(5 hours) #3 OPENING WINDOW & STRETCHING LEGS - Stress & Pain Relief (Jason Newland)

Hello, and welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name is Jason Newland. And this is stress and pain relief podcast. Please only listen when you can safely close your eyes.

There isn't really anything for you to do apart from, I guess, follow what I'm saying. It's not going to be a long session. And I would suggest that you sit in a chair, comfortable chair that supports your body.

For example, if you was to fall asleep, though this is not a sleep session, then if you were to fall asleep for whatever reason, you wouldn't fall out of the chair. So ideally, arms on the chair. And I'm not going to go through a relaxation exercise, you know, full body relaxation.

But it is always useful to do a body scan, which only takes a few seconds, just to get in touch with how you feel at this moment. And the reason I have this podcast, and I call it stress and pain relief, because the same technique can be used for both reducing stress in that part of your body and also to reduce the chronic pain. So it's the same techniques can have beneficial results.

So we're going to do a body scan now. And maybe just take a few breaths. Some deep breaths, if you feel like it, you know.

Of course, if you have any kind of lung issues, then just breathe however you're breathing. You don't need to do deep breaths, but it's sometimes nice, it can feel almost like you're clearing out the cobwebs. You know what I mean? You're just letting some stuff go.

And that, in its own right, can actually help you to relax. So there may be the odd background sound either on this recording, or where you are. But again, that doesn't matter.

Because if I was there in person, I could do this surrounded by hundreds of people. It would make no difference because it's just about focusing on how you feel. It's not about needing to be silent.

So this could be done with people around you talking, we could be sitting in an airport lounge, and I could be talking to you. You can have your eyes closed. And it wouldn't matter that other people were talking about the plans when they get to wherever they're going.

Or if there was a baby crying or wouldn't matter because that's just outside stuff, which is not relevant to you, or me in this situation. Because we're focusing on the inside stuff that has nothing to do with those people, or those other sounds that may be around. So the body scan really is just if you start at the top of your head, move down your face, just focus on the different parts of your body, your neck, chest and stomach, shoulders, arms, hands, your back, your hips, legs and feet.

And you can go as quickly or take your time because there's no hurry either. And if you were to choose, you could actually focus more on more of the parts you know, so you could not just focus on your arms as a whole, you could focus on your biceps, maybe focus on your triceps and maybe your elbows, your forearms, your wrists. You know, maybe you could bend your arm just to get a sense of how it feels.

Just like with your hands, you could focus on your palms of your hands, the backs of your hands, your individual fingers. And maybe by bending your fingers, you could get in touch with those parts with the knuckles and the joints. And again, you could move your wrist around.

So the hand moves around and you could even perhaps notice the temperature of the room. So you can go as deep into the body scan as you choose. And the more time you spend doing a body scan, the more relaxed you will naturally become.

Because the body scan in itself is a meditation, which results in calmness of your mind and and therefore relaxation of your body, which then relaxes your mind even more, which relaxes your body even more, you know, as it continues that way. But sometimes it's nice, before doing anything at all, to just do a small body scan just to get in touch of how you're feeling. And maybe even do an emotional scan just to notice how you're feeling, what kind of emotions are there at the moment.

Because sometimes in life, we can be so busy that we're not perhaps noticing stuff. Or maybe we don't have time, or the resources or even energy to give that any attention, because it's perhaps a bit of a distraction. But when you're sitting down, allowing yourself to have some space, some breathing space, a safe space to allow yourself to experience whatever it is you're experiencing, without judgments, without opinions, without any of those feelings, really, it's very neutral, very neutral, just acceptance.

So even if you're, let's say, listening to this, because you're wanting to reduce pain in your back, and then you do the body scan, and you realize that actually, there's a lot of tension in your forehead. And you realize, as you're doing the body scan, and you're allowing yourself the space to just be with yourself, and to listen to yourself, and your emotions, that actually, you're feeling a bit stressed, you know, you're maybe upset about something, or you've got something going on, and maybe, maybe this is the right time to actually allow yourself to feel these emotions.

It may not be, it's up to you.

But this is a safe space. You've got your eyes closed, of course, you can open your eyes at any time. You're in control of what happens.

And sometimes it can be as simple as, it's going to be a weird analogy, but with stress, or stressful thoughts, or it can sometimes feel a little bit like a long car journey, when you can feel ratty, you know, you've been, maybe you're a passenger, for example, and you've just been driving, you've been, you know, a passenger for maybe an hour and a half, two hours, and you just want to get out of the car, you just, you really need to get out of the car, you need to get away from the people, not because you dislike them, it's just because you just need your own little bit of space for a short while.

And sometimes it's simply as, you know, stopping the car, getting out, and as we say, stretching our legs, walking around, maybe jumping up and down, you know, just maybe walking 100 yards away from the other people just to have a little bit of space, just to breathe, you know, maybe make a phone call, you know, to a loved one or someone where you can have a private conversation, whatever it is, just that in itself can reduce your stress by a lot.

Something as simple as that, just taking a break, getting out of the car, stretching your legs.

I'm using that analogy in the sense of sometimes just by sitting down, taking a break, closing your eyes, and, you know, maybe listening to me, listen to a recording, it really can be the equivalent of stopping in a car journey, a long car journey, and just getting out of the car and stretching your legs. And you can feel so different so quickly. You can actually feel almost uplifted without really having done anything whatsoever.

And, you know, sometimes that's all it takes. Other times, there may be stuff that's going on, and you don't really want to have to deal with it right now. But at the same time, you can open a window.

Another analogy is you want to go outside, but you don't. You want the fresh air of this lovely spring morning, or whatever time it is, you know, but you don't actually want to get dressed or have a bath or shower. You don't want to have to brush your hair.

But you do want that, a sense of getting outside. So you can open a window, you can sit by the window, have that fresh air. Maybe feel the breeze on your face.

Maybe have it windy, so it's messing your hair up even more. Sometimes that is enough. To sit down in this kind of situation, by listening to me.

It can feel a little bit like you've just opened the window and let some of that stale air out. Let some fresh air in. It's almost like you can move a bit better, you got a bit more space in your mind.

Don't feel quite so uptight. And you notice that the tension that was there before is now reduced. Just by allowing yourself to have this space.

Imagine actually physically opening the window. And if you like, you can actually imagine you're at the window now, and you can with your hands, push up. With your hands physically now, pushing the window up.

And when you do that, I can actually feel, it's weird, I can feel a breeze on my face. And you put your hands down again, and you can just breathe naturally, but it feels different. And it may not make sense, it doesn't have to make sense.

But you feel different. You feel more relaxed. Your mind feels calmer.

Just by opening that window. Imagine that you're actually sitting in the passenger seat of a car, or maybe driving, and you pull over. But now, the car extends and becomes longer.

Now you can just stretch your legs. You can do that now, just stretch your legs in front of you, realizing that you've got so much more space. So you've got that fresh air, and now you've got that space that allows you to feel more relaxed.

And it feels nice. And you haven't had to do anything really. But you feel calmer.

Everything seems a bit slower, quite peaceful, as that stress has reduced. And any other feelings that you may have had in your body, any feelings that were maybe uncomfortable, you can notice now. How you feel differently, physically now.

More relaxed, peaceful. And your mind is almost still. And it feels nice.

It feels really nice. And if you choose, you can just continue to sit here with your eyes closed for as long as you choose. Remembering that every time you listen to one of my recordings, you'll feel more relaxed, peaceful, and at ease physically and emotionally.

And I'm going to go now, but as I said, you can continue to listen as long, well, continue to listen. You could rewind, or you can just continue to feel good, to feel relaxed. So remember to be kind to yourself, because you deserve to be happy, lots of love.