Tuesday, March 2, 2010

My First Relaxation Blog


Hi every one,

This is my first correct blog ever! Yes because the first one was a free idea of mine and because I love books and movies the subject was chosen accordingly.

I am doing it right this time, I hope!
I am welcoming everyone to my blog. My first topic would be relaxation and relaxation techniques.
Who do not want to be relaxed, as a matter of fact people go to desperate measures to feel relaxed and serene, but unfortunately, life and responsibility get in the way.
In a literal meaning, Relaxation is a way of spending time in which you rest and feel comfortable. On the other hand, what happen to our body during relaxation is a very different story, important stuff happen during relaxation, our body rebuild and rejuvenate during relaxation.
Some of us heard that exercise help us relax, dancing help us relax, deep breathing help us relax, so why is that? In normal circumstances when our body goes through sudden stress, our sympathetic system will fire up the fight-and-flight response by pumping blood to the limb's muscles, increase the heart beats and blood pressure, does that sound like a vigorous exercise vital signs? yes it is and after it is over, our parasympathetic system will take over sending blood to the intestine, other visceral organs, slowing the heart rate and lowering blood pressure, all a long giving us a feeling of relaxation, the body will start a maintenance mission to assess the damages after the fight-and-flight fiesta and all along our body is relaxing and rejuvenating.
That being said, we do realize that we need to relax to be healthy and well. There are so many relaxation techniques, but I favor meditation, breathing exercise in particular because focusing on the in-and-out of air will take the mind off the stressful subject swarming in our subconscious mind, and if accompanied by music it will release endorphins which is even better. The closest way to think of endorphin as natural Ecstasy drug, it will make you happy. The body release endorphins after exercise, sex, eating, and listening to music, isn't that cool to know.
I guess we do not have to be cynical about the affect of breathing exercise, the Chinese used for hundreds of years, nevertheless, music was believed to heal and was used to treat certain physical ailments by the ancient Greeks.
I will be looking forward to hearing from you.
All comments are welcome.
Fatima

4 comments:

  1. hello Fatima, thank you for your input on relaxation. Your information was well presented and refreshing. I find that I sometimes don't make active attempts to perform the techniques. But now I feel this is going to be another way for me to flourish. Also I love music it usually fills all my time when I am able to listen to it.

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  2. Hi Fatima,

    I very much enjoyed the information you presented. There are somethings you mentioned I did not realize that I use during a time of stress for me. Listening to music is a top priority within my life. I find it does bring about calmness and relaxation. Especially after I have danced to the one song whose rhythm and beats just get your body moving. There is one other type of relaxation exercise I truly benefit from and that is "becoming one" with my spouse. I love the rush of the moment and intensity I feel but then afterward, my body relaxes and my mind stops thinking. This allows me to rest and refresh my mind, body, and spirit in order to move forward.

    Thank you so much for sharing your prespective. I look forward to more of your blogs.

    Respectfully,
    Mary R.

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  3. Hi Fatima,

    I love what you said about relaxation and the release of the hormone endorphin causes an effect much like ecstacy.

    Isn't it wonderful to have this tool? Even though it was around back then, I wish I had known about it 30 years ago.

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  4. Hi guys,
    Thanks for all your nice comments. I discovered long time ago that the effect of music is not a myth and it is very much true.
    I guess there is a reason why all the natural endorphines-inducers activities(food, music, exercise,and sex)are famous, people do them all the time and relax although they may not know the science behind them.
    I for once eat under strees and that calm me down. I also listen to music and dance if I am nervous and irritable.
    I used to exercise, but recently my back problem stoped me, but the good news is that we can use imagery to enforce the same relaxing effect as if we are exercising in reality, of course one will need a very good imagination to do that!!!
    As for the age (Paula) it is never too late to rediscover new techniques.
    Fatima

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