IT’S THANKSGIVING…. Have Fun & Relax!!!
It’s almost that time of year, the Holiday’s! The leaves have changed and fallen and the snow is just beginning to fall. If you are like me, you’ve been awaiting the holiday’s since, well, last holiday season. With Thanksgiving in just a few days and Christmas just around the corner, we can expect lots of eating, drinking and of course socializing to come with it!
The season is supposed to be a time for fun, relaxation, and for catching up with friends and family. It should be all good, but for most it can also be stressful. Organizing time to see everyone, putting together dinner’s and parties, fitting in all your social events into your work schedule and on top of it all trying to afford Christmas presents all while trying to keep relaxed and have fun yourself. It’s tough for everyone which is why my post for this Thanksgiving week is about Stress Relief. Hopefully, this will help you get through the holiday season stress free, and hopefully even have a little fun!!!
I put together a short list of stress relief options, but of course, ultimately it is what works for you, you may find that there is something you do that is not on this list but still gets you back to center and ready for whatever comes your way!
QiGong
This is one of the classes we take in school and I have to say I’m really liking it. There are a number of different techniques you can use, but it’s really proven useful keeping my head on straight with my new life in school! We go through a Body Cleansing routine, do some Liver cleansing and tonifying and then Thousand Hands Buddha practice.
Yoga
Yoga is also one of my favorite ways to relax. Of course there are a number of different types of Yoga and it really depends on which you prefer. There are very relaxing practices, as well as very rigorous, I suggest trying out a few different kinds and see which is the best fit for you.
Meditation
Meditation is new to me, it definitely comes with its difficulties, but the end result, even for a novice like me is really beneficial. Like anything there are tons of different techniques you can use to Meditate but here are just a few different options or ways of meditating:
-
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
MBSR is essentially the Buddhist form of Zen Meditation repackaged. Jon Kabat-Zinn brought it into the UMass Medical School as a means to help the students with stress reduction and from there it has become quite well known across the US. For a good insight on stress and the need for some form of stress reduction, please check out this youtube video.
Stress Relief with Jon Kabat-Zinn
- Breath Watching Conscious focus on the breath
- Empty Mind Meditation Focus on “being present”
-
Walking Meditation Using activity as meditation
-
Mantra Meditation Using a word or phrase during meditation
-
Concept Meditation Focusing on a concept as you meditate
Hopefully this post is helpful in some way or another! With stress being such a problem in our society these days and such a major cause for disease I hope that this will at least get you thinking about finding a form of stress relief that works for you.In the future I will post more information about these different stress reducing techniques, so as always keep checking in!
Here’s to a Happy (and hopefully stress free) Thanksgiving!
