Mike’s Relaxation Steps :
It is best to have someone coach you through these steps until you have them down and feel comfortable that you can do them on your own.
1. Find a quiet location within your house where you can lay down and relax, you can do this setting in a recliner, etc. but for me it is best when I am laying on my bed. Make sure there is as little light as possible, but enough so your coach can see that you are performing breathing and stretching properly. Later once you can do these steps on your own it is best to be in complete darkness.
2. Lay down on your back with your arms next to your sides, legs straight.
Picture in your mind that you body is floating on a cloud or that you are laying on a beach.
(In the Stretching and relaxing steps to follow it is important to keep this picture of your body laying some where, the idea is to picture your body piece by piece sinking into the cloud or sand what ever you feel comfortable with. with your breathing in and out, feel and hear the breeze or the hear the tide coming and going, in and out. As you do this you can also alternate the thought with all the good coming in and the bad (stress, problems, health issues, whatever) leaving as you breath out. all this should be done with the eyes closed.)
3. Breath in fully, feel your lungs completely fill to their bottoms. Let the air out very slowly. As you breath in think of the ocean tide or breeze rushing by the cloud quietly, coming in and going out. picture this in your mind. Do this five times.
For the rest of these steps the breathing does not necessarily have to be deep but enough to feel the air coming in and going out.
4. Then the hands, first one and then the other. Begin by stretching the fingers and hand, pointing them fingers out as you breath in, then relax as you breath out letting your hands sink. Do this three times for each hand.
5. Then tighten the forearms, first one and then the other. Begin by tightening the forearm, as you breath in, then relax as you breath out letting your arm sink. Do this three times for each forearm.
6. Then tighten the upper arms, first one and then the other. Begin by tightening the upper arm, as you breath in, then relax as you breath out letting your arm sink. Do this three times for each upper arm. It is ok if the forearm tightens a bit here also but concentrate on the upper arm as your main focal point.
7. Begin Stretching with the toes and foot (first one and then the other) Breath in as you point your toes as for as you can toward your head then relax the toes and foot as you let your breath out. This needs to be done for each foot Three Times.
8. Next tighten the calf of your leg, first one and then the other, tighten as you breathe in and then relax and sink as you breath out. Do this three times for each leg.
9. Then your thighs first one then the other, tighten as you breathe in and then relax and sink as you breath out. It is important that you visulize this sinking. Do this three times for each thigh.
10. Then your buttocks and mid-section tightening and pushing down with your buttocks into the bed, tighten as you breathe in and then relax, as you breath out. Do this three times.
11. Tighten your stomach muscles as you breath in and relax them as you breath out, again visualize the sinking. Do this three times.
12. Concentrate on your lungs, heart, and the upper part of your body as you breath in and out the three times.
13. Next, as you Breath in push your head backwards pressing it down, using your neck. Then relax and sink. Do this three times.
14. Next ( and this is a big stress collector area ) is the jaw, Breath in as you open the mouth slightly pushing the bottom jaw out a bit, then move it side to side before relaxing and letting your breath out.
15. Now just relax, breathing normally. But continue to visualize the air coming in is in sync with the tide and or breeze whatever it is that you have set your stage to be. Fill out this scene or your favorite space as you relax and sink. As you breath in picture goodness and health coming into your body, as you breath out all the bad health and stress is leaving your body. Listen for the silence, and peace of your mind and soul.
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You can stop here or continue with what a feel is the fun part. Through the colors and deeper into my mind.
I have found over time that these colors I am about to describe to you are also related to the same colors associated with the Hindu Chakaras ( vibrational centers located through out our body’s) of the Hindus, and the meditation steps for health of the body, mind and spirit, which I thought was pretty cool )
Anyway here is what I do when get to this point of relaxation and want to go further.
After you have relaxed in the steps above, you are in a state which you can move right into meditation.
First you need to see and feel, not with your eyes, but with your Mind’s Eye. Seeing fully the colors and each step vividly before taking each succeeding step.
16. The color RED. I visualize a Red Apple on a black background. Once I see the full redness of the tomato I morph it into the next color….
17. The color ORANGE. My Apple changes into an Orange, Orange. Again seeing the color orange vividly then I morph it into the next color….
18. The color YELLOW. My Orange changes into a Lemon. Seeing the Yellow of the Lemon I Zoom out and see a branch of the lemon tree and concentrate on seeing the next color….
19. The Color GREEN. Seeing the Green of the leaves on the branch. Zooming back in seeking to see the full greenness of a leaf among the leaves of the Lemon Tree. Once I see in my minds eye the Green. I Zoom out from the leaf, lemon and tree. And focus now on the next color…..
20. The color BLUE. The Blue of the sky. nothing but Blue in my mind. Then it changes to the next color…
21. The color of INDIGO. A Dark Blue with a reddish tint. Again seeing and feeling this with my mind’s eye, slowly letting it morph to the next color….
- The color VIOLET or bluish purple. I concentrate with my mind’s eye on this color as if I can feel it.
- Then I let it morph or dissolve into WHITE
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24. From the white dissolves into a Your Scene.
This is where your imagination comes in, as you can picture any place you wish or from your past that you found beautiful, peaceful, and restful. A place where you were completely at ease. It could be a Forest, a Mountain Top, the Beach and the ocean.
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Example My Scene:
I drive along a coastal road, in my Triumph TR6, the mountains or a deep purple and the sky is the color of yellow, orange and reds of a sunset. I feel and see the road as it twist and turns, shifting through my gears. Looking to one side and seeing the blue ocean, and the sky, then to the other side the purple mountains and again the sky, back to the road as I gently climb to a point where I can see a beach and the beginning of a stairway that leads to the beach.
( if you are on a mountain this could be a cave that leads underground and goes down kinda like journey to the center of the earth. if your are in the forest it could be a hole in the ground like Alice and wonderland, etc. etc. It is your scene and you are the guide and guided. )
I stop and get out of my sports car. I stand there at the beginning of the steps and look down. I see the steps going down to a small landing then they turn and go further to the beach. I look from there to the ocean and hear the waves coming and going. In and Out. I see a small building. I see and feel these things in my minds eye, without force of concentration.
I walk down each of the ten steps counting as I go, Visualizing and hearing each of the ten steps I take to the landing. Once I get to the landing I turn around and look back I see the steps going up and the cliff and the top of the sports car. I look toward the ocean and feel the breeze flowing over my skin as I hear the ocean’s tide come in and roll out. I see the waves break and flood the beach and then retreat.
I then walk down the last ten steps which lead from the landing to the beach. Visualizing each step I take hearing the creak of the steps as my foot hits them and my full weight is on them. Once I have reached the beach I look back up toward the car. I can not see it now, but do see the steps leading to the landing, and then the landing and the steps leading up toward the car and road. There is no sound except the ocean waves breaking and retreating from the edge of the beach.
I scan the beach back toward the waves and I see a small building. I walk toward the small building. I feel the sinking and pulling of the sand on my feet, and the extra effort my legs take to walk. Once at the small building I see the set of sliding doors, and a button, with an arrow going down. I press the button and the sliding doors retreat.
I step inside and again only a down button and a small screen with the number 10 on it. I press this button and the doors slide close and there is silence, complete silence, and darkness except for an amber colored light highlighting the brown interior of the elevator, the yellow highlighted down arrow button, and the small screen with its red numbers. I press the down button.
I feel the movement of the elevator as it goes down, the numbers subtract as we go 10, 9, 8…. with each number I feel like I am going deeper, each number is only an indicator of my journey down. Between each number the movement is slow, and then just when I feel it should change it does, to the next number. I feel and see the numbers go by slowly one by one until the screen shows the number 1. There is a slight pause and the back of the elevator opens up to a large room.
As I step out of the elevator the doors close and the doors dissolve into the wall. the front part of the room is circular. With in this circle on the other side are steps which lead down to the sunken area, it to follows the shape of the circle. As I walk toward the steps I see a small bar with long white haired man standing behind it. He says, “Good Evening Sir. What would you like?”
I answer him as I continue to move towards the steps, ” A Dr. Pepper would be find, thank you, Frank.” Frank Swartz is a fine figure of a man and acts as my guide, helper, and protector while I am here. It is very important to have a guide to be with you. Frank is like the man at the end of 2001 Space Oyssey but younger in stature. You can put are design your guide to be anyone or anything you wish.
I reach the steps and look beyond the bar and opposite of the sunken viewing area and see another circular room furnished with modern italian styled chairs and couches for sitting and relaxing. Half of the Circled walls are curved glass windows. Facing the Ocean, whose waves can be seen beyond the equally curved redwood deck and the dunes, as they break and attack and then retreat along the white beach.
After a pause I decide to do some viewing instead of going there to relax. So, I step down into the sunken viewing area. Counting and feeling again each of the 5 step as I go down. Along it’s sides are two curved sitting areas covered in soft black leather. Opposite the steps is a flat screen, it to black. As I step onto the flooring the flat Screen comes on and changes to White. I sit in the cool comfortable leather couch.
Frank is at my side with an iced Dr. Pepper. As he sits it on the Circular coffee table in front of me. He asks, “Is there anything else you would like Sir?” I look up to him and answer, “No, Thank You that will be all for now, just be here if I need you.” He nods affirmatively as he smiles and retreats back up the stairs.
I sip and savor the cool refreshing flavor of the Dr. Pepper. Then I take a deep breath and relax.
Once I feel completely at ease I focus on the viewing screen. I am in complete harmony, and the pureness of my soul. I am in touch with my energy and the energies which surround me, in every living thing. I am ready to venture forward.
( At this point I can put anything on the screen, a scene of where I want to be in the future, a rerun of fond memories, a individual who is having problems, or one I am having difficulty dealing with, I can view from my point of view or theirs. If their point of view, I can hear their thoughts as well and see things from their side.
I can also tune into individuals, I have never seen or know. When doing this I only see the silhouette of their body starting with the head. as i scan down the silhouette of the body also moves from head to foot. If I see a red areas I stop and concentrate on it until it goes away. This is part of the universal oneness we have with each other and a way of healing and helping others….. there is more to this as you can tell. But the main idea it is your space, you build whatever you can imagine and want to create.)
I also go to the other room from time to time and just relax in the silence or out onto the deck and listen to the ocean and get closer and in touch with nature’s energies.
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The object here is to go DOWN DEEP into your MIND, almost to, if not to the point of touching your pure spirit, soul, your essence, your living substance.
If you have made it this far, I hope you will give it a try. Success.
Best
Mike
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The Poppadillo Blog, is the blog page for the Texas Tortilla Factory website, and its stories have been written by Mike Vauthier, and Administratively Approved Authors.
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