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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
STRESS
MANAGEMENT
Focused Relaxation

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
Unlike simple relaxation, focused relaxation switches on an
alert state of mental awareness. It lets our bodies
consciously simulate the parasympathetic branch of the
autonomic nervous system. It can produce mood-altering
chemicals that change how we feel. It can connect us to a
higher spiritual awareness. By bringing together the mental,
emotional, physical and spiritual sides of us, focused
relaxation is the number one stress management technique.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
SWITCHING OFF THE ALARM
Focused relaxation enables us to access the para-
sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. This
is the branch that counteracts the sympathetic branch. It is
the all-important counter-balance to our alarm mechanism.
The sympathetic branch of the autonomic system triggers:
1. alarm
2. the fight-flight response
3. readiness
4. excitement.
The parasympathetic branch of the autonomic system
triggers:
1. absence of readiness
2. balance and homeostasis
3. peace and quiet.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
FOCUSED RELAXATION
Focused relaxation is different from relaxation. Simple
relaxation is a loosening of muscles, thoughts and emotions
that enables us to switch off. Collapsing in front of a
television set after a hard day's work can be relaxing and
emptying our thoughts.
Focused relaxation is relaxation with a purpose. Instead of
merely switching off, we switch our attention to our relaxed
state. We are aware of ourselves, aware of what we are
doing and aware that we are without effort or pressure.
"The time to relax is when you don't have time for it."
(Sydney J.Harris)

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
BRAIN WAVES
The brain emits four different types of waves each of which
can be measured and recorded on brain-scanning
equipment:
1. beta waves are those emitted during ordinary conscious
day-to-day activity
2. delta waves are those emitted when we dream and
sleep
3. theta waves are those emitted when we are in a
withdrawn, dream-like state
4. alpha waves are those emitted when we are in deep
physical relaxation and emotional tranquillity, when the
mind is calm yet still awake and alert.
In states of focused relaxation, the brain manufactures
mood-altering chemicals known as neurotransmitters and
increases the production of serotonin which is associated
with feelings of calm and happiness.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
BETA WAVES
The Beta brain rhythm level operates at between 14 and 21
cycles per second which is the fastest of the 4 levels.
This is the level at which you are stuck for 99% of your
waking hours. It works when the mind is focusing on things
in the physical dimension.
Being left-brain driven, it is where you experience stress,
doubt, and negative thinking.
Spending your entire waking life in Beta is like driving your
car a thousand miles in first gear. You’ll eventually get where
you want but it will take an eternity and won’t be much fun.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
ALPHA WAVES
The Alpha brain rhythm level resonates at between 7 and 14
cycles per second. This is where you access the amazing
power of your sub-conscious mind.
Alpha is heart knowledge. In Beta you think; in Alpha you
know. Its realm is all your sub-conscious programming which
you can easily revise and update while in the Alpha state.
Most people slip into the Alpha state involuntarily perhaps
while daydreaming, doing the garden, or in the shower.
15 minutes in Alpha equals 2 hours sleep. Both brain
hemispheres are in balance. It’s a state of telepathy where
you can enhance your body’s natural healing to the power
of 10.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
THETA WAVES
The Theta level of brain rhythms operates between 4 and 7
cycles per second. For most people it’s the sleep level,
where you are no longer aware of your body.
In Theta you can access your Supra-Conscious mind where
you may perceive other dimensions of spirit, time and
space. It’s an area of deep meditation and unusual
inspiration. You can perceive the future for yourself and
others. It’s the realm of the visionary.
In Theta states you may experience heaviness in your limbs
and a feeling of falling or being on a slope. But that’s OK. No
harm will come to you.
If you can operate in Theta and stay awake, you are very
fortunate.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
DELTA WAVES
The lowest level of brain activity is the Delta level, at only ½
to 4 cycles per second.
This is the level of the unconscious. You can’t be in Delta
and still be awake. It’s an area of very deep sleep, an area of
total physical regeneration.
Children often sleep in Delta. When a child is sleeping in
Delta, you can pick them up, take them for a drive, and put
them down again and they won’t even stir.
That’s why so few children have so few problems with
intuition and creativity.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
RELAXATION AND BREATHING
During a single day we take between 16,000 and 23,000
breaths. Each breath uses up about 250 mls of oxygen and
disposes of about 200 mls of carbon dioxide.
For us to feel well, it is important that these two substances
are balanced. Under normal breathing, we exhale as soon as
the level of carbon dioxide in our blood makes it more acid.
Fast, deep breathing as well as shallow, irregular breathing
can upset this balance and lead to unpleasant side-effects.
Focused relaxation helps to regulate unnatural styles of
breathing. Relaxed breathing is rhythmical and pulls the air
down into the lower lungs where most of the blood
circulates. Relaxed breathing is controlled, paced and
centred.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
MUSCLE TENSION
When we move any of the 620 skeletal muscles in our
bodies, there is a tension in one set of muscles and a
corresponding relaxation in another. Check this out by
looking at someone from behind: as they flex their biceps,
the triceps muscles relax at the back.
Holding a muscle tight and tense in one position for any
length of time is thus unnatural. What happens is that the
nerve ends release energy, some of which is converted into
heat. This heat breaks down glycogen which carries oxygen
through the blood to the muscle. At the same time, lactic
acid is produced. Prolonged contraction of the muscle builds
up the lactic acid which produces stiffness, pain and fatigue.
To avoid muscle pain, relaxation and good blood circulation
are therefore essential.

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Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
RELAXATION RESEARCH
R K Peters and Herbert Benson conducted a series of
relaxation experiments with a group of office workers in the
1970’s.
The experimental group were trained in relaxation
techniques which they practised twice a day for 12 weeks. A
control group received no instruction. At the end of the 12
weeks, Peters and Benson measured both groups. They
found that those who had taken the relaxation training had
reduced blood pressure, improved workplace performance
and an increased feeling of well-being.
Focused relaxation makes us work better because it allows
us easier access to the sub-conscious parts of our brain. This
is the home of our creative thinking, our imagination, our
goal-setting and our problem-solving. It is often when we
relax that moments of "ah-ah", insight and understanding
come to us.

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Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
NATURAL RELAXATION
Animals relax naturally. If you have a pet cat or dog, watch
how it relaxes. It flops itself down in a slow even bundle; it
spreads its weight evenly; it feels like a dead weight; it
stretches itself languidly; it has no restraints or inhibitions.
You can relax naturally by adopting the following tips:
1. imagine that your head is suspended from the sky by a
thread attached to the crown of your head. This will
tuck in your chin and let your shoulders flop down.
2. when you sit to relax, place your hands in one cup over
the other on your knees or on your lap with forefinger
and thumb tips touching. In these positions they cannot
be tense.
3. when you stand to relax, place your feet about 18"
apart at an angle of five to one on the clock. Place your
weight in your thighs and give a bit at the knees.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
LEARNING TO RELAX
If you are the type of person who has always been busy
doing rather than being, the first steps in relaxation may
seem a bit alien. But with practice, you will discover a whole
new type of inner strength and power.
1. Choose to practise relaxation rather than feel you must.
2. Practise regularly, perhaps for 20 minutes twice a day.
3. Allow relaxation to happen, don't force it. Avoid doing it
when you are agitated, exhausted, hungry or full. The
best time is straight after exercise which is a natural
time for letting go.
4. Start with tapes or an instructor; in time be your own
guide.
5. If you have times when your mind wanders, don't
worry; slow down even more, be patient, stay focused.
6. Carry the focused energy of relaxation into whatever
activity you're carrying out next.

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Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
PREPARING FOR RELAXATION
The following guidelines apply to all forms of relaxation
exercise:
1. go somewhere where you will be completely by
yourself; be assertive at home that this is your time for
yourself and you won't allow any interruptions
2. think about your posture if you choose to sit or stand.
Keep a straight but not stiff back, relax your limbs; place
your hands in front of you, palms uppermost.
3. always close your eyes
4. if you lie down on the floor, let yourself feel like a limp
rag doll. Feel as if the floor beneath you is holding you
up.
5. quieten your thoughts. If thoughts you don't want start
to wander into your mind, don't fight them. Gently lead
them away.
6. at the end of each session, come back by counting down
from 4 to 1. On 4, make two fists; on 3, bend the arms;
on 2, fill the lungs with air; on 1, open your eyes.

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Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
MEDITATION
Meditation works by emptying the conscious mind of
distracting thoughts. You direct your thoughts away from
yourself and your problems and allow yourself to open up
pathways to that part of the brain that deals with
unconscious thought and experience.
Meditation has been known for over 2500 years. It is simple,
immediate and requires no professional guidance. Studies
show that meditating twice a day for 20 minutes can reduce
oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production by up
to 20%, lower blood pressure and reduce levels of blood
lactate, the chemical produced by stress. It produces a
balanced pattern of alpha and theta brainwaves, showing
that the body is relaxed and the mind alert.
As well as reducing hypertension, meditation expands brain
functioning by balancing left and right brain hemispheres.

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Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
STEPS IN MEDITATION
Use the following steps as the basis for developing your own
meditative style:
1. Find a tranquil place where you can be undisturbed. Some
people find it helps to burn incense or play sounds of
nature; others prefer complete quiet.
2. Sit or lie in a relaxed position.
3. Allow one action, thought, idea or set of words to come
into your mind. Speak the words softly to yourself. These
should be positive, life-enhancing, spiritual: a simple phrase
such as "calm mind, alert body, sparkle eyes"; a religious
phrase such as "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want", a
mantra, such as "Om numaah shivaya" (I honour my own
self). If you are concentrating on actions such as chewing
food, do so slowly and rhythmically.
4. Continue to repeat the phrase or action to yourself or in a
low mumble. Make it a chant. Break off only to consider the
life-enhancing meaning of the words.

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Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
VISUALISATION
Visualisation is a relaxation technique which replaces our
current thoughts with pictures that refresh and relax.
Visualisation can be used in a number of specific ways.
1. You can use visualisation to overcome parts of the body
that are in pain or need healing. If you have an
infection, you can imagine your white blood cells like
fierce warriors or piranha fish attacking the diseased
cells and replacing them with healthy ones. At the same
time you can visualise fresh supplies of clean oxygen-
rich blood bathing and nourishing the healthy cells.
2. You can use visualisation before a particularly stressful
event to imagine yourself behaving in the way you
would like to behave and producing the outcomes you
would like. Athletes, doctors and teachers all use
visualisation in this way to combat stress. Other
visualisation methods are the Silva mind control and
sophrology.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
STEPS IN VISUALISATION
Use the following steps as the basis for developing your own
visualisation style:
1. Sit or lie in a relaxed position.
2. Close your eyes and breathe rhythmically.
3. Imagine that your mind's eye is watching a screen which
is pitch black. As you look, notice a chink of light appearing
at one corner of the screen and slowly begin to fill up the
screen. It reveals a scene you recognize, a place in which
you find complete relaxation and rest. Notice the sights,
sounds, smells, see the scene. Step into it.
4. Now fully imagine yourself in the scene. Fully breath in
the calm refreshing atmosphere. Stay as long as you like.
5. In your own time take your leave of the scene. Step back
into your watching seat and watch the picture fade.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
AUTOGENIC TRAINING
Autogenic training is a form of relaxation which is self-
administered. It is a type of self-hypnosis in which vital
bodily functions are systematically changed by self-
suggestion. In a trained person, an autogenic training
session can slow down heart rates, even out breathing,
make muscles feel heavier, foreheads cooler, limbs warmer.
Autogenic training originated in Germany. Its founder,
Johannes Schultz, used it to reduce the autonomic arousal
response, coining the word "autogenic" because his patients
applied the technique to themselves and were in control all
the time.
A simple application of the principles of autogenic training is
to imagine the palm and fingers of your dominant hand
becoming warmer. You can also achieve this by placing the
hand close to your warm cheek.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
STEPS IN AUTOGENIC TRAINING
These are the steps of a simple autogenic training session:
1. I close my eyes, relax and concentrate on what is going on
inside me.
2. Now I concentrate on each arm, in turn and imagine it is
very heavy. I repeat six times: "My right arm is very heavy"
and then: "My left arm is very heavy".
3. Now I relax and say: "I am very quiet for a while".
4. I repeat with the phrase: "My arm is very warm and
heavy" six times.
5. I next concentrate on my heartbeat repeating the
formula: "My heartbeat is calm and strong" six times.
6. I do the same by concentrating on my breathing saying:
"It breathes me" six times.
7. I do the same by concentrating on my stomach area by
repeating: "Warmth is radiating over my stomach" six times.
8. I repeat with "The forehead is cool" six times.

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
LETTING GO
The body of a stressed individual is taut, the thoughts are
tense, the emotions wrought. This tight knot of a person
needs to unwind, unravel, loosen itself. It needs to let go.
1. identify where your knots are. Carry out a body audit.
Use relaxation exercises to let of of tension.
2. resolve to let go of excessive burdens in your working
day
3. audit the tightening thoughts and feelings which hem
you in. Resolve to let go of those that tie you to the past
or a fearful future.
4. use a friend or counsellor to help you let go.
Letting go is like being re-born. It allows us to cast off one
slough and start again.

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Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
GOING WITH THE FLOW
Going with the flow is an alternative to resisting threats or
running away from them. Instead, we yield to them. By
accepting them, we gain their energy. We lose our own will
and desire to control, but gain new power.
Next time you have a headache, try not to resist or fight it,
but to go with it without resistance, riding the pulses as if on
a wave. Difficult though this may be when you are in pain, it
is a way to relax yourself to overcome it.
"Relaxation is not something you do. It is a natural response
that you allow to happen. Relaxation is what is left when
you stop creating tension." (Joel Levy)

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Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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Focused Relaxation
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn