defining "relaxing"

[VolT]

Hello,

 

I would like to find out what relaxing means to you, as with every word, it has its own meaning for different people, and their own method of implementation. However I have a feeling there really is only one path to this process. 

 

* So what does relaxing mean to you?

* What needs to happen for you to consider your self relaxed?

* What do you do/seek to relax.  

* Routines? 

 

 

[Sal9000]

I do joint mobility, foam rolling, massages, and meditation for relaxation. Relaxation is a phsysiological state where the parasympathetic nervous system is predominant.

[ThoughtDogFrank]

I think relaxing is the absence of the emotional stress in the regular day. To figure it out look at what causes you stress, take some time and be away from that, not retreating but so to speak if the town stresses you out at the end of the day or for a short period of time go on to the hill and just observe that which stresses you out. Meditation as has been said is what I guess I'm saying. For a while people, realatiknships and society really stressed me out so I evened it out and went where there was none of that which was in the forest. I would go for a walk by myself, take pictures, study the landscape and observe how life seems to abide by some kind of natural law, that life goes on without human intervention. To relax meet up with some good friends and have some deep conversations about each other, about beliefs, findings, successes and struggles or take some time alone and admire the magnificence of nature. If that is your thing.

[Pepin]

Relaxation neurologically is when the brain and consequently your muscles are in a less active state. A common measurement of relaxation in medical studies is that of brainwave frequency, pulse, sweat, and movement. To focus on one of those measurements, brainwave frequency, someone who is relaxed will have low brainwave frequences, likely less than 10hz, while someone who is stressed will have their frequencies above 15hz. When someone falls asleep, their waves will fall into the 1hz range.

 

There are many methods that cause relaxation, such as: meditation; exercise; progressive muscle relaxation; avoiding stimulus; healthy living; massage; watching massage videos, and so on, but is important to put relaxation into the proper context within your life. Stress states are healthy and desirable in many different activities; exercise for instance induces a lot of stress on the body; complex thought requires high frequency brainwaves; watching a great movie may put you on the edge of your seat; experiencing new things will naturally put a huge stress on you; and so on.

 

Having been a person who was rather unaware of the massive burden of stress I was carrying around for my whole life, I will claim that the first step to relaxation is to identify your stress. I like many people would walk around with my shoulders hunched up for most of the day, and I wouldn't even notice. To correct this issue, I had to gain the ability to not only tell when my shoulders were unnecessarily contracted, but also to feel the stress that it created. An interesting thing happens naturally when you actually feel the stress, you correct the problem naturally. It is kind of like when you are in an uncomfortable position, you just kind of change position.

 

To add something, I said that complex thought requires a high frequency brainwaves, which isn't quite the full picture. Relaxed states are very good for thinking and in particular focusing on a single topic. This isn't very scientific, but I'd describe it as more parallel processing than procedural. It is kind of like you gain more access to the different parts of your psyche when relaxed, and are mostly just dealing with your prefrontal cortex when stressed. Again, this paragraph is based on my experience and a few things I've read. To be more objective, studies show stressed states cause better performance, but that the performances declines, particularly in accuracy, when the stress state is prolonged.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relaxation_(psychology)

[VolT]

 

So to summarize its about, identifying what is bringing you to a stressed state, then relaxing will be the removal of that stress.

Depending on the type of stress the actions that can be taken to relax (if the cause of stress is present in your focus): 

* Acknowledge it and accept it in the short term, - The acceptance will probably even reduce the level of stress.

* You can remove the cause, then knowing that the problem will not arise again(assuming all causes of stress is due to a problem perceived by the individual) will allow you to relax.

* If it is avoidable in the moment, then avoiding it and brining your focus to something you enjoy will momentarily also relax you.

 

Would you guys agree?

This is slightly different to the psychology definition provided by the link Pepin, however I prefer the definition in here more, its more of an instruction. I cant really relate to the wikipedia definition.

I am also interested in knowing how meditation is relaxing? I hear this a lot but don't quiet understand. If what I said above is true for all stress, then meditation will do one of two things depending on the person:

• provide them the time and atmosphere to process the stress, understand the problem with more depth, and find solutions. But if you are focusing on the problems then is this really meditating? You can achieve the same effect just by having an atmosphere that allows you to think. Would you define thinking(problem solving) as meditating?

• Or provide people a distraction by making them focus on a pleasant feeling, in which case this would be the same category as distraction.

 

[fractional slacker]

As a massage therapist, I have done/do a lot of thinking about relaxation. To me, relaxation is part of a continuum. It if often defined by what it is not: uncomfortable. So on one end of this continuum there are blissful feelings of wonder and joy usually, but not always, combined with low stimulis. That end is known as relaxation. On the other end are frantic feelings of panic and alarm usually, but not always, combined with high stimulus. That end of the continuum is referred as stress.

 

There is one mitigating factor: that of time. The more time one has, the more likely they will gravitate towards the relaxation end of the continuum. Generally the default and nature of life nudges one towards the stress end. It's like the proverbial frog in water that is unaware the water is slowly heating up.  Now replace the word heat with the concept of time.

[Artist707]

If you want a challenge, that is to learn more about stress, I suggest starting with the book "the Work/Stress connection" (1 cent + shipping on Amazon). This book changed my life because I didn't know a lot of stress at the time and I had no idea on how to manage it. And the subtitle for this book is "How to Cope with a Job Burnout" but this could be implication to mean any stressful situations such as familial relationships and what not. I hope you pick up the book

[hannahbanana]

There are a couple different kinds of meditation, and although I'm not an expert on them, I know a little bit...

In some meditation, you focus all of your attention and concentration on one single thing eg. the object of your stress. That single-minded focus can help you better understand your problem, and possibly view it more realistically. I know that sometimes I'll worry about something which can then blow out of proportion. This kind of meditation can help you see the problem for what it really is, and make it look more manageable. So I guess this kind of meditation would be helpful if you had a problem that was stressing you out, and you wanted to solve the problem so that you didn't need to worry about it anymore.

 

There's also another type of meditation where the goal is to calm your mind and basically not think about anything. This is really helpful for if you always have a bunch of little, everyday worries going on in your mind, or if you have difficulties putting them out of your mind when you're trying to relax. It's true that it's very possible that those worries will come back after you finish meditation, but the meditation does give your mind some respite from those worries, so that you can better face them later.

Like I said, I may be wrong about some of these points, but I've done a bit of meditating, and this is what I've found that it does for me. I hope it was helpful to someone