Adams Media - 5-minute calm: a more peaceful, rested, and relaxed you in just 5 minutes a day

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Calmnessits such a simple concept, yet it is something many of us have a hard time achieving in this busy world. Calmness gives you a renewed sense of self, an improved outlook on life, and relief for tense and tight muscles. You deserve to take time for yourself each day to experience the healing properties of calmness.

5-Minute Calm will help you regain your sense of peace. In this book, youll find over two hundred quick and simple ways to calm the tension and stress around you and feel the rejuvenating power of calmness. You may think you are too busy to take some time for yourself, but all you need is 5 minutes or less to release the pressures of life and find tranquility. From meditations that will clear your mind and yoga postures that will relax your muscles to enjoyable activities that will refresh your spirit, this book will be your guide to cutting out the noise and stress of life and reminding you just how perfect calmness can feel.

When the worries of the day begin to wear on you, open this book to any page and find a sense of calm.

Deep, slow breathing begins to work almost immediately, but still, it is something youll get better at the more you practice. Try this:

1. In the beginning, try inhaling for 8 seconds, holding for 4 seconds, exhaling for 8 seconds, and holding for 4 seconds.

2. For deliberate practice, start with 5 minutes of breath work each morning and evening and gradually increase from there. In addition, anytime you feel anxious, do a few repetitions to calm yourself.

3. Build to inhaling for 12 seconds, holding for 6 seconds, exhaling for 12 seconds, and holding for 6 seconds. This will become the foundation of your relaxation practice.

See how manageable breath control can be? You can do it in line at the supermarket, while driving, or while sitting at your desk. To get the full effect, though, you will want to devote a few minutes each day to exclusively focusing on breathing. Feel your lungs expand and contract. Watch your breath flow in and out. Count mentally as you go. Once you have the rhythm down, you can stop counting and just concentrate on the breath.

One of the best and most often used ways to calm your mind is through deep breathing. Deep breathing is different from your usual automatic breathingdeep breaths allow you to clear your mind and give yourself an opportunity to see your thoughts. Heres how to do it:

1. Count from one to five as you breathe in. Dont worry about breath control for now; just breathe normally. Concentrate on just the numbers one through five.

2. As soon as your mind begins to wander, start over again at one. If you think about what you might have for lunch or the next item on your agenda, start over at one. You may find yourself rarelyif evermaking it to five.

3. If you do make it to five, start over again at one. Avoid the temptation to count while simultaneously thinking of other things, as this defeats the purpose of the exercise.

Notice how, at first, your mind flits from topic to topic in perpetual activity? With practice, youll be able to stop that cycle. Youll instead be able to watch your thoughts as they arise. You will feel a sensation of opening, as if youre creating mental space. Indeed, the reason we dont have more peace in our lives is because we dont create space for peacewe crowd it out, externally and internally.

When you find yourself able to calm your mind, you can start consciously observing your thoughts and emotions. If you feel angry or sad about something, think objectively about that emotion... and its associated words, images, and feelings. This kind of introspection should be kept free and light. Youre not psychoanalyzing yourself. You need not form any opinions about the images, thoughts, memories, and plans that arise in your mindjust accept that theyre there. If you find yourself spinning downward in a negative chain of thought, gently bring yourself back to your calm center.

One way to clear your mind is to become aware of your surroundings: for 5 minutes, listen to the subtle sounds around you. All silence is really composed of minute amounts of noise. If you are in an office, listen to the ventilation system or the hum of electric lights. It may sound silly, but these can become sacred sounds if you associate them with a calm mind. If you are outside, listen to the sounds of birds and feel the sensation of the breeze on your skin.

Breathe deeply with your eyes open so that you can take in your surroundings. Again, dont judge or analyze your surroundingsjust notice and accept them. Encouraging yourself to notice details around you is an effective way to quiet your own mind.

Imagery meditation uses your imagination to make positive changes in your thinking. The purpose of imagery meditation is to imagine yourself in a different place (the beach, Paris, etc.) or different circumstances to effect instant relaxation. Imagining gives you instant stress relief because of the positive feelings you associate with what you are visualizing.

Even if your imagination is a little rusty, you can practice imagery meditation. Its fun! No matter what is causing you stress, this imagination-generating exercise is a powerful stress management technique, both in the short and long term. Here is how to practice imagery meditation:

1. Get comfortable, either sitting or lying down.

2. Close your eyes. Take a few deep, relaxed breaths, then form a picture in your mind. Maybe it is a place you wish you could be right now, a place you visited in the past and loved, or a place you invent.

3. What does the place look like? What do you see around you? What colors, what textures? Notice everything about the place you are visualizing.

4. Then, imagine touching things around you: sand, water, grass, trees, great art or architecture, your favorite person.

5. Listen. What do you hear in this place?

6. Next, think about what you smell.

7. Focus on each of your senses and explore the place youve created or remembered in your mind.

8. Stay here as long as you like, but for at least 5 minutes. Then, slowly, let the images fade away and open your eyes.

Another way to use your imagination to improve your life is to visualize the changes you want to make in your life. Youll find that the more you practice this exercise, the more the things in your life will change for the better. Why? Because continually visualizing something can help bring about those changes. Heres how to do it:

1. Get comfortable, either sitting or lying down.

2. Close your eyes. Take a few deep, relaxed breaths, then form a picture in your mind of some kind of positive life change. Maybe its a career goal or a change in your health or appearance, situation, confidence, or anything else. Keep it simple and stick to one thing. You can always tackle other areas in separate sessions.