Step into my office and anyone who asks me about meditation, mindfulness and relaxation techniques will listen to me harp on about their wonders for health and wellbeing. It isn’t just my love for chilling out that has me so excited about these techniques; science is actually showing that meditation makes permanent changes to the brain, that stress is a contributing factor for disease and that the relaxation response directly counteracts the hormonal cascade of stress. There is even a recent study about how meditation can change our physical appearance. The best part about all of these techniques is that it won’t cost you anything but a little bit of time.
The ENT Wellbeing Collection
Our new collection of progressive muscle relaxation audio and video will be available soon on YouTube. These will be great resources for all of our medical and surgical patients from a variety of backgrounds; from the pain of acute illness, to the stress of coping with chronic disease or even surgery for the first time. We will keep you posted about this wonderful collection of resources available on our YouTube channel soon!
In the mean time, here is a list I put together of my favourite relaxation resources that are free and easily available online.
Audio
The Honest Guys on YouTube have a large collection of relaxation music, guided imagery and meditation resources.
These videos by the Honest Guys are great. There is lots of variety such as nature sounds, to world music, guided imagery and meditation. Some of the tracks are short (such as the 5 minute calming meditation- great for those first trying relaxation therapy) and some of them much longer for music (hours) and meditation (about an hour).
Music
Soft Music & Yoga ~ YogaYak on Youtube:
Listening to music bring us into a deep state of relaxation. Music therapy has been legitimated by academic research and continues to be integrated into many different clinical areas. The benefits of both music and sound therapy are that they are enjoyable, can often be done in the comfort of the home and can be easily accessed by individuals. I have selected these two tracks and one playlist from YogaYak that can be used when meditation, relaxing at home or trying to nod off to sleep.
Reading
Mindful.org is a magazine and website available in Australia.
As well as being a print and digital magazine, Mindful has an extensive collection of articles about mindfulness health and wellbeing. Find out new ways to add mindfulness into your everyday with relaxation techniques, as well as links to current theory and research.
To find out more about we can help you achieve health and wellbeing, contact us today!
Image source: DeviantArt
