Exercise 19: An instant relaxation routine

Here’s a short routine to help you relax before practising in your quiet space. Focusing on the breath is a great way to clear your head of all the concerns of the day, so you can be fully present with what you’re doing.

• Sit up straight on your upright chair with your head well balanced. Support your lower back with a cushion if necessary. Helpful visualisations are: to imagine a string attached to the top of your head pulling you upwards, or to imagine the top and bottom of your spine (i.e. the bone at the base of your neck and the last bone you can feel above the back of the chair seat) being pulled gently away from each other.
• Keep your shoulders relaxed and down away from your ears. Imagine the area between your shoulder blades becoming broader and softer.
• Put your feet flat on the floor about the same distance apart as your hips. (Crossing your legs will put your spine out of alignment.)
• Once you feel comfortable and relaxed close your eyes.
• Do some diaphragmatic breaths. To de-stress, just breathe slowly (with your hands on your abdomen if you like). Or, if you need energising, lift your (straight) arms up above your head as you breathe in and bring them back down as you breathe out.
• Lastly take in three big slow breaths, letting all the air out each time with a sigh or breathy 'hoooo' through your open mouth. Feel all tension leaving your body with the breath.

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You can adapt this routine to use whenever you feel either stressed or lethargic – or both. It’s particularly good when preparing for the day, or unwinding for the evening.

But you could equally well do it sitting in the car at traffic lights or waiting for the kettle to boil.

The importance of the out-breath

E.G. White was convinced that the out-breath is more important than the in-breath – and the teachings of yoga agree with him.

It’s good for your general health and well-being to take in plenty of air – and therefore oxygen – with every breath. However, it’s best not to concentrate on the idea of ‘filling up’, which can introduce stress into your breathing.

If you had a container you wanted to fill as much as possible you’d make sure it was empty before you started. So, when you’re breathing, it’s better to focus on emptying your lungs of as much stale air as possible. Do this by pulling your abdominal muscles gently back towards your spine as you breathe out. That will automatically produce a bigger in-breath as your lungs re-inflate.

You can never expel all the air from your lungs, though. This can be useful: even when you think you’ve run out of breath you’ll still have some left. Give it a try by breathing out as much as you possibly can and then saying something. You should find you can still make some sound, however unusual!