Stress Relief and

Relaxation Script

Find the quietest, most comfortable, and most private place you can.
Ideally, you want to set aside a solid thirty minutes, during which no
one can bother you. This may be very difficult for some of you be-
cause of the demands of the telephone, your kids, commitments, and
a thousand other things you may have to do. Usually, it is when you
finally find an opportunity to relax that your memory begins to in-
trude, reminding you of everything else you should be doing. Psy-
chologically, this is only your ego attempting to wrest command of
your attention, or another part of your mind attempting to prevent
you from relaxing.
Disregard these messages so that you can take control and pursue
your relaxation. Amazingly, thirty minutes of true relaxation equates
to two full hours of sleep for restoration. Thus, this all-important
thirty minutes should be safeguarded from outside demands.
As you begin to take steps to relax, expect distractions and emo-
tive responses to emerge from the inner recesses of your brain. To
minimize these internal reactions, I highly recommend that you find
some soothing music to accompany your relaxation, or read the in-
structions over a tape player so that you can be guided instead
of having to remember the steps. It might also be useful for you to
include some of your own imagerya vacation spot or a tranquil
settingwhatever internal scenes help you relax best. Include these
thoughts in your relaxation sequence.
To begin, start by focusing on your breathing: not to change it
but just to become aware of how it feels to breathe in and to breathe
out. Feel the experience from inside your body. As you take some
time to look inside and feel your breaths, let me explain that your
out-breath allows your body to release anything it no longer needs or
wants, such as dead air, tension, carbon dioxide, poisons, and even
some kinds of virus and bacteria. So focus on letting go of everything
you want to let go, especially stress, fear, and any other destabilizing
emotions. Just let them go with your next out-breath. For a few
moments, practice letting go of any tension, stress, feelings, or
thoughts that you just dont need right now. Let them go.
Next, I want you to know that when you let these things go with
your out-breath, you are replacing that space with good, nurturing air
with your in-breath. Visualize that good air coming into your body
and healing whatever needs physical restoration. Send that air to
anywhere in your body and feel the love and caring you are giving
yourself right now. Bring it into yourself. Practice this for a little
while.
What you need to do next is to balance these in-breaths with the
out-breaths, so that you will feel soothing relaxation and balance
coming into your body. Practice breathing in to a count of seven, 1-
2-3-4-5-6-7, now breathe out, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7, in-breath, 1-2-3-4-5-6-
7, and out-breath 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. Count for yourself for each in-breath
and out-breath for at least five minutes.
Note to yourself that you are balancing your out-breaths and
in-breaths, letting the bad stress and tension leave your body, and
allowing the good nurturing air to come in. You are releasing the neg-
ative poisons and bringing the healing forces in.
From here, you need to bring the rest of your body into sync with
this response. Can you feel your heart beat? Can you feel your pulse,
or the heartbeat in your stomach or somewhere else? Use the number
of heartbeats to balance your breathing. Take a moment to see what
works best for you. It may not be seven beats between the breaths. It
may be four or three or five. Whatever feels right, begin to breathe
out and in to the same number of heartbeats. Give yourself a moment
to regulate that balance for yourself. Do this for five minutes by your-
self.
Before you stop, do a quick review of your body, following this
sequence:

Are your feet more relaxed? If not, relax them with your breathing.
Are your legs more relaxed? If not, relax them with your breathing.
Is your pelvis more relaxed? If not, relax it with your breathing.
Is your stomach more relaxed? If not, relax it with your breathing.
Is your chest more relaxed? If not, relax it with your breathing.
Is your back more relaxed? If not, relax it with your breathing.
Are your arms more relaxed? If not, relax them with your breathing.
Are your hands more relaxed? If not, relax them with your breathing.
Is your mind more relaxed? If not, relax it with your breathing.

Do this, all in sync with your breathing.

Continue to go through the rest of your day, and if you need
to relax or take your mind off food, stop and start this same
breathingrelaxation sequence.