Posted on March 24, 2016 by Jenny Cromack
Following on from my previous stress management blog this article will discuss a specific technique that is great for reducing stress and increasing relaxation; centering
What Is Centering?
Centering is a visualisation technique that originates from the Japanese martial art Aikido and encourages focus and reduces negative external thoughts. It is a perfect acute technique to reduce any anxiety, stress, or nervousness. It is very useful before exams, job interviews, or sporting events.
How To Perform Centering!
1) Focus Your Breathing:
Control your breathing; keep it slow and deep and fill the whole of your lungs. The easiest way to do this is take a deep breath in through the nose, fill the lungs, then release the breath slowly through the mouth.
2) Find and Ease Tension!
As you are taking your deep breaths feel your body for areas of tension. It is easiest to start from the feet and work up through the whole body. If you find you are tense in certain areas tighten these areas as you breathe in then forcefully relax them as you breath out.
3) Center Yourself
As you continue breathing visualise your center of gravity (usually about 2 inches above the navel). Use this to create a sensation of stability and balance. When you feel stressed you can take yourself to this “center”, take five deep breaths, and recreate the sense of balance, control, and stability.
4) Channel Your Thoughts
Keep your breathing controlled and image yourself pushing your tension towards your center. As you do this say to yourself (can be in your head or aloud) “relax” or positive words that will direct your thoughts such as “I can do this”. As you say these words on your out breath allow your body to relax; let the shoulders drop and focus on that feeling of control and stability.
For those who are skeptical about relaxtion techniques this may seem very “wish washy” but it honestly does produce feelings of relaxation and can be useful in times of stress. I personally used this when playing sport to ease my pre-competition nerves and it always helped me perform better with much less anxiety. Once you have mastered the process it is much quicker and easier to achieve. Give these relaxation techniques a go and see if they can work for you.