Many of you love to be busy. You get up in the morning and you're off to work, and then when work is finally done, you run a few errands before you even get home. After you're home the busyness often doesn't stop there as you rush to answer your cell phone while simultaneously taking food out for dinner. This is life for most of you, without the busyness many feel bored. But are you really bored, or are you merely misinterpreting what it feels like to be relaxed? When your mind has little to think about, are you being lazy, or is this a 'Zen' moment? Are you asking right now what a Zen moment is? Well, for those of you who don't know, a Zen moment is when your mind is free. Yes, that's right. Your mind is free of the constant chatter and believe it or not, this is a healthy state. You can't achieve it all of the time, even if you tried. But when you do achieve it, some great things are happening inside of your body. Serotonin, a chemical that boosts your immune system and gives you a sense of calm and well being is released into your blood stream when your thoughts slow down and you feel that sense of 'laziness' come on. But it's not laziness at all. It's called the 'relaxation response.'

According to Herbert Benson M.D. author of The Relaxation Response, "when we are faced with situations that require adjustment of our behavior" our fight or flight response ignites and this raises our blood pressure, increases our metabolism, and breathing. Yet relaxation offsets these increases by decreasing our blood pressure, decreasing our metabolism and slowing down our breathing. The slowing down of relaxation tends to also quiet the mind and together with deep respiration even affects your mood. In his article "Endocrinology of Ashtanga Yoga" published in www.yogapoint.com, Dr. Sujit Chandratreya MD, DM, DNB, says the relaxation response... "brings balance to the cortical activities, nervous system and endocrine system, in turn stress hormones are reduced ... which results in a calm and peaceful state of body and mind." But could it be that many of you are misreading what it means to be relaxed? In fact how many of you get on your teens for just 'laying around'? As parents you have to determine whether this is just lying around or if your teen is finding some quiet time after all the running, socializing and homework that they are doing all week long. But it's important that you are mindful not to teach your children how not to relax, because everyone needs it- and some more than others.

Methods of relaxation

Yoga

There are many ways you can relax; for instance practicing yoga is an ancient art of blending the mind and the body together in one practice to achieve inner balance and harmony. During yoga you stretch your muscles, breathe with the stretches, called Asanas and allow your minds to focus on the pose which is held for anywhere from 10 seconds to 30 seconds. This slow movement of the body not only reduces mind chatter and increases our flexibility, but your muscles are receiving blood and nutrients. For some of you, capillaries that haven't been opened due to muscle tightness may now for the first time in years receive much needed nourishment and this improves the health of your muscles.

Meditation

Meditation is another method that assists you in relaxing and you needn't be experts to achieve results that benefit your health. Taking time out every day just to experience quietness, whether you are sitting lotus style, performing Asanas, working out or walking briskly through a park, you can still your minds by repeating a word or phrase that means something to you. It can be a word that elicits a feeling of spirituality, or a word that brings you into a state of calm, but repeating this word or phrase over and over is what stills the mind enough to change the gears of stress.

Finally, relaxation actually slows down the aging process and helps you to rejuvenate both mentally and physically. It may be a challenge for some of you to slow down and take 20 minutes every day to experience some stillness, but it's worth it. You may be surprised how taking this time out for yourselves even changes your thoughts and feelings as you, perhaps for the first time in a long while, notice what it is you are thinking. Two thirds of physicians are now encouraging their patients to incorporate some kind of mind/body approach into their health regiment and learning to focus your mind is the key to stress reduction and enhancing and your health. And if you find yourself thinking of something else, that's okay, just refocus and return to a mantra or phrase that helps you to re-focus!

Copyright Donya Ture'

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