Dealing with Hashimotos and the long list of other issues over the past 9 years, anxiety and heart palpitations would be triggered by a number of things throughout the day that would throw me off my game. I am more conscious of when I need to slow down, take a break, do some deep breathing, reset and then get back to what I was doing when I feel more calm. That is the point of relaxation response exercises, pushing that reset button. Here is a list of some of the exercises mentioned in the book and I have personally used a few for years.
1) Belly-breathing: Put aside 10 minutes of uninterrupted time. Sit or lie down on a surface that fully supports your entire body. I prefer to lay down. Place your hands on your abdomen and close your eyes. As you inhale, inflate your stomach and not your chest. You will feel your belly move against your hands. I was doing belly breathing wrong all this time. I kept inflating my chest! |LOL Continue breathing through your nose and for about 5 minutes.
2) Slowing down your breathing: Whenever you notice that you are getting tense or need a break check on your breathing. Try slowly it down concentrating more on exhalation rather than inhalation. This a technique that I use at work when I feel anxiety starting to come on.
3) Counting your exhalations: Find a quiet spot and start belly breathing. This time count down from 5 to 1 with every exhalation and continue for about 5 minutes.
4) Repeating a mantra or affirmation: This is the use of repeated phrases or sounds for prayer or meditation. There are many advanced techniques you can use but for beginners like myself you can simply choose a word or phrase that is calming to you like "relax", "peace" or even "I feel my body healing". Sit in a quiet place for about 15-20 minutes and repeat your words or phrases to yourself silently or out loud while breathing slow and deep. You will find that your mind wanders when you first start to do it. I know when I started I would say my phrases in my head and than start thinking about work or the kids and had to regroup myself. Look squirrel! LOL But doing this twice a day you can really train yourself to focus on healing and relaxation.
5) Progressive relaxation: This one was kind of harder to explain to I found a picture on-line. The idea is to tighten up your muscles for about 10 seconds and then relaxing, starting from your head down to your toes until you have done this with every part of your body.
6) The quiet pond: Everyone can agree that sitting beside a pond can be so relaxing away from modern day life and the loudness and chaos. Find the quiet pond in your life which doesn't necessarily have to be a pond. It could be a bench in your favourite forest, or the swing in your backyard. Whatever is the quiet pond in your life, go there for a few minutes everyday and around the same time everyday.
Along with your planned relaxation exercises, do some unplanned ones. If possible take some time off from work to rest. It doesn't have to be expensive to be relaxing, vacation or staycation, doesn't matter. Don't miss out on your sleep and try to keep a positive attitude. Laughter is the best medicine and when you laugh "stress decreases and all mechanisms in your body relax". Using some of these exercises daily will ensure you are doing all that you can to keep your body in the parasympathetic state where it should be and help you recover from your adrenal fatigue.
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