THREE EASY MEDITATIONS FOR CONSCIOUS RELAXATION
What is your favourite way to relax? Is it to read a book? Or take a walk? Or have dinner with your friends? My favourite way is to relax by doing nothing at all, or seemingly nothing. I like to meditate for 15-20 minutes to relax consciously.
Why relax consciously?
I used to be a person who could never understand those lying on the beach for hours, half asleep, not even reading a book. I thought they were getting bored. My relaxation time had to be filled with doing things to feel useful and productive.
Then I hit a moment in my life when I had no energy left, and any active ‘relaxation’ was even too much to handle. I had to stop doing things and allow my life to flow and myself to be. So I learnt to lie on the beach. After a long summer holiday, I got my energy back and realised that I should take relaxation more seriously.
Relaxing is not another doing, it’s an untangling; a resolving of tension – Tara Brach
Back then I started my training as a yoga teacher, and I discovered alternatives ways of relaxing without doing much – Yoga Nidra and body scan meditations.
How does it work?
When we are busy with relaxing through activity, we ignore the signals of stress and tiredness in our body. When we are conscious about our body and how it settles, the body finally gives in and can truly let go of tension and anxiety.
Both Yoga Nidra and body scan help you bring your awareness to different areas of your body and pay attention to physical sensations. This conscious attention is like saying to your body ‘I notice you, I love you and I want to take care of you’.
Meditating doesn’t have to be challenging, especially if you intend to relax your body and let go of stress. Therefore both practices are done by lying down on your back, as comfortable as you can!
If you have never heard about Yoga Nidra before, I have written a separate blog post about the benefits of Yoga Nidra.
Three meditations for your conscious relaxation
Hereby are three meditations to help you relax, 15 to 20 minutes long.
To start with any of them, find a comfortable laying down position laying down on your back (on a bed or yoga mat). Use a pillow to support your head and as many blankets as you need to keep you warm.
You can do any of these meditations whenever you have 10-20 minutes to spare during the day. They also work great right before sleep or as an afternoon nap for a boost of energy.
10-minute body scan
18-minute Yoga Nidra
23-minute Yoga Nidra with live hand pan music
Discover more meditations
If you like these meditations, you might want to check out more free meditation recordings on my channel here >>
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