Wednesday, 2 November 2011

Helen Says,...RELAX

This is going to be a slightly different post today, all about relaxation.
I could try fill you with blurb and try link relaxation to beauty somehow by saying "ooooooh if you are relaxed you get less wrinkles or your skin is better or you wont get spots",. however truth is I just wanted to have a little type about my experience, so please bare with. 
Last night I went back to school to attend a relaxation course, which was designed to help those who find it difficult to switch off, have too many thoughts wizzing round their mind at once and general anxiety.
Now I have been suffering anxiety for about a year now, and it has such an impact on your everyday life I wanted to try something to help me manage this. I won't go into great detail but I have tried many things to manage anxiety/panic attacks and some have been no help to me at all, so I was a little skeptical.
Let me set the scene, picture an AA meeting set up (circle of chairs where you all face each other) however this had yoga mats on the floor next to your seat. The women in front of me took one look at this set up and fled for the nearest exit, I must admit I fancied doing the same, the thought of sitting in a room with everyone staring at me and having to introduce myself to strangers was alone enough to induce a panic attack. I did decide to stay though and waddled in to take a seat. 
The first task was to lie on the mat while the guy taking the class spoke to us, getting us to focus on certain points of the body and in his words "letting go" of any tensions. Well this is found extremely difficult, I was somewhere between panic attack and holding in a laughter fit at the elderly man next to me and his obvious flatulence problem (I believe he had relaxed a little too much). All I could do was think of what excuse I could make to leave, but if I have learnt one thing it is to stay in a panic provoking environment and learn how to deal with it.
We had a little chat after this exercise and most people said how much it had helped them to relax etc, I was sat thinking how much it hurt lying on a hard floor in a cold draft, not too worry haha. Now during this chat I must admit I started to calm down, the panic was passing and I was ready to open my thoughts to really "relaxing". We then started the main exercise which again meant we were back on the floor, this time tensing and relaxing different muscle groups and feeling the difference between the two stages. Now this really does work, after 20 minutes I could barely keep my eyes open and felt pretty much glued to the spot. It was blissful, at last I was not in a state on anxiety or panic, nothing was worrying me and I felt completely relaxed.
Again as we were in this AA set up we had to discuss our every thought and feeling, not something I am overly keen on, but at least this time I could nod in agreement when people said how it good it made them feel.
We were all given a pack which included the relaxation CD we had been using and some other leaflets etc. Now I think these kind of classes should be made mandatory for everyone, and maybe if I had learned how to relax and deal with stresses I wouldn't of ended up as anxious etc as I am now. I would strongly reccomend trying this kind of thing out, even if you don't really suffer with stress too much (lets face it in this day and age its pretty unlikely you haven't been effected by stress), as it could really come in useful in the future.
I know this has seemed rather light hearted, but believe me sometimes you just have to laugh at what life throws you otherwise you will just cry lol.
Now I am looking forward to next weeks lesson, even if I do have to endure  the elderly man who can't hear a thing and asks for everything to be repeated, or the the snobby women who shot daggers at me when I took off my coat to reveal my tattoo's, I just want to chill out and they won't be getting in my way.
Thanks for reading and if you wan't any advice on any of the contents above feel free to contact me, as I am sure I can help or just offer someone to talk too.
Stay Classy xox

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