Library's review
A book to delight in and learn from, this practical and inspirational work will help you rediscover the essential art of relaxation.
With 130 beautiful images to stimulate and aid visualization, Learn to Relax is a hands-on guide that explains how to quiet the spirit and calm the mind. Built around
Drawing upon many Eastern traditions and philosophies, including yoga, shiatsu, Daoism, and Zen Buddhism, author Mike Geroge recommends a wealth of simple ways to deepen self-awareness and gain control of our lives. Reasonable, accessible, and effective, this volume offers a trustworthy path leading to that often elusive state of mental and physical rest and repose.
Mike George is a renowned teacher of meditation and a stress counselor who lectures around the world on techniques for improved self-management, team development, and stress control. He is the managing editior of Retreat magazine and author of Meditation for Busy People and Stress Free Living, both audio cassette and workbook sets. He livesin London.
Learn to Relax is a beautiful and practical guide to reducing mind and body stress through easily learned techniques. Combining inspiring images with more than twenty-five specially devised methods of relaxation, author Mike George shows how we can rediscover contentment-in oursleves, in others, in nature,and in daily life. Drawing from the traditions of both East and West, this book's simple yet highly effective strategies reveal how to put problems in perspective and celebrate the positive in life.
Maximize the quality (and quantity) of your leisure time.
Learn simple stress-relief exercises that produce immediate results.
Master basic meditation techniques for calming the mind.
Enrich the quality of your sleep and dream life.
Ease tension with exercises from shiatsu massage, yoga, and other Eastern practices.
Use visualization to reawaken the senses and deepen relaxation.
Gain control of your life and increase your enjoyment of every day.
Contents
Introduction
1 Roads to relaxation
World, mind and body
Perspectives on stress
Exercise 1 Stress ballooning
Symptoms of stress
The emotional rodeo
Worry
Exercise 2 Silencing the buzz
Guilt and conscience
Blame
Exercise 3 Breaking the chain of blame
The wheel of fortune
The rock in the steam
The hand at the tiller
Positive thought
Creative visualization
Exercise 4 An imaginary balloon ride
2 Stillness, breath and calm
Breath and emotion
The breathing bias
Unlocking breath
Exercise 5 The air meditation
Speech, breath and relaxation
Exercise 6 Breath mantras
Sensual enhancement
Exercise 7 Aroma-soothing
3 The body at rest and in motion
Tension traits
Rest and sleep
Exercise 8 The sleep experiment
Achieving stillness
Exercise 9 The 'limbs' of yoga
The fitness paradox
Muscle release
Exercise 10 The dissolved body
The gateway of touch
The gift of hands
Exercise 11 A massage for the back
Exercise 12 Drawing the face
The flow of qi
4 The self and relationships
Personal identity
Personal myhologies
Exercise 13 A voyage to the centre of the self
The power to change
The paradox of purpose
Making peace with your world
The art of kindness
The search of the heart
The relationship adventure
The established bond
Exercise 14 Cultivating empathy
Relaxing into passion
Sex in perspective
A theory of relativity
Growing into childhood
Fearless encounters
Exercise 15 Spotlight on the self
Calm assertion
Crying and catharsis
Laughter and absurdity
Having faith
Varieties of counsel
5 Mind power
Silence and noise
Exercise 16 The random concert
Relaxing with time
Living patterns
Inner space
Exercise 17 A five-step meditation
Outer meditation
Exercise 18 Focus on a flower
Positive transactions
Mindfulness
Dream lives
Re-awakening the senses
Exercise 19 The cat in a world of its own
The senses in balance
Exercise 20 Narrowing sensation
Freeing thought
Exercise 21 Aspiring to the sun
Relaxing with the elements
Exercise 22 Sea tumbling
Green balm
Exercise 23 Garden meditations
Letting go of the past
Exercise 24 The memory album
Positive recall
Exercise 25 Pure potential
Life, death and miracles
Toward a calm future
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
With 130 beautiful images to stimulate and aid visualization, Learn to Relax is a hands-on guide that explains how to quiet the spirit and calm the mind. Built around
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a core of spiritual precepts, the book offers twenty-five illlustrated step-by-step exercises and a variety of other easy-to-learn mental and physical technques, including breathing, massage, anxiety control, personal time management, sleep enrichment, detachment, and meditation.Drawing upon many Eastern traditions and philosophies, including yoga, shiatsu, Daoism, and Zen Buddhism, author Mike Geroge recommends a wealth of simple ways to deepen self-awareness and gain control of our lives. Reasonable, accessible, and effective, this volume offers a trustworthy path leading to that often elusive state of mental and physical rest and repose.
Mike George is a renowned teacher of meditation and a stress counselor who lectures around the world on techniques for improved self-management, team development, and stress control. He is the managing editior of Retreat magazine and author of Meditation for Busy People and Stress Free Living, both audio cassette and workbook sets. He livesin London.
Learn to Relax is a beautiful and practical guide to reducing mind and body stress through easily learned techniques. Combining inspiring images with more than twenty-five specially devised methods of relaxation, author Mike George shows how we can rediscover contentment-in oursleves, in others, in nature,and in daily life. Drawing from the traditions of both East and West, this book's simple yet highly effective strategies reveal how to put problems in perspective and celebrate the positive in life.
Maximize the quality (and quantity) of your leisure time.
Learn simple stress-relief exercises that produce immediate results.
Master basic meditation techniques for calming the mind.
Enrich the quality of your sleep and dream life.
Ease tension with exercises from shiatsu massage, yoga, and other Eastern practices.
Use visualization to reawaken the senses and deepen relaxation.
Gain control of your life and increase your enjoyment of every day.
Contents
Introduction
1 Roads to relaxation
World, mind and body
Perspectives on stress
Exercise 1 Stress ballooning
Symptoms of stress
The emotional rodeo
Worry
Exercise 2 Silencing the buzz
Guilt and conscience
Blame
Exercise 3 Breaking the chain of blame
The wheel of fortune
The rock in the steam
The hand at the tiller
Positive thought
Creative visualization
Exercise 4 An imaginary balloon ride
2 Stillness, breath and calm
Breath and emotion
The breathing bias
Unlocking breath
Exercise 5 The air meditation
Speech, breath and relaxation
Exercise 6 Breath mantras
Sensual enhancement
Exercise 7 Aroma-soothing
3 The body at rest and in motion
Tension traits
Rest and sleep
Exercise 8 The sleep experiment
Achieving stillness
Exercise 9 The 'limbs' of yoga
The fitness paradox
Muscle release
Exercise 10 The dissolved body
The gateway of touch
The gift of hands
Exercise 11 A massage for the back
Exercise 12 Drawing the face
The flow of qi
4 The self and relationships
Personal identity
Personal myhologies
Exercise 13 A voyage to the centre of the self
The power to change
The paradox of purpose
Making peace with your world
The art of kindness
The search of the heart
The relationship adventure
The established bond
Exercise 14 Cultivating empathy
Relaxing into passion
Sex in perspective
A theory of relativity
Growing into childhood
Fearless encounters
Exercise 15 Spotlight on the self
Calm assertion
Crying and catharsis
Laughter and absurdity
Having faith
Varieties of counsel
5 Mind power
Silence and noise
Exercise 16 The random concert
Relaxing with time
Living patterns
Inner space
Exercise 17 A five-step meditation
Outer meditation
Exercise 18 Focus on a flower
Positive transactions
Mindfulness
Dream lives
Re-awakening the senses
Exercise 19 The cat in a world of its own
The senses in balance
Exercise 20 Narrowing sensation
Freeing thought
Exercise 21 Aspiring to the sun
Relaxing with the elements
Exercise 22 Sea tumbling
Green balm
Exercise 23 Garden meditations
Letting go of the past
Exercise 24 The memory album
Positive recall
Exercise 25 Pure potential
Life, death and miracles
Toward a calm future
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
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Genres
ISBN
811819086
Publication
Chronicle Books San Francisco