Breathe

Ken Goodman | Stress Free — Guided Exercises and Meditations for Total Relaxation | CD Baby

For the 'breathe' part of my New Year's resolution, I am going to focus on relaxation, meditation, and self hypnosis exercises from the CDs I have from my therapist.
He has helped me help myself through some very difficult times over the past few years, and I think that is the key to why it has actually worked for me.
He has taught me tools that I can implement myself when I need to.
I used to see him weekly, now it is every few months or so, or if I am having a particularly hard time.
He reminds me of some of the tools I may have forgotten about, and gets me back on track again.
When I first started seeing him, I was having a lot of anxiety and panic attacks out of the blue, and it was very much affecting my quality of life.

He suggested the above CD, and I was willing to try.
It took a lot of practice and patience to be able to slip into the exercises easily, just as it would with physical exercises.
My mind would wander, and I would have to redirect my thoughts.
I would easily be distracted by things or sounds around me.
But he told me, and tells you on the CD, to just keep doing it, keep practicing.
So I did.
And before I knew it, I could finally relax.
I could calm myself if I felt anxious.
I could fall asleep instead of tossing and turning all night.
My life was changing. I was in control.
Now it is a few years later, and while I still do the exercises from time to time, I know that I am not getting the most out of it.
I need to do it daily, to take the time out for myself to breathe, tune out the rest of the world, and just be.
The wonderful thing about this particular CD is that there are several different types of exercises, with explanations and instructions for each of them.
Some of them are fairly short, for when I need "a quick burst of relaxation", and some of them are longer, for those times when I can really take a chunk of time to work on myself.

I am to the point now where I can tell exactly which one I need when I am feeling a certain way.


I am ready to make me a priority and do these meditation and relaxation exercises daily.