How to Create Tiny Pockets of Relaxation Throughout Your Day
Time spent relaxing is as important as time spent working
Have you ever felt completely burn out and overworked, like you mentally can’t take another step? Your to-do list hasn’t gone away, but your energy’s plummeted.
Your boss may not let you take a month-long vacation to recharge, but by easing in moments of calm and relaxation throughout your day, you’ll feel naturally rejuvenated.
Start your morning off slowly
“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive — to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”
– Marcus Aurelius
When the morning starts with frantically checking email, swigging stale coffee, and rushing out the door without even saying good morning to your family, it sets the tone for a harried day. Busy days are when you most need to center yourself.
Taking the morning on slowly doesn’t mean staying in bed for an hour scrolling through social media before you start the day’s tasks. Instead, take a moment to play with your pets or children, enjoy a phone call with an old friend, or jot down a few things that made you happy yesterday.
The hustle and bustle of the day will start soon enough, so take time to relax when you can. You don’t need to take a morning walk at 4 am, journal, and do a 30 minute meditation daily, but practice the relaxation techniques that resonate most with you.
When I take the time to enjoy my mornings by laughing with my family or taking a walk, I face the rest of the day with a good mood.
Do a guided meditation
When you’re trying meditation for the first time, it’s easy to get caught up in tiny details like wondering if you’re breathing right or why your mind isn’t silent. All this can cause even more tension. By practicing guided meditation, you let a teacher lead you through every step of the process.
I use the Sattva app, which has guided meditations for everything from enhancing creativity to removing troubling thoughts.
It’s difficult for me to sit still, especially when I know there’s so many things for me to get done. However, listening to an experienced teacher guide me through a calming meditation grounds and anchors my thoughts, and will likely benefit you too.
Indulge in a few minutes of alone time
Remember how disappointed you were when your parents grounded you as a child? An hour of being confined to your room, all alone, seemed like such a boring fate. However, as we get older, solitude becomes precious.
Take 10 minutes each day to focus on yourself and what brings you joy. Appreciate your own company. In your “me time,” do any activity you enjoy: gardening, cooking, reading, etc.
When I attended a mindfulness program for youth, one of our activities was staying silent for a day. Because I didn’t engage verbally with others, I was able to explore my thoughts and connect with myself.
The most important relationship we have is with ourselves, so cultivate your love for yourself.
Listen to calming music
Music with a slow tempo soothes your muscles and silences your racing thoughts. In fact, according to researchers at Stanford University, listening to music can change brain functioning to the same extent as medication.
Native American, Celtic, Indian stringed-instruments, drums, flutes, and nature sounds are particularly effective at inducing relaxation. Marconi Union’s “Weightless” is said to be the most relaxing song in the world, so give it a listen.
Experiment with different types of music to find the song that brings you the most peace of mind. Listening to music is supposed to be enjoyable, so don’t force yourself to listen to a song that quickly gets on your nerves.
Practice yoga
Without adding stress to your joints, yoga provides a stimulating workout but also incorporates soothing breath work. In addition to facilitating mindfulness, yoga helps you ease the physical signs of stress, like back pain and tensed muscles.
Try swapping out your post and pre-workout stretches with some yoga poses, or make yoga the main focus of your workout to reap the relaxation benefits. Here’s a guide to starting yoga for beginners.
Focus on your breath
Breath comes so naturally that in high-stress situations, we forget about its healing power. You’re still going to exhale and inhale even when you’re not consciously thinking about it. So, why focus on breath when so many other things are clouding your mind, right?
Actually, the way you breathe contributes to your wellness. When you’re tense, you take shallow and rapid breaths, and your heart rate increases. Deep breathing has been proven to lower your blood pressure, reduce your heart rate, and relax your muscles.
Try the 4–7–8 breathing technique to relieve anxiety or anger:
- breathe in through the nose for 4 seconds
- hold the breath for 7 seconds
- exhale forcefully through the mouth, making a “whoosh” sound, for 8 seconds
- repeat the cycle 4 times
The Takeaway
- Start your morning off slowly
- Do a guided meditation
- Take a few minutes to be alone
- Listen to peaceful music
- Practice yoga
- Be mindful of your breath
Next Steps:
- Identify which relaxation technique(s) you want to try
- Practice at least one technique daily to enhance relaxation
Creating a relaxation routine that’s unique to your lifestyle is key to actually implementing the techniques you’re learning in this article. It’s the small habits you build each day that leave great impacts on your life, so indulge in miniscule moments of relaxation throughout the day.
As a Chinese proverb goes, “Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.”
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