Relaxation Tips Newsletter

Hello,

I'm Candi, with Inner Health Studio. Welcome to Edition 30 of Inner Health Studio Relaxation Tips.

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In This Issue...

Inner Health Studio Updates and News
New Relaxation Scripts
Tip of the Month: Learn to Relax...the Easy Way

Inner Health Studio Updates and News

New office location! Inner Health Studio is now located on the second floor at 5913, 50 Avenue, Red Deer Alberta.

Relaxation Class "Learn to Relax" is a four-week class that will teach you the skills to relax your mind and body and reverse the harmful effects of stress. You will leave each class feeling great, but also take with you practical skills you can use to relax on your own.

A registration fee of $50 includes four sessions and the book, "Words to Relax." Classes will be held in Red Deer. Please contact me about dates for upcoming classes.

More information

New Relaxation Scripts

Dealing with Seasonal Affective Disorder
This relaxation script is to help you deal with seasonal affective disorder or seasonal blues. Review some quick ways to help improve mood naturally and use guided imagery to improve mood.

Tip of the month: Biofeedback - Are Relaxation Techniques Working?

How to know when relaxation techniques are working: Using biofeedback at home - without expensive equipment. Learn how to relax by monitoring your body's physical level of stress or relaxation. This can be done simply and easily at home without the need for complex equipment or measurement devices - just some simple items you probably already have.

Definition

Biofeedback is the process of getting feedback from the body to measure how tense or how relaxed the body is. There are a variety of ways biofeedback is used to promote relaxation. A number of body responses can be measured, including body temperature, breathing rate, heart rate, brain waves, galvanic skin response, blood pressure, and muscle tension.

Why is biofeedback useful?

When we are relaxed, breathing rate slows, heart rate decreases, hands and feet become warmer, blood pressure and muscle tension decrease, and brain waves change. By measuring one or more of these (and other) factors, it is possible to determine how relaxed or how stressed the body is. If you know when your body is more relaxed, you can learn to deliberately cause a relaxed state. Through biofeedback, it is possible to learn to control physical responses that are normally automatic. Those who are skilled can actually change their heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and other factors at will.

How to use biofeedback at home

Some of the factors I have discussed are difficult to measure and require specialized equipment. For example, brain waves, the galvanic skin response, and blood pressure. There are some things, however, that can be measured quite easily with simple equipment you might even have at home. For instance, heart rate, breathing rate, and hand temperature. I'll describe how to measure these three factors. Then you can do a relaxation exercise of your choice and try it out.

What you will need

Paper and something to write with
Watch with a second hand or a stop watch
Thermometer
If you do not have a thermometer, you can just monitor your hand temperature by feeling your hands against your face - it won't give you a number, but at least you can perceive if your hands feel warm or cool.

How to Use Biofeedback

First, hold the thermometer in your non-dominant hand. Sit quietly for a minute. Don't do anything in particular, just sit so you can then get a baseline measurement of where you're at. After you have gotten comfortable, make three columns on your sheet of paper. Label them heart rate, breathing rate, and hand temperature. Keep holding the thermometer.

Next, time yourself for 60 seconds while counting your breaths. Write down the number of breaths you count.

After counting your breaths, check the reading on the thermometer. Record the number in the temperature column.

Then find your pulse. Usually the easiest spot is on your neck, just below your jaw, beside your voice box. Feel the hard cartilage in the middle of your throat, and slide your fingers toward the outside until you reach the groove between the cartilage of your voice box and your neck muscle. You'll feel a pulse there.

Time yourself for 30 seconds, and count each heartbeat. Write down the number in the heart rate column.

You will then have a record of your baseline heart rate, breathing rate, and hand temperature. Do a relaxation exercise, such as visualization, meditation, or progressive muscle relaxation. Once you are finished the relaxation technique, repeat the steps for measuring hand temperature, breathing, and heart rate.

You can also take these measurements at intervals, rather than just before and after the relaxation exercise. This way you can monitor your progress as you go along.

When you are finished, multiply the number in the heart rate column by 2 to find your per-minute heart rate. Then compare the before and after for each column. You will probably notice your heart rate went down by a beat or two per minute (or maybe more). Your breathing rate probably also went down, and your hand temperature probably increased.

This method of biofeedback is a bit different from standard biofeedback with a device, because a device will give you a constant reading. You can then monitor your progress moment by moment, instead of just before and after. You can use this method of biofeedback to monitor your progress at intervals during the relaxation exercise, making this process quite similar to using a biofeedback device.

You can find out which kinds of relaxation work the best for you (which ones affect your heart rate, breathing, and temperature the most), and you can see your progress over time. Maybe the first time you practice, you won't see much change. Over time, however, you might see that you become more and more skilled at relaxation, and are able to alter your readings by larger amounts.

Important Points About Biofeedback

The stress response is MUCH faster than the relaxation response. This makes sense. If you need to run from something to save your life, your body needs to get ready NOW. Relaxation is not so urgent (plus you remain ready for a while in case the danger comes back), so the relaxation response occurs more slowly.

Biofeedback takes practice. No one learns to control automatic physical responses right away. Most people do not learn to "control" them at all. What they learn is how to relax, what it feels like to be relaxed, and what sorts of relaxation are the most effective in bringing on the relaxation response.

Try this Biofeedback Therapy Relaxation for guided steps to use biofeedback with relaxation techniques.

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