Heart Skills Coach

Exercise to help you relax

Louise — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:54:18 +0000

I will now tell you about an exercise my friend Mark Attwood told me about, that he said helped him relax and reduce his blood pressure, therefore reducing the heart work rate. I tried it, and I must say, it works like a charm.
Before you start, you will need to get into comfortable clothing and take off your shoes. Then you lie down with or without a pillow, whatever makes you more comfortable. The point is to go as limp as possible, after which you start shaking your feet, legs, arms and head – one after another. After you did that, you will start by raising your leg in the air a bit, lets say for approximately 30 degrees and point forward with your toes. You do that for about 10 seconds and you will feel your muscles beginning to tremble. Bring your leg back down, and do the same for the other leg. Repeat this several times. Next are your legs and buttocks – you need to contract the muscles as hard as you can, and stay that way for about 10 seconds. Then relax your muscles and rest for about 10 seconds. Then repeat that process several times. You then move to your stomach, which you treat the same as the legs – contract the muscles as hard as you can, hold it for 10 seconds, and then release and rest. Repeat several times. Moving to your back, you need to stretch making a “bridge” while in the horizontal position. You will feel some pressure on your spine – hold it for 10 seconds – then release. Repeat several times. Your arms are next – raise them up and pretend you are picking apples for about 20 seconds, after which you bring them back down and rest them for 10 seconds. Next, you will scrunch up your face and you will feel your muscles tighten up. As with the other parts, do that several times. The next important step in relaxing is breathing in the correct way. Inhale deeply and slowly, and then hold your breath for about 5 seconds. Then exhale really slowly. You will feel as you sink in the bed / floor as you exhale and feel relaxed and calm. Do this several times and then breathe normal again. And there you go, your 10 minute relaxation exercise. I recommend you do this exercise before going to sleep. Your brain will have a proper relaxing sleep now that your body is loosened up and calm. You can learn more about relaxing using hypnosis HERE.

Meditation isn’t just for religious practitioners

Louise — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:55:13 +0000

It’s been long known and is generally well established that the benefits of meditation on stress, anxiety, mental health and ultimately heart health can be enormous. As a regular meditation practicioner myself, I have to say that it’s hard for me to conceive of a life without taking time out to clear my mind and raise my self awareness. It would be like, mentally speaking, trying to listen to singing birds from the middle of a dual carriageway in rush hour.

There’s a problem with the word “meditation” though. It just has – perhaps inescapably so – very strong connotations with the East, with humming leg crossing Yoga masters, with mysticism and with hippies. Now that’s all fine – I’ve got plenty of time for all of those things – but many people haven’t. From the point of view of spreading the Good News of the benefits of meditation for human well being, as a practice that can bring huge wealth to the life of every one of us, these connotations with the word “meditation”, I say, aren’t doing a lot of good.

Meditation doesn’t need to be any of these things. For me, it’s simply this:

1. Clearing the mind from the many thoughts, emotions, feelings – the clutter – of daily life

2. Raising self awareness, by temporarily and voluntarily losing awareness of these other things

3. Facilitating focus. Focus is key. The ability to see clearly, to prioritise, and to concentrate energies on a single item is a rare ability that enhances our life immeasurably.

There will be more on the methods of meditation in future weeks.

How reducing stress can improve your heart health

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:09:12 +0000