In her book The High Performance Mind: Mastering Brainwaves for Insight, Healing, and Creativity, Anna Wise offers some simple exercises to help you become aware of the difference between feeling aroused, ready to fight or to flee, and feeling relaxed and in control of the situation.
When a person experiences feelings of worry, excitement, fear, anger, exhilaration, nervousness, panic, increased heart rate, faster breathing, and/or anxiety, the sympathetic nervous system is activated. When a person feels a sense of relaxation, tranquility, calmness, serenity, lightness, centeredness, clarity and/or a feeling of being in control, the parasympathetic system is activated.
Wise suggests that you can achieve greater awareness of when you are stressed and when you are relaxed by performing the following exercises and observing your biofeedback—how your body feels.
The physical state of arousal you are in while doing these exercises will be similar to how your body responds when exposed to stress.
Next notice how your body feels when completely relaxed:
When a person experiences feelings of worry, excitement, fear, anger, exhilaration, nervousness, panic, increased heart rate, faster breathing, and/or anxiety, the sympathetic nervous system is activated. When a person feels a sense of relaxation, tranquility, calmness, serenity, lightness, centeredness, clarity and/or a feeling of being in control, the parasympathetic system is activated.
Wise suggests that you can achieve greater awareness of when you are stressed and when you are relaxed by performing the following exercises and observing your biofeedback—how your body feels.
- Hyperventilate by breathing heavily for a few seconds. (Please be careful not to overdo it. If you start to feel faint, stop immediately.) [Stop. Close your eyes. Notice what your body feels like. Make a mental note of all the sensations.]
- Run in place for a minute or two.
- Think about something very upsetting.
- Think about something very exciting.
The physical state of arousal you are in while doing these exercises will be similar to how your body responds when exposed to stress.
Next notice how your body feels when completely relaxed:
Close your eyes and exhale deeply. Let your shoulders drop.
Rotate your head gently and loosely until you find a comfortable
balanced position for your head, neck, and shoulders. Let
your jaw relax and hang loose. Relax your lips, tongue, and
throat. Exhale deeply again and let go. Continue to breathe
easily, slowly, evenly, and deeply for one or two minutes.
Rotate your head gently and loosely until you find a comfortable
balanced position for your head, neck, and shoulders. Let
your jaw relax and hang loose. Relax your lips, tongue, and
throat. Exhale deeply again and let go. Continue to breathe
easily, slowly, evenly, and deeply for one or two minutes.
Stop. Notice what your body feels like. Make a mental note of all of the sensations. Compare these to the sensations you noted when you did the arousal exercises.
Wise goes on to explain, “Arousal is not inherently better than relaxation, or vice versa. Both states are important at certain times. What is optimum is to be able to choose the level of relaxation or arousal that you want and to be able to produce that at will.”
Wise goes on to explain, “Arousal is not inherently better than relaxation, or vice versa. Both states are important at certain times. What is optimum is to be able to choose the level of relaxation or arousal that you want and to be able to produce that at will.”
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