Relaxation Moments

Relaxation, Peace and Serenity for the Mind and Body

Benefits of Music Therapy

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Music therapy is defined on wikipedia.org as “an evidence-based clinical use of musical interventions to improve clients’ quality of life”. While you may not want to formally use music therapy in your own life, it’s good to know what the benefits are if you’re thinking about using music to help you relax.

In music therapy it is used to help people develop better health in emotional, social, cognitive and sensory ways. This is done by including active participation in musical experiences as well as being receptive to listening to music.

Music therapy is used for relaxation as well as for other reasons. One of the advantages of using music therapy is that it is based on both neural and physical responses to the sound you hear. This means you can benefit from singing or playing an instrument as well as listening to music.

If you feel like singing along to music in the car, try it.

Research has shown that music therapy has benefits for all people. So, if you’re a busy person and you’re looking for ways to relax, think about all the ways to bring music into your life. Are there times during the day when you can wear headphones during work hours? Perhaps you could incorporate music into family activities with your kids. If you’re spending time writing a to do list, why not listen to music while you’re doing it? There are lots of short times during the day when you could include music in your life.

Studies have even shown that people who listen to the distraction of music at the same time as undergoing a painful experience (like having an intravenous needle placed in the arm) feel less pain and less stress as a result of music.

If you know you have to undergo a painful procedure consider using music as a distraction. The more relaxed you are throughout your day the better you’ll feel overall.

Although music can’t help with curing diseases or ailments, it has been shown to improve people’s coping ability during these times.

If music is useful to help people cope with illness, why not give it a go when you’re not feeling on top of a task? See if your coping skills improve when you listen to music at a time of high stress. Music may help you reduce feelings of being overwhelmed or anxious.

From studies done with music therapy we know music can be used to enhance people’s lives when they need it most. If you are at all hesitant about using music to help you relax then consider trying it for at least part of your day and at least a couple of weeks. The results may surprise you.

Include Music in Other Activities

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Music can be used to lower your stress levels and improve your mood, but do you have time for music?

If you’re always busy you probably think you don’t have time to sit down and listen to music. You probably forget about music because you’re so distracted by your busy life. If you live according to a planner and schedule everything, it’s time to schedule music as a complementary activity.

You don’t need to take time out to benefit from music. You can simply add it into other activities.

Like to run on a treadmill or a walk outside? Then you can use headphones to listen to music at the same time.

If you’re preparing a meal in your kitchen remember to turn on some music to help you relax. If you’re meal prepping for the week this is a great time to use music because you get a longer time to enjoy several different types of music.

You can even add music to your morning routine. Do you apply makeup or shave in the morning before going to work? Try adding music to your bathroom. You can even listen while to your favorite tunes while you’re in the shower. If you get a waterproof speaker this makes it more enjoyable.

When you take time during your day to practice meditation you can add music to enhance the experience. And if you need help to get to sleep at night try using classical or slow tempo music to help you relax and drift off to sleep.

If you work at a desk during the day use headphones to add music. As long as your boss is happy to see that you’re still concentrating on your work, you should be able to use music at work.

When you’re working while listening to music it’s often better to choose instrumental music only. By not having lyrics you remove the distraction that the words offer. Some workplaces encourage the use of music during work hours, especially in open offices where other distractions are frequent and the noise level from other people can become extremely loud. Noise cancelling headphones are useful in these situations.

If you like to start your day with affirmations this is a great time to incorporate music. By saying positive or calming affirmations while listening to music you’re helping your mind to concentrate by blocking out other sounds and distractions. If you always say specific affirmations while listening to one particular piece of music you can build an association with it. Then if you want to experience the same feelings you get when you say the affirmation, you can get it by listening to the same music at other times of the day.

Why Does Music Help You Relax?

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Did you know that music is the only sensory experience that can activate all the areas of your brain at one time? The brain experiences stimulation in many different parts when you’re listening to music. This can help to build new neuropathways.

Now that we know about brain plasticity, the ability to create new pathways in the brain is important because it affects our behavior.

If you strengthen stress pathways in the brain it encourages you to continue in that behavior. But new pathways can help you change. Neural pathways are the underlying foundation of your thoughts, the way you feel things, the way you act and your habits of thinking.

One of the benefits of using music to influence brain function is that it is non-invasive. Not only can music therapists easily use music with their patients, but you can use music in ways that benefit you at home. If you’re trying to relax it’s good to know that music can have a strong influence on many different parts of your brain.

Music also has a physical effect on your body. When you listen to slower tempo music it helps to relax your muscles and release the tension which may be adding to your stress.

Another interesting fact about music and relaxation is that there are studies showing the exact beat per minute that helps you relax. Music at 60 beats per minutes can help your brain to synchronize with the beats that cause alpha brainwaves and this is the brainwave that is existing when you’re relaxed yet still conscious.

If you listen to music that’s around 60 beats per minute for up to 45 minutes in the evening this can help you to get to sleep. If you want to try this, choose a comfortable place to sit or lie down and choose calm music. You’ll preferably want to select music that appeals to you. If you like the music and it’s calming then you probably won’t need to worry about whether it is 60 beats per minute. It needs to be comforting and calming for it to work. If you don’t like the music then you’re going to be distracted by it in a bad way and it won’t help you relax.

Music can be used at any time of the day or night to help you relax. And if you’re using it at work or when you’re out and about there’s always the option to use headphones. Music offers you so many options and can be adapted to each person’s preferences. Now that you know how music affects your brain and body go ahead and find out what suits you best.

5 Ways Relaxation Benefits Brain Health

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Relaxation

You just need to relax…

Odds are you have heard this line of advice at some real opportune time, where it seemed like absolute crap. How are you supposed to relax in the middle of finals, with 6 project deadlines, while you work 60 hour weeks, when the baby won’t stop crying, etc. Whatever your personal reason for your stress and tension, there are good reasons for you to take the ridiculous advice above.

This Scientific America article suggests finding some time in your routine to just relax, you are sure to score substantial benefits. The part of you to benefit the most from you reprieve will be your brain and here is how.

  1. Stopping Your Never-Ending Stress Cycle

The opposite of relaxation is stress, so obviously, relaxation is to reduce your stress. But, what you may not know is your stress cycle is probably on overdrive, all the time wreaking havoc on your mind and body.

Giving your brain time to process the barrage of information constantly coming to us is the whole point of relaxation. As your stress decreases, you will automatically experience the benefits on this list and many more. Breaking the constant stress cycle is the biggest and most unseen benefit you will get from finding the time to relax.

  • Better Sleep

Sleep is the gold standard for rest and relaxation, we all know that. The experts say everyone needs 7-9 hours of it to function at their highest capacity. However, even if you make it into bed in time to get your standard 8 hours, how long is it before you fall asleep. Rest lets your brain catch up and organize the information you have had coming at you all day.

If you don’t take a break before bed time, you likely lay awake at night sometimes for hours. Relaxing and taking breaks during the day has the potential to improve the quality of your much-needed sleep. This becomes even more important and effective if you find it uncommon to meet the daily recommendation on sleep.

  • Boost Decision Making and Memory

This is the big one. The most studied phenomenon studied in regards to rest and relaxation is the measurable boost you get in concentration, decision making and memory. These are studies that show results in mice, like the study sited in this Huffington Post article,  and in humans, like the studies site in this Scientific America article.

This is the number one, real, measurable brain benefit found from all forms of relaxation from deep breaths, meditation, and sleep.

  • A Major Uptick In Creativity

You are writing an article, working on a presentation or any other project you must get done and you just can’t seem to get it right. There is something missing… what is it? After hours of working, rearranging and editing, you decide to call it quits. Step away from your project, call it a day maybe.

Then the most frustrating thing happens, as you drive home, cook dinner or shower that night the answer floats its way into your head. The answer to the whole thing, tying it all together. The rest, the actual stepping away from the task at hand is the key. Not thinking about it, the relaxation gives the brain time to process information and make connections that are not readily seen. Relaxation leads to creative solutions and creativity in general.

  • Protect Your Brain From Serious Depression

Clinical depression is an imbalance of hormones in the brain. Sometimes, this imbalance can be triggered by a continuous influx of other hormones, like stress hormones. The imbalance can be brought on during times of great difficulty, like a divorce or death of a loved one. The stress can exacerbate mood upsets in people with a history of depression.

Relaxing can evacuate stress hormones and allow serotonin and dopamine levels to return to natural and regular levels. Doing so before there are any symptoms, protects you from developing long term symptoms of depression.

Relaxation is a powerful force for good and health in your body. The benefits are well-documented and could be described as universal, young, old, human and mouse all experience negative, degenerative effects during prolonged periods of stress and positive, restorative effects immediately following relaxation. 

Take the time to just relax for the benefits to your mind, body and your work, whatever your work maybe.

How A Guided Meditation Can Reduce Your Stress

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What Is A Stress Response?

Sunset Meditation

Stress is an emergency response system that evolved to allow our ancestors to thwart attacks on their life, like attacks from a wild animal or other situations encountered when living in the wild unknown. The stress system response evolved in order to allow the body excess adrenaline and cortisol, which are hormones that are initiated during the fight or flight response. When this state is activated, blood and other nutrients are diverted from the organs and the immune system is lowered in order to conserve energy for the fight or flight.

This means, either fighting a wild animal or running from it to try to reach safety. Yet, in modern times, we are typically not chased by wild animals in our everyday lives. Instead, we are attacked by modern pressures of work and life and other responsibilities.

We may feel like we are under immense pressure all the time and therefore cannot get out of the fight or flight mode. When this happens, we often refer to the issue vaguely as “stress.” Stress means that rather than the body being in a mode to rest and digest, it is pumped up and ready to run. Because the situation of stress is chronic for most people in modern times, this can begin to cause negative effects on the mind and body.

Chronic exposure to stress can weaken the immune system and can even change the DNA and may cause early aging and health decline. Long-term stress can also lead to inflammation and other symptoms like depression, anxiety, autoimmune disease, hypertension, headaches, and other issues.

Sometimes it is obvious that chronic stress is the culprit, and other times, when someone has been living with high stress levels for a long time, they may begin to see this as their normal functioning and not even notice how affected they are or which symptoms are related.

Mindfulness and attention to our health and wellness through guided meditation can allow us to make new connections about our health and can introduce a framework for making new and healthier choices in everyday life, leading to lower stress levels and greater fulfillment.

How to Manage Stress Levels with Guided Meditation

Guided meditation is a listening meditation that involves a short, guided session that takes us through a series of imaginative scenarios to help us see clearly the past and create a new vision for the future.

Topics vary for guided mediation and can involve self-confidence, health and reducing stress levels and reducing anxiety. Stress is not something that is out of control, but rather it is something that with attention and patience can become a motivating factor for change in our lives. When we experience high stress or even extreme mental breakdown, we are experiencing a mirror for our actions and our lifestyle. These high stress times allow us to see where we are pushing our limits and how we can best reel back out energies and actions to something that is more manageable and makes us happy.

Instead of always striving to do more and be better, we can see where we have gone too far and pushed ourselves too hard. We can see where we made compromises and didn’t stay true to our values. Guided meditation allows us to recognize these instances and take note of them without condemning ourselves or wishing for a different outcome.

Instead we can reflect through guided meditation and create a new understanding of our story and how we came to be in our current situation. Only when we see this clearly can we take insightful action towards a new reality. Practicing guided meditation daily allows for the consistency of change to manifest in our lives throughout the seasons.

Healing From Within With Positive Affirmations

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Using affirmations is a practice to heal from within and allows us to cancel, negate and correct old negative thought patterns. Positive affirmations can improve our health and can help us live more fulfilling lives by helping us change our thought patterns to more positive and meaningful ideas. Thoughts are mental cognitions that we often perceive as real and factual, which can lead to an emotional response.

We may have experienced trauma or other painful encounters throughout our lives that have formed mental constructs in our minds. Maybe we were bullied or made fun of. Maybe we had a traumatic upbringing, or little family support, or a career that didn’t carry us as far in life as we had imagined it would.

Whatever the issue, we can begin to form more positive and meaningful experiences when we can change our thought patterns and mindset to be more opportunistic. Doing this will allow our mind to be open to new ideas and ways of acting in the world so that we can take on new experiences without fear and with excitement. Positive affirmations are for self-confidence and power and stamina, and are also for healing, surrender and accountability.

Recognizing Our Thought Patterns

The first step to implementing positive affirmations for healing is to recognize our thought patterns and understand the root cause of our suffering or overwhelm. When it comes to our healing, we want to dig deep to determine where to do the work and where we are healed enough already to let go and move on. When a certain aspect of our lives is repetitious and keeps coming back unresolved, we know we need to do deep work.

Diving into positive affirmations is a great way to begin this practice of reformation of the mind. We first want to recognize our thought patterns and understand where our thoughts are coming from. When we have experienced trauma or another issue we are dissatisfied with, we may begin to form detrimental thought patterns around the situation.

We might begin to internalize or believe other people’s projections or ideas about us that are not necessarily true. Instead of allowing thought patterns and mindsets to control us, we can take control and make a decision to improve our mindset and make a new reality.

How to Use Positive Affirmations

Creating change in our lives using positive affirmations is an easy practice but can be very profound. The practice of using positive affirmations involves the repetition of a phrase or idea that is new to the mind and cancels out or changes a negative thought or belief that we hold.

When we identify a negative thought or belief, we can ask ourselves what is at the root of the belief. Follow the thought back to its origins in your life and begin to ask yourself when and why you started having a particular belief about something or yourself. Then, change the thought to one that is more positive and productive for you.

If you had a thought that made you feel inferior or ashamed, you can identify this and choose a new thought and statement that affirms your self-confidence and self-identity. You can choose to implement a new idea and repeat it again and again until it begins to take shape and manifest in your life.

Some positive affirmations work quickly while other thoughts and beliefs change over months, years and even decades. Yet, when we commit to changing our mindset and bringing in healing through positive affirmations, we are guaranteed to be gifted with a new outlook and perspective that brings peace and healing along our journey.

Morning Rituals: Setting the Stage for a Serene Day

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Rituals can change the way we view the day and can improve our well-being and quality of life. Having a set routine helps us develop good habits and reach our goals and aspirations, while rituals improve our mood and shape our beliefs. They allow us to keep ourselves accountable and stay motivated on the days we do not want to get out of bed.

Morning rituals are the best way to set our days up for success and stay in control of the day, regardless of outside factors. The way that you wake up each morning will dramatically increase your quality of life and balance your stress levels, allowing you to feel calm and at peace throughout the rest of the day.

What is a Morning Ritual?

Both routines and rituals are crucial to a positive state of mind and maintaining mental stability. However, it is important to know that they are not the same thing but that they complement one another. A morning ritual takes on a task that may be part of one’s routine and puts meaning and intention behind it.

Rituals are habits that an individual develops to nurture and build a strong mindset. They allow us to appreciate the benefits that our routines provide to us for our daily lives and provide value beyond completing a task.

Rituals are self-empowering and allow us to change our perspective on reality. They allow us to reinforce habits with reasoning behind them that can be very effective on improving our mental health and emotions.

Examples of Morning Rituals

Gratitude

Gratitude reinforces happiness and can set the tone for a positive outlook on the day. It allows you to appreciate the little moments that occur throughout the day and finding ways to be grateful for whatever the day presents.

One way to practice gratitude is through journaling. By making a list each morning of the things you are most grateful for, you will train your mind to look for moments of appreciation throughout the rest of the day. Starting your day off with a grateful mind is the best way to stay positive and full of joy each and every day.

Goals and Aspirations

Writing down your goals and how you will achieve them is the best way to stay motivated and keep yourself accountable. It is easy to say a goal out loud but writing it down and staying attuned to it each morning will make you more likely to achieve it and stick to it.

Along with your gratitude journal, writing down the ways you will try to achieve your goals and make progress each morning will get you closer and closer to your goals. Goals that you think about each and every morning will keep you dedicated and committed no matter what obstacles arise.

Meditation

Meditation is a great practice to keep your mind healthy and productive throughout the day. By clearing your mind for a short period of time each morning, you will notice the positive impacts that meditating has on many different components of your life.

Research has shown that meditation has direct links with happiness, reduced anxiety and depression, balanced emotions, and alertness. When you acknowledge and sit with your emotions, you will notice that they no longer follow you throughout the day and prevent you from completing your daily tasks.

Meditation has tons of benefits that will improve your perspective on reality and your calmness throughout the day. Meditating will also help you realize gratitude and focus on your aspirations while staying as productive and dedicated as possible.

5 Ways to Find Inner Peace And Calm in Times of Chaos

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When the news is filled with negative emotion and our surroundings are chaotic, it can seem overwhelming and stressful to be trapped in the house, full of uncertainty. However, it is important to realize that peace and tranquility come from within and can be found even in the most challenging times. Making an effort to find this inner peace is one of the most important things you can do during these times, and below are five different ways to do so.

Meditation & Yoga

Meditation is great way to calm the mind and focus on your breathing in order to stay present in the moment. Yoga and meditation practices allow you to feel balanced from within and allows you to reflect on outside surroundings rather than consuming them.

Starting with a guided meditation or a yoga class on YouTube is a great way to start practicing without spending money. They will teach you breathing techniques that can help you calm down when you find yourself stressing out and you will notice that you are not as anxious and overwhelmed.

Routine

Developing a routine, even when stuck at home, is a crucial way to find structure in your life when there are challenges put in front of you. Waking up at the same time, making time to workout each morning, and reading before bed are a few examples of tasks you can incorporate into your daily routine to keep you feeling calm.

Nature

Even though we do not have the ability to go shopping or be in public to get out of the house, we can always take our dogs for a walk or go on a hike in nature to relax and get rid of the feeling of being trapped in the house. Nature is a great stress reliever that will help you feel gratitude and inner peace throughout these tough times.

Taking a 30 minute walk each day is a great way to stay active and get a breath of fresh air to reduce your stress and anxiety levels. When you are constantly surrounding by technology filled with news that may seem concerning your stress is likely to rise, and you will feel worried. When you step away and let go of this attachment, you will instantly feel calmer.

Watch Your News Intake

When chaos is going on around the world and there is stress in the air, the news is the main source that people base their opinions off of and process information from. However, the news is very quickly to only announce negative news and alarming stories, which can make the brain feel overwhelmed, anxious, and stressed.

It is important to stay up to date with current events, but it is also important to not let it consume you. Many of these things are out of your control and after you take the precautionary measures that you can, it is important to step away from the news in order to relax the mind.

Read

Reading a book is great way to clear your mind and distract yourself from your surroundings when they seem overwhelming or negative. It is a great way to restore your emotions and reduce stress without staring at a screen or scrolling through social media.

When you read a book, you are improving your brain function, and this has proven to improve mental wellbeing. Whether it be an educational book, self-help book, or fiction, you will find that you are able to learn a lot and grow both professionally and personally in an enjoyable way.

What Is Inner Peace and Serenity?

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We all talk about finding inner peace and serenity, but few actually understand how they can apply these practices to themselves. Buddhist philosophers like Gandhi have described inner peace as the most important aspect of life, and the only way to feel genuinely happy and successful.

Inner peace is described as a deliberate state of spiritual calmness without sufferings or mental disturbances. It is about finding a sense of calmness where the mind functions at its optimal point regardless of one’s surroundings. With enough strength and practice, one can find this sense of inner peace even when faced with stress and anxiety.

Serenity comes from the Latin word serenus, which means clear or unclouded. Serenity is a mental state in which an individual feels calm and untroubled while truly at peace with themselves. It allows an individual to stay true to themselves and not let their surroundings impact their state of mind. It can be extremely helpful through recovery and overcoming hardships when frequently practiced.

There are many ways to practice a feeling of inner peace and serenity, and eventually you will be able to experience it in a very natural way.

Feeling at peace with yourself and in a state of serenity throughout the day allows the mind to function in a very positive way and has tons of benefits on your overall quality of life.

There are many ways to find serenity and inner peace and many of these strategies have been practiced for hundreds of years.

Meditation is the best way to calm the wandering mind and feel truly relaxed and at peace. Meditation allows you to let go of the trauma and negative self-talk that follow you throughout the day by clearing the cloudy mind.

Meditation is simply having the ability to calm the mind and let go of all thoughts for a couple of minutes in order to become present with reality and observe and acknowledge your surroundings. It allows you to feel less overwhelmed when negative emotions arise and not let emotional disturbances impact your life.

Meditation allows you to be mentally strong and maintain a sense of inner peace and serenity throughout your day, regardless of the stressors that come about. When you sit with these emotions and thoughts and are able to observe them, you can make important realizations about yourself that allow you to understand who you truly are.

Practicing acceptance is another way to experience constant serenity throughout your daily life. By accepting the curveballs that life may throw at you, you will no longer let things bother you as much as you have in the past.

Accepting uncertainty and understanding that you cannot predict the future or change the past allows you to feel present in the moment and let go of the wandering thoughts. Finding a sense of acceptance for what is and what will be allows you to be more alert and focused on what is in front of you while feeling calm and unbothered.

Another way to maintain a sense of inner peace is to keep your environment organized and clean. When you look around your room and see a mess of clothes and other belongings, it can be very easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed. This stress you experience will likely be carried with you throughout the rest of your day and will make you not perform at your best.

By decreasing clutter and keeping your environment free of distraction, you will feel relaxed and feel a sense of serenity when you are home or at work. By changing the things in your environment that are in your control, you will feel more comfortable in your surroundings and will be able to focus within.

Why Sunday Should Be a Day of Rest

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Most people who work during the week, usually try to fill their responsibilities and chores on the weekend. You get extra workouts in, plan family time and weekend trips, do home improvement, take care of cleaning and chores, and many other things that you don’t get done during the weekday.

While it is good to take advantage of days where your work responsibilities are put on hold, trying to do too much 7 days a week is going to lead to a lot of stress. This is why it would be a good idea to use Sunday as the day of rest each week, and adjust your schedule accordingly.

Leave Your Work for the Work Week

If you have a habit of constantly worrying about work whether you are working or not, you are making the stress and overwhelm in your life a lot worse. This is often where burnout comes from, because you are basically working 24/7, whether you are in the office, talking to clients, answering emails, or just can’t stop thinking about work.

The best thing you can do is only focus on work while you are at work. Whether you work out of the home and leave work in the office, or you work from home and need a different workspace, make sure you have a way to distinguish between work and home.

If you happen to work from home, have a dedicated workspace. This makes it easier to switch your mindset from work to being at home. You know that if you aren’t in your office or at your desk, you should not be focused on your job.

Scheduling Too Much Over the Weekend

Another big mistake with not having proper days of rest is trying to schedule too much into your weekend. Weekends are great for doing chores, meeting up with friends, and running errands, but you should not be dedicated your entire weekend to this. If you do, by Monday morning, you are still exhausted and feel like you didn’t get any time to yourself.

You really need to find the right balance between getting stuff done, and have some free time to yourself. Schedule it in if you have to – make it an appointment you have with yourself to practice self-care and get proper rest.

Take a Rest from Everything on Sunday

The best way to find this balance is to have Saturday be your 6th day of work or personal responsibilities for the week, then leave Sunday open for yourself. Sunday should be your day of rest, which means not spending all day running errands, doing household chores, or working. It is normal to want to take advantage of the weekend to get things done, but when you schedule most of them for Saturday, you have more time on Sunday for you.

This doesn’t mean you have to lay around all day, but it is a day where you decide what you want to d with your time. This might be an outing with your family, going shopping, taking a midday nap, baking cookies, or doing crafts at home.

Your Mind and Body Need Rest!

Remember that both your mind and body need proper rest. Even if your idea of resting on Sunday is working on your couch, you are still working. Do not get into this habit! You should have at least one day or even half a day a week with no work, no chores, and no responsibilities. This is needed for proper self-care, stress relief, and just allowing your mind and body to unwind.

Here is an idea of some things you can do over the weekend or on Sunday in order to rest both your mind and body:

Write in a journal or planner. Journaling is a good way to get all those worries and thoughts out of your mind, so that your brain is clear for relaxing and not stressing so much.

Meditate. Meditation is going to relax your body and mind, and help you with your breathing practice.

Go for a walk or hike. Exercise doesn’t have to cause you stress or be something that is uncomfortable. Think of a light form of exercise that is good for your body and mental health, such as a hike with your dog, or walking by the beach or lake.

Spend time with loved ones. It is still okay to be social when you have a day of rest, as long as it is something relaxing that you enjoy. This might mean going out for drinks, having a family game night, or inviting friends over to watch the game.

Take a hot bath. Baths are wonderful for self-care, allow you some time to yourself, and are very relaxing. They allow you to rest both your mind and body, and can incorporate essential oils for some aromatherapy.

Read a book. This is a great way to rest in your favorite couch or lay in bed and read a book. Make it a book you want to read for personal reasons, not work, school, or other responsibilities. This is a good time to read for leisure, depending on what you are most interested in.