Discover the Power of Meditation – Part 4

May 28, 2024

By Helena Keenan, Day Spa Manager at Polynesian Spa

Read Part 1 here: Preparation
Read Part 2 here: Relaxation
Read Part 3 here: Mindfulness

When we learn to apply mindfulness techniques to learn to relax into a meditative state, we can develop these techniques into a useful skill that can be applied throughout our lives in many different circumstances.

For our purpose, I am discussing the use of mindfulness techniques to build a foundation for a meditation practice in our daily lives. The main technique we use is our awareness and the practice of bringing our awareness to a particular aspect of our everyday physical reality. This narrow convergent focus placed on our breath, body, thoughts and emotions brings us directly into the present moment. The only place where we can make positive changes to our habits and behaviours.

Rapid Relaxation Sequence

The way we breathe is directly linked to how we are feeling. Feeling stressed we might let out a big sigh, as if our body is releasing a pressure valve. This is an automatic aspect of our body as it tries to regulate itself and move the autonomic nervous system back into a state of balance. I teach a Rapid Relaxation sequence that deliberately uses this natural habit of sighing to bring about a relaxed state. This can be done sitting in your car (when it is parked), in your office, or sitting in a chair in a relaxed upright posture at home with your eyes closed and only requires 5 minutes of your time.

This exercise combines sighing and non-judgmental awareness of our body by focusing first on our feet and what we are feeling in the moment – perhaps, warmth, pressure or tingling and then slowly moving our awareness up our legs, to our thighs and hips applying the same observation. On reaching our hips we draw our attention to the point of balance where the base of our spine rests at our pelvis and here we bring in another natural habit of rocking. So, after taking a big breath and sighing it out we begin to rock our spine very gently from side to side. The same way you might rock a child to soothe it, you rock yourself. Try it and pay close attention to the muscles in your back relaxing and releasing. After a few moments allow your body to settle back to its natural position and move your awareness on upwards along the spine until you reach the top of the spine where it meets your skull. Again, you take in a deep breath sighing it out.

Now you begin to rock your head very gently across the point of balance at the top of the spine and focus on the muscles of the neck softening, loosening, relaxing, releasing. Do this for few moments before allowing your head to rest back in its natural point of balance and move your awareness now up obvert back of your head and down onto the forehead feeling the muscles of your forehead smooth out, the tiny muscles around the eyes soften and relax, letting your jaw soften and drop a little.

Taking one final deep breath and sighing it out and allowing your breath to settle back into a natural rhythm, let your focus expand out to a divergent focus and observe your whole body and the state of relaxation you have achieved.

You can end this Mindful practice here and then go on with your day or having relaxed your body you may find your mind deeply relaxed and ready to sit quietly in meditation. Once you have developed this practice of relaxing your body you can extend it into a longer Progressive Muscle Relaxation sequence where you focus more intently and for longer on each part of the body. Having mastered this skill of mindful relaxation it is very easy to stay in this state and allow yourself to slip into a state of stillness.

The next piece will address how to manage the intrusive thoughts and emotions that can derail our attempts to sit still and quietly meditate.