressure
- Improvements in mood
- Resilience
- Metabolic regulation — The movement helps increase circulation and fluid movement within the digestive system. This also helps the body’s way of controlling its weight as well as regulating when you are hungry and taking in the nutrients from your food.
- Helps depression, relieve fatigue, cardiovascular endurance in other exercises
Tai Chi
According to research, the slow moving, gentle practice of tai chi has been proven to help certain health conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, osteoarthritis, preventing falls and helps with rehabilitation for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It was originally developed as a martial art. It uses movement, meditation and rhythmic breathing in a series of different movements and routines.
There are five styles of tai chi: Chen (the oldest one dating back to the 1600s), Yang, Hao, Wu and Sun.
Practising tai chi can help:
- Relieve stress and anxiety.
- Enhance cognitive abilities so the mind is able to think, process information and keep nimble.
- With increasing stamina which has the bonus of affecting how long you can exercise for generally.
- Improve heart health,
- Relieve pain.
- Strengthen the immune system.
Remember it is better to practise with the guidance of a professional teacher to ensure you follow the movements correctly to avoid harming yourself and getting the most out of it.
Animals, a fun therapy
Here is the ultimate excuse to visit that farm, animal shelter or spend time with pets. Interacting with animals through touch and being around them has many scientifically proven benefits on our physical and mental health. Spending time with animals actually generates our relaxation response. We release the hormones that help lift our mood such as serotonin, prolactin and oxytocin. Our anxiety levels decrease.
Our blood pressure reduces and cardiovascular health improves. Our breathing slows and becomes steadier. Through interaction with animals people can find that comfortable and stable state where loneliness is no longer felt and we are distracted from everything else, enabling that inner peace to be present.
When it all comes together…
Finding what makes us feel calm allows us to enjoy the highs of life and navigate the stressful times by renewing our thinking process and refuelling our energy. Those calm moments help us find stability and rest. We think clearly and can process what we need to do by having time to think of nothing at all and just be. We come back into our bodies and let ourselves be present, alive and breathing. To mix it up a bit, I hope gong baths, interaction with animals, yoga and tai chi inspire further ideas and help make finding that calm motivating.
Written by Sophie Teasdale
WellBe is spearheading the way to a brighter future for corporate wellness. Our innovative portal is scientifically designed and tailored to each individual employee to improve their wellbeing. We specialise in a range of services from coaching and therapists, to meditation and reading materials. Our aim is to reduce workplace stress that costs UK businesses £42 billion per year. Get in touch with us by visiting our site wellbe.global for more information.
