This is a series of relaxation techniques that you can do almost any where and any time. They do not take very long to do. Do not force yourself to relax - just let it happen . . .


BREATHING:
2-Step breath - Fill the bottom of your lungs first, then add the top as you breathe through your nose. Breath out slowly. Feel the tension flowing out.


TENSE-RELAX MUSCLES:
Tighten the muscle that you want to relax. Focus on and feel the tension where you have tighthen. Now let the muscle become loose and limp. Feel the relaxation flow into the muscle.


BODY SCAN:
With your mind briefly scan every muscle in your body from the tips of your toes to the top of your head. If you sense a tight muscle, just let it become limp and relaxed.

LIMP RAG DOLL:
Do the 2-step breath two times.
With your mind imagine that you are a limp rag doll. Feel your mind and body become limp and relaxed.
*** You may use whatever image you like best **


MIND QUIETING:
To quiet your mind first, focus on your breathing. As you breathe in say slowly to yourself "I am" and as you breathe out, say slowly to yourself "calm." When your mind feels calm you may focus only on your breathing, with no thoughts at all.


SHOULDERS, ARMS AND HANDS HEAVY AND WARM:
Put your mind into your shoulders, arms and hands - imagine and experience them becoming heavy, relaxed and warm.

Cool... should try them!

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Relaxation techniques are many. Being a psychiatrist i would to like to add something.
First is your breathing exercise: The breathing should be abdominal so as to stimulate the diaphragm. The period of expiration should be longer than the inspiration.
Muscle relaxation technique: Known as Jacobson’s progressive muscle relaxation technique. Here muscles are first contracted to have a feeling of tension followed by relaxation.
Another easy technique is the imaginary technique where the person is asked to imagine a relaxing situation like lying in a sea shore

Principles of breathing exercise:

Principles of Breathing exercise

Jacobson’s progressive muscle relaxation technique posted by dhrubjayoti!

Jacobson's Progressive Muscle Relaxation

sleeping works for me

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I procrastinate....

Whether we're fretting over that pile of monthly bills or anticipating an exciting change like the birth of a new nephew, the million things we've got going on can leave us all feeling like big balls of stress—and that can wreak serious havoc on our health. But you don't need to turn your life inside out to beat the effects of stress. These quick and easy natural solutions can help you stay mellow in a crazy world.

Drink Tea
Black tea has been shown to have an effect on stress hormone levels in the body. Researchers in England have found that people who drink black tea de-stress more quickly than those drinking a fake tea substitute. Tea contains catechins, polyphenols, flavonoids and amino acids that affect your brain's neurotransmitters and ultimately reduce blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Go Nuts
Next time you feel a bit cracked up, forgo the junk food and snack on some nuts instead. Nuts are typically high in tryptophan and magnesium, two key nutrients that support serotonin production. And almonds are especially high in stress-busting B vitamins, zinc, vitamin E and antioxidants

Rub Your Ears
"According to Ayurveda, India's 5,000-year-old 'science of life,' there are marma points—like acupuncture points—in the ears that correspond to the various parts of the body," says Lissa Coffey, author/producer of the Dosha Yoga DVD. Simply rub the circumference of each ear—right hand on right ear and left hand on left ear—to instantly ease tension.

Take a Whiff
Aromatherapy has calming effects that can tame the tension in no time. Proven stress-reducing aromas include lavender, lemon balm, chamomile and geranium. Carol Duncan, a registered aromatherapist and owner of Massage Central says to place a few drops of essential oils on cotton balls and place them a few inches from fans or heater vents or underneath your car seat. "Each time air passes over the cotton ball, the essential oils are reintroduced to the area," she explains.

Pop a Vitamin C Pill
Researchers at the University of Alabama say that vitamin C reduces the levels of stress hormones in the blood, which may alleviate the body's response to stress. Studies suggest that 1,000 mg of vitamin C is most helpful.

Put on the Pressure
"Self-administer acupressure," suggests Susan Lark MD, a leading authority on integrative medicine and women's health. Put your left finger at the base of your skull, then move it down the width of one finger, and then move it to the left the width of one finger. Position your right finger in the same place on the right side. Press both points for one to three minutes. According to Dr. Lark, a second stress-busting point is located four finger-widths below your kneecap and one finger-width to the outside of your shin. (You should feel a slight indentation.)

Eat Berries
Blueberries, blackberries and other berries contain some of nature's most powerful antioxidants and are jam-packed with vitamin C, making them potent stress-busters. Stress causes the body to release free radicals—highly unstable oxygen molecules that can damage normal cells—and antioxidants help to neutralize those harmful molecules.

Strike a Yoga Pose
"When we get stressed, we tend to tense up and cave our chest in," says Lissa. She recommends folding your hands as if in prayer behind your back, then pulling your shoulders back, tilting your head back and breathing deeply

Stretch for Balance
Another move that Lissa suggests is to sit in a chair with your left foot on the floor. Put your right ankle on your left knee and lean forward with a stretch. Hold it as far as you can go, then bend forward a bit more. Repeat on the other side. "This opens up your hips and balances that tensed up muscle feeling," she adds.

Reframe Your Thoughts
"Reframing simply means putting a different context around the situation," says Jay Winner, M.D., author of Take the Stress Out of Your Life. For example, Winner suggests thinking of time spent in a long line as a break from a busy day—a chance to relax your mind or meet someone new like the person standing next to you. A positive spin can counteract the stress-induced physiological changes that wreak havoc on your body.

Crave Complex Carbs
Complex carbohydrates boost serotonin levels and keep a heightened sense of calm and relaxation for a longer period of time. Target carbs include whole-grain foods and cereals—such as whole-grain breads, oats and brown rice—as well as legumes such as peas, beans and lentils.

Take 10
Brian Jump, multi-day tour sales manager for Arizona Outback Adventures, breaks the tension of his long days by doing 10 jumping jacks, push-ups or anything that gets the blood flowing through the body. "This helps to release endorphins, which are a natural stress reliever," he says.

Laugh Out Loud
According to a University of California, Irvine study, even the expectation of a laugh boosts stress-busting hormones and increases hormones that induce relaxation—an effect that can last for up to 24 hours. Read a comic strip, check out the joke of the day or make funny faces in the mirror until you bust out with a belly laugh.

Eat "Good Mood" Foods
Certain foods contain compounds that may help the body produce mood-boosting neurochemicals. Dr. Lark, who's also author of Dr. Susan Lark's Hormone Revolution, says the following foods have been shown to produce a noticeable calming effect: turkey (high in tryptophan, taurine and B6); pumpkin seeds, spinach and black beans (all high in magnesium); papaya (high in vitamin C); and bananas (high in potassium).

Be in the Moment
Focus on what's right in front of you, using your senses to connect with the environment. Dr. Winner suggests, for example, taking 10 seconds to smell the aroma of the food you're eating and savor its taste. "Take a few steps and let go of thoughts, feeling the ground massaging your feet with each step," he adds.

Unusual levels of stress can negatively impact your ability to accomplish personal goals and maintain good health. Challenges such as resolving a family crisis or losing weight become more difficult when stressors mount. Consider the following tips to help you reduce your stress.


Identify your stress triggers

Situations that create stress --the condition we experience when demands exceed our ability to cope -- are as unique as you are. Your genes, personality and life experiences all influence the stress response in your body. For example, one person may find it stressful to plan and host a holiday celebration for friends or family. Someone else might enjoy the creative aspects of hosting such an event and even find it gratifying.

Other causes of stress are obvious -- you lose your job or a parent dies. But don't overlook the daily hassles and demands that also contribute to your stress level -- your daily commute or having too much work to do. Over time such persistent little things can accumulate and wreak more havoc on your health than do the sudden big things. That's why it's important to recognize all of the causes. Try one or all of these techniques:

Keep a stress journal. For one week, note which events and situations cause a negative physical, mental or emotional response. Record the day and time. Give a brief description of the situation. Where were you? Who was involved? What seemed to cause the stress? Also, describe your reaction. What were your physical symptoms? How did you feel? What did you say or do? Finally, on a scale of 1 (not very intense) to 5 (very intense), rate the intensity of your stress.

Make a list of all the demands on your time and energy for one week. Some examples may include your job, volunteer work, driving kids to after-school activities or caring for an elderly parent. Then, on a scale of 1 (not very intense) to 5 (very intense), rate the intensity of stress that each demand causes.

Sit down and look at your stress recordings. Look closely at the events that you ranked as very stressful. Select one of them to work on using problem-solving techniques.


Improve your time management skills

Effective time management skills can help you identify goals, set priorities and minimize the stress in your life. Use these tips to improve your time management skills and lower your stress level.

Create realistic expectations and deadlines for yourself, and set regular progress reviews.
Throw away unimportant papers on your desk. Prepare a master list of tasks.
Throughout the day, scan your master list and work on tasks in priority order.

Use a planner. Store addresses and telephone numbers there. Copy tasks from your master list onto the page for the day on which you expect to do them. Evaluate and prioritize daily.

For especially important or difficult projects, reserve an interruption-free block of time behind closed doors.

Overcome burnout

If you dread going to work or feel burned out or stressed over a period of weeks, your situation could affect your professional and personal relationships and even your livelihood. Overwhelming frustration or indifference toward your job, persistent irritability, anger, sarcasm and a quickness to argue are indicators of a condition that needs to be dealt with. Here are strategies you can use:

Take care of yourself. Eat regular, balanced meals, including breakfast. Get adequate sleep and exercise.

Develop friendships at work and outside the office. Sharing unsettling feelings with people you trust is the first step toward resolving them. Minimize activities with "negative" friends who only reinforce bad feelings.

Take time off. Take a vacation or a long weekend. During the workday, take short breaks.

Set limits. When necessary, learn to say no in a friendly but firm manner.

Choose battles wisely. Don't rush to argue every time someone disagrees with you. Keep a cool head, and save your argument for things that really matter. Better yet, try not to argue at all.

Have an outlet. Read, enjoy a hobby, exercise or get involved in some other activity that is relaxing and gets your mind off work.

Seek help. If none of these things relieves your feelings of stress or burnout, ask a health care professional for advice.

There are actually two types of coping mechanisms.

1. Problem oriented: Here one tries to identify the problem and based on the problem adopts a coping behavior to find out its solution.

2. Emotion focussed: Where the stress cannot be found out or where the management of the problem is not that easy one is taught to control and manage their emotions