calm the mind. calm the body.

Pain, stress, and tension are closely related. Muscles tighten and put pressure on nerves resulting in even more pain.

It’s possible to activate your body’s natural relaxation response to help reduce the tension using mind-body tools like:

• Deep breathing (also called diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing, and belly breathing) – easy to learn and can be done anywhere.
• Yoga and tai chi – can be modified, if needed, to accommodate individual needs, like chair yoga or tai-chi chih (a simplified version of tai chi).
• Mindfulness and meditation – require you to redirect your attention.
• Passive muscle relaxation – mentally relax your muscles from head to toe.
• Progressive muscle relaxation – actively tense and relax your muscles from head to toe.

Helpful videos

• Deep Breathing Exercises for Beginners
• Breathe to Heal | Max Strom | TEDxCapeMay (18:32)
• Mindfulness
• ​Passive Muscle Relaxation to Manage Anxiety and Stress (12:40)
• Progressive Muscle Relaxation to Manage Anxiety and Stress (15:00)
• ​Tai Chi Chih - Joy Through Movement (50:08)
• Yoga For Chronic Pain | Yoga With Adriene (25:33)

Free Apps

• Bellybio
• Breath2Relax
• Mindfulness Bell
• ​The Breathing App

 
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