What is relaxation?
Relaxation is essential for maintaining both your mental and physical well-being. It’s like pressing a reset button for your mind and body, helping you shift from stress and anxiety to a calm, balanced state. Much like a machine benefits from regular servicing, your body and mind also function better with consistent relaxation practices.
Techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, and mindfulness help quieten your mind, reducing the noise of daily worries. These methods aren’t about avoiding stress but about equipping yourself with tools to manage it more effectively. By practising these techniques, you build resilience and adaptability, allowing you to approach challenges with a clearer head.
Engaging in activities like yoga, Tai Chi, or rhythmic exercises improves not just your physical fitness but also your mental clarity. These practices help you feel more centred and focused, making it easier to manage day-to-day tasks with efficiency and ease.
A significant benefit of regular relaxation is better sleep. Stress can often disrupt your rest, leaving you feeling tired and unbalanced. By establishing a calming evening routine, you can create the right conditions for a restful night’s sleep, ensuring that you wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead.
Incorporating relaxation techniques into your daily life does more than just reduce stress—it enhances your overall quality of life. You’ll find that as you continue to practise relaxation, your decision-making sharpens, your relationships improve, and your productivity increases. In essence, you’re laying the groundwork for a more peaceful and balanced future, where every deep breath and mindful moment brings you closer to a state of calm.
People who undergo relaxation training can strengthen their immune system
Mindfulness and meditation has been shown to boost working memory and focus
80% of hypertensive patients who meditate consistently have reduced medications and lowered blood pressure
Gardening, reading, walking and baking are the most popular ways for British people to relax
What causes people to struggle with relaxing?
Relaxing isn’t always as easy as it sounds. For many, switching off can feel nearly impossible, especially when our minds seem wired to seek out stress. Much like craving something sweet when you’re trying to eat healthily, your brain can get stuck in a cycle of stress, making it harder to wind down.
If you’re someone who struggles with anxiety or low mood, even minor issues can feel overwhelming, which makes relaxation seem out of reach. Your body’s natural alarm system might be overly sensitive, keeping you on edge even when there’s no immediate threat. Ironically, the more you try to force relaxation, the more elusive it becomes—much like trying to fall asleep when you’re wide awake.
In today’s world, social media often adds to this pressure, creating a constant comparison trap. Seeing others’ seemingly perfect lives can make you feel as though you should always be at your best, which only adds to your stress. Ignoring stress doesn’t help either; it’s like leaving a tap dripping—the problem only grows over time.
Sometimes, we fill our time with activities not because we enjoy them, but because we feel we should do them for approval or praise. This can turn hobbies into another source of stress, robbing them of the enjoyment they once brought. The sheer number of options for how to relax can also be overwhelming, leaving you more stressed than before.
Understanding why relaxation is difficult can be the first step towards easing into it. Once you recognise these barriers, you can begin to develop healthier, more effective ways to unwind.
What are the symptoms and effects?
Stress doesn’t just make you feel uneasy—it can have a serious impact on your overall health. When you’re stressed, you might notice symptoms such as headaches, muscle tension, dizziness, or fatigue. It can also interfere with your sleep, leaving you feeling restless and unable to fully recharge.
Stress affects both your mind and body, touching every aspect of your life. Emotionally, it might leave you feeling irritable, overwhelmed, or like you’re constantly on edge. These feelings can make it difficult to relax, leading to low self-esteem, feelings of isolation, and withdrawing from loved ones.
Physically, stress can manifest as low energy, stomach issues, muscle aches, and even chest pain. You might notice that you get sick more often, as stress weakens your immune system. Stress can also cloud your thoughts, making it harder to focus, remember things, or make decisions. It might even lead to habits like nail-biting or procrastination.
If left unchecked, chronic stress can lead to more severe health issues such as heart problems, mood disorders, and persistent sleep disturbances. Your body can remain in a heightened state of alert, known as “fight or flight,” for far longer than is healthy. This can leave you feeling jittery, anxious, or down for extended periods.
Recognising the effects of stress is crucial. By understanding the impact it has on your body and mind, you can begin taking steps to manage it more effectively and improve your overall well-being.
How can it be managed?
Managing stress is key to finding balance and improving your quality of life. Deep breathing exercises are a simple yet effective way to calm your mind and body. Taking a moment to breathe deeply can help clear your thoughts and reduce tension. A short walk outdoors can also work wonders for your mood, allowing you to step away from stress and return with a fresh perspective.
Incorporate practices like meditation and aromatherapy into your routine to promote a sense of calm. Aromatherapy with essential oils like lavender or chamomile can create a soothing atmosphere that lasts throughout the day. Focus on the present moment, practise mindfulness to ground yourself and keep worries about the past or future at bay.
Physical activity, such as yoga or a brisk walk, can boost your mood by releasing feel-good hormones that help counteract stress. Techniques like Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR), which involves tensing and then relaxing different muscle groups, can provide a full-body sense of calm and help relieve physical tension.
Imagining a peaceful place and engaging your senses can be a powerful relaxation tool. Even small acts, like enjoying a pleasant scent or listening to calming music, can quickly reduce anxiety and help you feel more at ease.
By weaving these techniques into your daily life, you’ll build a toolkit to manage stress and enhance your overall well-being. Over time, you’ll discover which methods work best for you, helping you to cope with stress whenever it arises.
How can hypnotherapy help?
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy offers a unique way to manage stress and enhance relaxation. Similar to a daydream, the trance state you enter during hypnotherapy is both relaxing and refreshing. It focuses on positive outcomes, helping you approach stress and anxiety with a calmer mindset.
During a session, your body’s stress responses, such as rapid breathing or muscle tension, are calmed. Hypnotherapy promotes better blood flow and helps alleviate symptoms of chronic stress, such as muscle pain and headaches. It also improves concentration and mood, leaving you feeling more in control.
By working with the subconscious mind, hypnotherapy can reframe negative thought patterns that may be contributing to stress. Your hypnotherapist will guide you into a deeply relaxed state, making your mind more open to positive suggestions. This helps you respond to stressful situations in a healthier, more balanced way.
Sessions vary depending on your needs, but with regular practice, hypnotherapy can help you manage stress in both the short and long term. Beyond stress relief, hypnotherapy can also boost your confidence and self-esteem, helping you to set boundaries and manage your time more effectively.
Incorporating hypnotherapy into your routine offers a powerful way to improve your well-being and maintain a state of relaxation, even in the face of life’s challenges.
Our Relaxation Specialists
Benn Baker-Pollard
Sittingbourne
Carmen Harrington
Market Harborough
Caroline Prout
Thrapston
Chris Johannes
Spalding
Claire Noyelle
Maidstone East
Dawn Ibbetson
Chelmsford
Gary Johannes
Peterborough
Jill Whitehouse
Newcastle upon Tyne
Keeley Smith
Southend-on-Sea
Kerry Seymour
Weston-super-Mare
Peter Ely
Islington
Victoria Anderson
Sunderland
Why Choose Inspired To Change
Our solution focused hypnotherapists empower you to better understand your brain, helping to guide you towards solutions and achieve the outcomes you want. We have a team of fully trained hypnotherapists, giving you the choice of who to work with and how you want to work with them. Solution focused hypnotherapy is just as effective in-person or online in the comfort of your own home, so you can find the ideal therapist to help you reach your goals.
Every one of our hypnotherapists is recognised by governing bodies like the National Council for Hypnotherapy, the UK’s leading not-for-profit hypnotherapy professional association. They have all trained with Clifton Practice Hypnotherapy Training, one of the leading hypnotherapy schools in the UK.
