How To Relax | Blogmas 2017

Christmas time, isn't all mistletoe and wine, in fact, the festive season is usually very busy and for some people their workload doubles and expenses triple. It's important to take time out for yourself and relax, even if it is just the five minutes you have to spare, use it!

On December17th: Christmas Self-Care, we went over the basics of wellness and keeping healthy over the festive period. In Today's blog post we're going to talk about a few mindful and relaxing activities to help keep calm and relax.

🎄Meditate
Meditation is a highly acclaimed way to relieve stress and tension and centre yourself. There many apps and guided youtube videos that can help you with your meditation, and enable you to understand the process step by step. You'll want to be in a quiet environment where you can either sit, stand or lay comfortably and not be disturbed for at least 10 minutes. This will help you to free your mind and relax.

🎄Yoga
I prefer Yoga to mediation as I feel like I am actually doing something. Not only will yoga calm and relax you, it also gives a boost of energy. Yoga is also known to help you control your weight, keep you healthy, get fit, and even helps to ease menstrual pain. Doing Yoga is a win-win in my mind, don't worry if you have never done it before there are so many simple and easy moves to begin with that you probably do in daily life without realising and after you have finished you will feel a sense of accomplishment.

🎄Body Tension Exercise
For this exercise, it's best to lie down on a comfy flat surface. Using controlled breathing as you would for meditation or yoga, you can choose to go from head to toe or vice-versa. Work your way up your body by tensing each part of your body as tight as you can for 5 seconds, then relax it and move onto the next part. For example: if you were starting at your toes you would tense your toes and then relax them, then your feet, your shins, your thighs, your pelvis, your stomach, your chest, your shoulders, arms, hands and fingers, till you reach your head and repeat the process again if you wish. Once each part of the body has been tensed and relaxed you can then tense up your whole body as tight as you can and release, repeat this action a few times. This will help to make you feel more relaxed and will have helped to relieve any tension within your body.

🎄Go for a Walk
If you have a dog or don't have a car; walking may be something you feel you do every day. Mindful walking is a little different. Instead of rushing from A to B, or being glued to a screen whilst walking, walk for the sake of walking. Have a look at the nature around you, whether any trees still have their leaves, can you see any wildlife? Really take the time to have a look and appreciate your surroundings. This is the best option I have found to clear my head after a busy day or if something has got me worried and it really helps put things into perspective when I came back to reality.

🎄Be Thankful
Take time out of your day, no matter where you are, take a step back, and take in what you have to be thankful for. That roof over your head, that bed you get to sleep in, your family, friends and loved ones? The food you get to eat, the presents you may receive, the card from a secret admirer? I'm sure no matter where you are or who you are with there is something you are thankful/grateful for. Why not make a list over the holidays? Write down one or a couple of things that you are thankful for every day. You'll start to notice the little things in life that make you smile, the things you may ordinarily take for granted without even realising.

🎄Mindful Drawing/Colouring
Whether you are the next Picasso, De Vinci or simply someone that likes to doodle, this is a very easy activity to do and can be perfect for all the family to do, whether large or small, old or young anyone can get involved. There is a market saturated with mindful colouring books, and there's no shortage of colouring pens either. If you have state of the art drawing sets use them, you never know you may produce a masterpiece and priceless work of art. If you're like me you may end up doodling flowers (or try to draw elephants and end up drawing a dog with a trunk which looks like a man's arm and a tail that looks more like a horse's) but it will still be something you created. Before you know it you will have a sense of accomplishment, as well as a relaxed state of mind.

🎄Read a Book
Curl up on the sofa, under a blanket fort, in a window seat (if you're lucky enough to have one with a beautiful view -oh, that could also be something to be thankful for-), any nook you can find and escape in a land of literary design. Whether you choose to revisit a land from long ago, travel through space at warp speed, spend Christmas at Hogwarts, discover the truth behind a myth, ride a dragon into battle, travel the world or are swept off your feet by Prince (or Princess) Charming is entirely up to you. Books give your imagination the ability to let you escape no matter where you are in the world, (yes even if you're stuck on a delayed tube that's so packed you feel like a sardine) all with the power of words.

🎄Listen to Music
If you are reading this and rolling your eyes and thinking this is stupid because you listen to music all the time and feel this is obvious. I completely agree but there will be someone out there somewhere that would have never have thought of listening to music to calm down. Some genres of music may not calm you down but others will; personally heavy metal will annoy me or give a headache, this is the opposite of what I want and so I will avoid this music. I will stick on some Jazz music or blues, voices with deep souls and earthy tunes, and I will relax in no time. Everyone is different, have a look around at different genres of music, you never know, a genre of music you've never heard before may just do the trick for you.

🎄Watch Something You Love,
This is an alternative to reading if you are more of a movie buff and there is a particular film that always puts you in a good/relaxed mood, make the time to watch it. I can't think of any such film off the top of my head, but Gilmore Girls is a TV series I love to watch in the Autumn that helps me relax and switch off for a little while. Again, similar to the music here every one has different tastes, whilst some will prefer to relax with a rom-com, others may find sci-fi more of a welcoming environment. There isn't any set genre that you must watch, just anything that helps you to unwind into a tranquil state of mind.

🎄Light a Candle
I'm sat here typing this BlogPost with a scented candle lit right next to me. There is a reason there are so many available to buy, not only are they a good light source during a power cut, they also create an ambience in a room. If you live somewhere where you are not allowed candles or are scared you may burn your house down, battery operated faux candles are available and are less fire hazardous. When you sit to rest in the evening, even if the house is still full or the little ones are still up, adding a couple of candles to the mix makes a room feel warmer and instantly calmer, and people will start to feel sleepy (especially the little ones). ⚠ If you do light any candles please be careful and make sure you blow them out before you go to bed ⚠

Let me know if you try any of the techniques mentioned above, Did they help you or do you think it's all a fad? Which genre of music/book/film helps you to relax? Whatever you do make sure you take time out for yourself and do something you love.

Thanks for reading,
Remeber to Come Back Tomorrow To Open Another Post on the Blogmas Calendar.
XO