BODY WATCH : Slow Down, You Move Too Fast; It’s Time to Relax

Relax!

Everyone seems to be suggesting you do just that, from your doctor to your family to that very laid-back customer standing behind you in the gift exchange line. But who has the time, not to mention the money, to de-stress in this here-come-the-holiday-bills month?

With a compassionate nod toward time and money constraints, four stress-reduction experts gave us their suggestions on how to slow down.

Music

“Sit in the most comfortable chair in your house and put on music that will not irritate,” says Kay Gardner, a composer in Stonington, Maine, who specializes in music for relaxation and healing. Especially popular now, she says, are the Gregorian chants. “People are finding it very relaxing. There’s a repetition to it. When music is very repetitious, we tend to relax.”

Classical music fans often find Mozart relaxing, adds Gardner, a contributor to “The Big Book of Relaxation” (The Relaxation Company, 1994). Pop fans should choose “easy listening” songs, “although aesthetically they are not the best.”

If your speakers are on the floor, lie on the floor as you listen, Gardner suggests. “The vibrations will help you relax.”

Body Scan

A relaxation technique called Body Scan can de-stress, says Mae Keyson, a clinical psychologist and co-director of the Mind-Body Stress Reduction Program at Northridge Hospital Medical Center. She teaches Body Scan as part of a six-week course, but she says anyone can learn it and do it at home.

“Get into any position that feels comfortable to you. Breathe in through your nostrils and out through your nostrils; the whole time your abdomen should be expanding and deflating. We start with the toes. Imagine yourself breathing in through your toes and out through your toes. Every time you breathe out, you’re breathing out all the tension, problems, concerns and worries of the day.”

Continue breathing, moving up to the feet, legs, hands, shoulders and so on.

“In the last part, imagine you are breathing from the top of your head,” Keyson says. “Imagine you have a hole on top of your head the size of a quarter, like a blow hole.”

Keyson sends class participants home with a tape of her voice giving instructions. You can make your own tape.

Food

Forget double fudge or double espresso. Think about eating relaxing foods, says Annemarie Colbin, founder of the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health in New York and another co-author of “The Big Book of Relaxation.”

“Stick to carbohydrates like pasta, grain and vegetables,” she says. For food that is sweet and relaxing, try baked yams or squashes. “Hot apple juice is relaxing,” she says, as are other warm, nonalcoholic drinks or heated, dried fruits.

Hypnosis

“Most people think they have to go to a therapist [to be hypnotized],” says Linda Vejar, a clinical hypnotherapist in the Santa Clarita Valley. Not true, she says, although a one-hour session ($75-$100 in the Los Angeles area) is generally needed to get people started.

People can hypnotize themselves, she says, explaining that men watching football or anyone who’s driven past their planned freeway exit have already done so.

She defines self-hypnosis as “bypassing the analytical mind and getting into the unconscious mind. Give it direct suggestions and it will take them literally.”

To use hypnosis for stress reduction, Vejar suggests: “Use your imagination to create a place of relaxation. Set aside 10 minutes a day. Find a comfortable place.”

Close your eyes, she adds, and take three deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling slowly. Then take yourself to a favorite place--a place you’ve been before or somewhere you would like to go.

“Give yourself a key word or words to relax. It can be something like calm or let go. From now on, say that word and notice the feeling of relaxation.”