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Since there have recently been alot of posts asking about SR, and as I'm relatively new to it myself,I thought it would be helpful to take a survey. Please respond so that you can possibly help someone else. My sincere thanks to all who participate.
1. What form of SR do you practice?
2. How long have you been doing it?
3. What position do you find most comfortable?
4. Describe how you do a typical session, what you do exactly, for how long, what you see or feel during it, etc.
5. Do you use any special music, guided imagery, headphones or other equipment?
6. How long did it take for you to become proficient at it, know what you were doing, etc?
7. What benefits have you noticed?
In Reply to: SURVEY on skilled relaxation (SR) posted by please respond! on February 27, 2003 at 09:06:30:
1. What form of SR do you practice? meditation, yoga
2. How long have you been doing it? Since January
3. What position do you find most comfortable? Lying on my back in bed
4. Describe how you do a typical session, what you do exactly, for how long, what you see or feel during it, etc.
I lie in bed and listen to the music, trying not to think about anything special. Usually for 20 to 40 minutes when I wake up and when I come home from work
5. Do you use any special music, guided imagery, headphones or other equipment?
CD's by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, Yoga Zone videotapes
6. How long did it take for you to become proficient at it, know what you were doing, etc?
I am not yet proficient at it. I did have one good session when I felt really good, but I haven't been able to do it again. I don't know what I did differently that time.
7. What benefits have you noticed? None yet, except for the feeling of doing something positive for my health
In Reply to: SURVEY on skilled relaxation (SR) posted by please respond! on February 27, 2003 at 09:06:30:
I posted awhile back with my LONG-ish testimonial in regards to eating a whole foods diet and battling candida etc... I think I'm on my 9th week--I keep saying I want to keep track with a health journal but gosh--now that I've got energy--I have added too many other "wish I could've done this" things to my daily list... I'm doing all the stuff that I wished I could have done when I wasn't feeling so well... crafts, soap making, writing more... etc etc. Anyway, yeah--about 9 weeks in...
Found myself eating raw pieces of broccoli & cauliflower while making dinner the other night--with NO DIP--and thinking it tasted pretty good! Amazing to me as when I started out I couldn't give up my ranch dressing right away even though I knew it had "bad" stuff in it (sugars as well as chemical junk)... slowly 'weaned' myself off the dressing/dip & made my own with yogurt or homemade mayo and so on... but have caught myself eating them plain & it still *shocks* me. :) I continue to feel this AMAZING sense of energy--of health even! WOW. I HAVE had 2-3 pretty intense/bad healing crises, but keep trying to remind myself that that is most likely what they are--& then take it easy thru that time & yes--amazingly I DO come out the other side feeling even BETTER. It's just a constant thing--to REMIND oneself of these things and NOT get discouraged.
Just thought I'd share an update as well as fill out this survey...
1. What form of SR do you practice? I do a meditation taught to me by a friend--she called it "golden light meditation" that involves tensing/relaxing all muscles beginning at the toes & moving up & then mentally "wrapping" my body w/ golden light, again from toe to top.
2. How long have you been doing it? Almost two years although I was way 'sketchy' in my practice when I was really sick--which I know was exactly the opposite of what I should have been doing!! :)
3. What position do you find most comfortable? I've done all sorts of reading & found tips that say--sitting is best (so you don't fall asleep I guess--but I found that training myself to do even a short meditation before bedtime every night "cured" me of the insomnia that had plagued me since forever! True, I sometimes fell asleep 10 minutes or so into my meditation--but I focused on getting my "best" session in the am & I almost NEVER have a problem falling asleep now. :) So--to answer the question--I prefer laying down & I actually prefer to have my feet crossed at the ankles--loosely... as well as my arms folded loosely across my chest or abdomen (I often cross them wherever I happen to be having 'trouble' like on the stomach for an ouchy tummy or on the chest for anxiety/chest pains--& then keep a loose focus of energy on those spots--but anyway... Have read that one shouldn't cross any limbs during meditation--but the crossing actually helps me feel... more relaxed for whatever reason. I focus on my limbs feeling 'floppy' way too much if I don't cross them... Weird? Maybe...
4. Describe how you do a typical session, what you do exactly, for how long, what you see or feel during it, etc. Having described what I do--I shoot for 2 20 minute sessions per day. This doesn't always happen--but that's my goal. I've had intense ten minute sessions several times--*seeing* or *experiencing* odd things--like the sensation of "rolling" off my bed into what I *knew* to be the wall next to me--then rolling thru the wall... The first time this happened I *snapped* back *in* so hard that I nearly sat right up from the force of it... it was weird... and cool.
5. Do you use any special music, guided imagery, headphones or other equipment? I don't usually no... although I do occcasionally like to meditate with some good music on--just for something different.
6. How long did it take for you to become proficient at it, know what you were doing, etc? Gosh,I STILL don't feel like I know what I'm doing!! I still feel like I'm fumbling around & I still feel like sometimes I just lay there & can't quite *find* that space... but either way--I still KNOW I feel different/better/calmer etc etc etc--even if I just TRY.
7. What benefits have you noticed? Of course--no more insomnia. More relaxed, better (although different sense of) focus, less anxiety/tension... I even seem to have better LUCK--using that term loosely--good things seem to happen in my life when I stay focused on doing my meditation... (although I AM a firm believer in the power of the imagination and so on & I think that meditation does great things for that aspect of ones life--anyway) Just so much 'good' stuff and I NOTICE it when I let myself get lax in my practice.
namaste,
Kim
In Reply to: SURVEY on skilled relaxation (SR) posted by please respond! on February 27, 2003 at 09:06:30:
Hi, I've been doing Centerpointe CDs for five months now. I LOVE IT! I invested in a good set of stereo headphones. I practice twice per day in a recumbent position. There is no "proficiency" to it -- the CDs gently guide you where you need to go, all you do is sit back and relax.
My stress level has decreased dramatically, and I *know* I can handle whatever life throws at me.
While more expensive than other techniques, I did a lot of research before making my decision and know I made the right one. I can't wait to go up to the next level.
In Reply to: Re: SURVEY on skilled relaxation (SR) posted by Cassie on February 27, 2003 at 11:33:29:
well, I would like to know EXACTLY what this skilled relaxation stuff is!! Everyone keeps saying read...do a search, and so forth, but NO ONE will come out and say it is. Why can't anyone speak in plain language for the rest of us who don't have a clue...
In Reply to: Re: SURVEY on skilled relaxation (SR) posted by I'll go first, since I asked on February 27, 2003 at 10:47:08:
I have been using Mind Aerobics CD's. But not nearly as regularly as I should -- I know I should pick a time and use them each day. Very relaxing. Nice to head into sleep with them. As I am an inveterate night owl and am not sleepy at all when the rest of the world has long since crawled into the sack for the night, I find it nice to put on the headphones and wind down with the sound feeling like it is inside my head. The CDs are expensive (I learned about them through the HSI e-mails), and there are three onf them for different purposes. I think it would be nice to be able to just sit down and begin meditation, but I thought I would need some help, and these seem to do it. Perhaps one of these days I will be able to get into the total relaxation state without the added help -- until then, nice to have technology on our side.
In Reply to: Re: SURVEY on skilled relaxation (SR) posted by still confused on February 27, 2003 at 19:39:51:
Here ya go..on a platter. Dr Stoll's short article.
Skilled Relaxation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The only proven way to reverse the effects of chronic hypothalamic stress-effect.
Because I have received many requests for clarification of what "Skilled Relaxation" is about, I am offering this:
Biofeedback research, over the past 20 years, has demonstrated that the common denominator, which determines the effectiveness of ALL types of relaxation techniques, is that the technique must produce an Alpha or Theta rhythm in the brain. It seems that, when the brain rhythms are 4-12 cycles/second (cps), the body/mind discharges the stored readiness of "fight or flight stress-effect" 24 times faster than sleep does.
The usual, awake, thinking rhythm is Beta (14-20 cps). The asleep rhythm, when muscular control is lost, is Delta (2-4 cps). Alpha is 8-12 cps while Theta is 4-8 cps. Students of expanded brain function ascribe different effects to different rhythms. If you want to get into it, I would suggest you read The Awakened Mind by Maxwell Cade and Nona Coxhead, published by Delacorte Press; as well as Megabrain by Michael Hutchison, published in 1986 by Beech Tree Books. Although these are probably out of print, your library will be able to find you a copy through their electronic lending network.
For our purposes here, suffice it to say: it matters not a whit what technique you learn to use. Unless it produces "The Relaxation Response (4-12 cps)", it will not do all the wonderful things that you have been hearing about that have been ascribed to "skilled relaxation." Biofeedback, Meditation (all forms), Self Hypnosis, Silva Mind Training, Autogenics, Breathing Techniques, etc. are commonly effective forms you should include in your consideration. Herbert Benson, MD, from Harvard Medical School, has brilliantly described The Relaxation Response in his book by that name; if you need to know more about what the Conventional Medical System is being forced to finally acknowledge.
The only way yet known to discharge the chronic stress-effect storage, which is behind so many of the chronic, so far Conventional Medically unexplained diseases, is to discharge the garbage faster than it is being accumulated. See my explanation under Modern Medical Interpretation of Stress here on the web site. The only technique proven to do this is to evoke the 24-1 advantage of the 8-12 cps brain rhythm 20 minutes twice a day. Even with this advantage, it takes the average person in this culture 6-12 months to discharge the majority of this "constant readiness". That is not to say that people will not see great benefits MUCH sooner than that. However, to get permanent reversal of many chronic disorders, most must get back "far enough from the edge of the cliff" to allow the body/mind to heal itself.
One of the great benefits of BIOFEEDBACK is that it can scientifically establish whether YOUR technique is producing the Alpha or Theta rhythm. That way you don't have to waste your time practicing something for months before finding out that it isn't working.
The most effective self-help book to learn these techniques isThe Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook, Edited by Davis, Eschelman and McKay, published continuously since 1980 by New Harbinger.
In Reply to: SURVEY on skilled relaxation (SR) posted by please respond! on February 27, 2003 at 09:06:30:
1. What form of SR do you practice?
Passive: listening to Mantra CD's
2. How long have you been doing it?
Over 6 months
3. What position do you find most comfortable?
Sitting upright
4. Describe how you do a typical session, what you do exactly, for how long, what you see or feel during it, etc.
Put CD in drive, put headphones on, play 20-25 minute mantra and listen with my eyes closed trying to think of nothing. Sometimes my thoughts drift but I refocus on the sound as soon as I realize it. Sometimes I see nothing, sometimes various shades of gray, sometimes vivid blue waves of color mixed with grays. Almost always I mentally detach from my body and cannot feel my hands or any specific part of my body. I can snap out of it instantly.
5. Do you use any special music, guided imagery, headphones or other equipment?
CD Mantras I use are:
Healing Mantras by Shri Anandi Ma & Shri Dileeji Pathak and a more contemporary CD called Magical Healing Mantras by Namaste
6. How long did it take for you to become proficient at it, know what you were doing, etc?
The first couple of months I wasn't sure I was doing it right, then I realized even a few minutes out of the twenty minute sessions is enough to build on. Like losing weight one calorie at a time.
7. What benefits have you noticed?
I'm never tired during the day, my attitude is positive most of the time, gardening and nature are suddenly something I take the time to enjoy. My dreams are vivid and giving me a lot of insight into my Psyche (I've always ignored them) I bought a good set of bongos and a djembe and all of this rhythm that has been trapped in my mindbody for 45 years is spilling out effortlessly. I have a lot less pain, better flexability, I breathe much deeper without effort. I sleep better and awake more rested. All traces of a rapid irregular heartbeat are gone after dealing with it for over two years. Feelings of hopelessness and despair are gone. I actually care about my health and well being again. Most of all I've come to grips with who I am, why I am that way and I feel O.K. about it, despite what anyone else might think. I know I'm going to survive and I'm glad of it. And that just scratches the surface.
In Reply to: Re: SURVEY on skilled relaxation (SR) posted by Sounder on February 28, 2003 at 00:57:09:
Thank you very much, that was helpful..
now, if I can only figure exactly what to do to get those brain waves (or whatever) going right....
In Reply to: Re: SURVEY on skilled relaxation (SR) posted by Cassie on February 27, 2003 at 11:33:29:
Hi Cassie
The Centerpointe tapes say to get the most benefit to practise for one hour per day. So do you practise 30 mins twice a day or one hour twice per day?
In Reply to: SR changed my life posted by I was Tension Man on February 28, 2003 at 09:10:01:
Thanks, I.
Namaste`
Walt
In Reply to: SURVEY on skilled relaxation (SR) posted by please respond! on February 27, 2003 at 09:06:30:
Hi please,
I'm going to respond differently, in a way that I think may be helpful.
1. What form of SR do you practice?
Try several until you find one that works for you.
2. How long have you been doing it?
It is a lifetime practice. Starting is the most important step.
3. What position do you find most comfortable?
Try different ones and see what works for you.
4. Describe how you do a typical session, what you do exactly, for how long, what you see or feel during it, etc.
It is usually best to do 20 minutes each time to make sure you fall into the relaxation response, but this can vary according to what you need. What you do does not matter as long as you reach the relaxation response. People have different experiences -- getting checked with biofeedback will ascertain that you are doing the practice correctly.
5. Do you use any special music, guided imagery, headphones or other equipment?
What works for you?
6. How long did it take for you to become proficient at it, know what you were doing, etc?
If you check your practice with biofeedback, it will take less time to know what you are doing. Otherwise, for self-help information, read the glossary section under "relaxation response."
7. What benefits have you noticed?
The benefits vary according to the health condition of the individual.
Best wishes for your practice!
Happygal
In Reply to: Re: SURVEY on skilled relaxation (SR) posted by Happygal on March 01, 2003 at 07:38:22:
Thanks, Happygal.
Great summary about how to think about this.
Namaste`
Walt
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