Home Mind and Body Wellbeing

Relaxation

This is something I often struggle with, I tend to be very focused, I forget to eat or take a break and my mind is often still racing by bedtime. I'm always dissecting something in my head, analysing or planning ahead and It's hard to take the edge off or let go and transition into a more relaxed state.

Aside from hobbies, sports or meditation, I always look for music, nature documentaries, art or books I find relaxing. If you run into something or already have recommendations, please share.

This was the last thing I found that engaged me enough to quiet my mind and was also beautiful and moving.

https://youtu.be/3s0LTDhqe5A

Comments

  • I think I may have posted this before. I watch it with my kitten but find I keep it going even when she's bounced away. Paul Dinning has hundreds of videos like this with birds and nature sounds.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYoZgpAEkFs&ab_channel=PaulDinning

    This is the video I watch for homework for relaxation, for Occupational Therapy.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2bnj5hMkIw&ab_channel=ImmerseInNature

  • Statest16Statest16 Citizen, Mentor

    I'm watching "Borgen" on Netflix,can't understand it but I'm watching it.

  • Thank you, Isa, I'll check that out. My cat also loves bird videos and sounds, he gets very curious and thoroughly investigates the screen and the back of the TV 😄

    @Statest16 said:
    I'm watching "Borgen" on Netflix,can't understand it but I'm watching it.

    Did you just start it? I really enjoyed the series. It's easier for me since I'm familiar with the system, culture and language.

    If you stick with it, I'd be very interested to know what your thoughts are, you probably feel a bit as I do when I try to understand various nuances of American politics and culture.

  • AmityAmity Administrator, Citizen
    edited November 2020

    Before bed I listen to particular ASMR videos, the proper ones, not the poser ones.

    Comedy can be great for changing my mindset into a relaxed state, it can be overstimulating, but a good stand up where I get plenty of laughs and the topics aren't too heavy usually help me with sleep.

    Pretty much any form of moving water, watching it, listening to it, even the noise of rain lol.

    Open fire noises and even better if there is a good video of flames to accompany it. I slept in a room with an open fire for a time, it was the nicest way to go asleep.

    Watching golf, darts or soccer sends me into yawning fits. lol

    Anything repetitive but requires no thinking like matching socks or folding laundry.

    Scribble art, its process orientated, with no expectations about the end product, you don't need any art skills or artistic inclination to benefit from this one

    ...paper, pencil and colouring pencils. I like to create one continuous random scribble with the pencil that fills the page while I keep my eyes closed. (Its even better if you have a partner to swap scribbles with, the challenge stays true to form as you really dont influence the outcome from the start.)

    Open eyes and spend time finding patterns, shapes, or the outline of objects or animals in the scribble, a bit like cloud watching, if I really want to shut off I stick with finding simple shapes and patterns and just add colour, if I have energy to use up I will try create a scene.
    eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHa2ZTpquvI

    Also play dough, yes I know we are grown ups, but its malleability makes it very therapeutic regardless of age, you dont need to buy it, can be made at home with regular cupboard items https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/playdough-recipe

  • IsabellaIsabella Citizen
    edited November 2020

    We have a lot in common Amity. I love rain sounds and fire crackle. I keep little tubs of PlayDoh in my stim collection and in my handbag to sniff and squeeze when I'm out!! The scent instantly calms me so it's always on standby!! Another relaxing activity is colouring in adult colouring books, although I sometimes get too OCD and carried away with colour themes. I know I'm really stressed when I press so hard I break the coloured pencils.

    A grounding exercise I learned from OT is to think of five items you can detect nearby for each of your senses. Five textures, five colours or interesting shapes, five sounds (eeek!), five smells if possible (including your bedding, the ends of your hair, your book, etc). I don't think taste has been included but that would be fun too with little snacks, or even noticing and thinking about one taste. It's hard for me to focus to do this but I like it better than "relax your muscles from head to toe" thinking. I've never been able to do guided imagery or meditation but I find that the senses activity does ground me a little.

  • @Isabella said:
    Another relaxing activity is colouring in adult colouring books,

    🙈 OK, not judging here.
    We are all mature adults, so far. 🐨

    I imagine you use a lot of flesh coloured crayons. 🖍🙃

  • I always feel kind of sketchy (pun) when I refer to adult colouring books. 😚

    This is my favourite:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eznuvaBZ_Rc&ab_channel=faithfullmess

  • @Isabella said:
    I always feel kind of sketchy (pun) when I refer to adult colouring books. 😚

    The word you are looking for is "Creepy", not "Sketchy". 🙃

  • HylianHylian Citizen, Mentor

    Watching cartoons can be relaxing, at least to me. Even ones for little kids. lol
    Some of them are pretty cute and mindless to watch, plus how simplified a lot of their art styles are makes it so there's not a lot of visual information to process.

    I also agree with Amity that watching and listening to water is relaxing. Rain is such a nice sound and is one of the best sounds to fall asleep to.

    Nature documentaries about apes are nice to focus on, too. I prefer ones about orangutans because they often focus on their babies, which are very cute. They're also more solitary so they're not as noisy and active as other apes.

    @Sheldon said:

    @Isabella said:
    Another relaxing activity is colouring in adult colouring books,

    🙈 OK, not judging here.
    We are all mature adults, so far. 🐨

    I imagine you use a lot of flesh coloured crayons. 🖍🙃

    Whenever someone says "adult colouring book" it takes a few seconds of thinking for me to realize what they mean by "adult". lmao

  • I love this thread! ❤

  • Statest16Statest16 Citizen, Mentor

    I'm watching "Borgen" on Netflix,can't understand it but I'm watching it.> @Bender said:

    Thank you, Isa, I'll check that out. My cat also loves bird videos and sounds, he gets very curious and thoroughly investigates the screen and the back of the TV 😄

    @Statest16 said:
    I'm watching "Borgen" on Netflix,can't understand it but I'm watching it.

    Did you just start it? I really enjoyed the series. It's easier for me since I'm familiar with the system, culture and language.

    If you stick with it, I'd be very interested to know what your thoughts are, you probably feel a bit as I do when I try to understand various nuances of American politics and culture.

    Are you from Denmark or speak Danish

  • @Statest16 said:

    Are you from Denmark or speak Danish

    I'm Scandinavian and understand Danish.

  • @Amity said:
    Before bed I listen to particular ASMR videos, the proper ones, not the poser ones.

    Comedy can be great for changing my mindset into a relaxed state, it can be overstimulating, but a good stand up where I get plenty of laughs and the topics aren't too heavy usually help me with sleep.

    Pretty much any form of moving water, watching it, listening to it, even the noise of rain lol.

    Open fire noises and even better if there is a good video of flames to accompany it. I slept in a room with an open fire for a time, it was the nicest way to go asleep.

    Watching golf, darts or soccer sends me into yawning fits. lol

    Anything repetitive but requires no thinking like matching socks or folding laundry.

    Scribble art, its process orientated, with no expectations about the end product, you don't need any art skills or artistic inclination to benefit from this one

    ...paper, pencil and colouring pencils. I like to create one continuous random scribble with the pencil that fills the page while I keep my eyes closed. (Its even better if you have a partner to swap scribbles with, the challenge stays true to form as you really dont influence the outcome from the start.)

    Open eyes and spend time finding patterns, shapes, or the outline of objects or animals in the scribble, a bit like cloud watching, if I really want to shut off I stick with finding simple shapes and patterns and just add colour, if I have energy to use up I will try create a scene.
    eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHa2ZTpquvI

    Also play dough, yes I know we are grown ups, but its malleability makes it very therapeutic regardless of age, you dont need to buy it, can be made at home with regular cupboard items https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/playdough-recipe

    I remember you posting in the past, but I didn't save the links, could you give me some links again to proper videos or a channel that has them?

    I always look for something more lighthearted to watch or read in the evenings, but there's a delicate balance there: if it's too interesting, it will keep me awake. I easily switch to focused mode.

    Unfortunately, I can't draw to save my life. I like technical drawing and discovered by accident that I can mix colours instinctively to get the shade I want, but even my stick-men look embarrassing 😁

    I love the sound and sight of open fire and running water too. I can stare at a waterfall for hours, it's hypnotic, and I love rain, particularly against an attic window or tin roof. I recently connected my lights to an app that can change their colour and intensity and found another app (lol) that makes them imitate a thunderstorm. With sound. It's awsome. I should explore more rain sounds to have in the background.

    Isabella: one of the presents my son gave me last Christmas was an adult adult colouring book, it was advertised as a product for stress relief. He even bought me watercolour crayons for it. I took it as a joke, but maybe I should actually give it a try 😆

    I'm not sure if a link it's appropriate here, I'll post in the Lounge if you want to check it out, it's pretty innocent as far as I'm concerned

  • Statest16Statest16 Citizen, Mentor

    @Bender said:

    @Statest16 said:

    Are you from Denmark or speak Danish

    I'm Scandinavian and understand Danish.

    My father was born in the US but was ethnically Danish,he was born in Seattle,America's little Denmark.The Minnesota thing is more Norwegians and Swedes

  • @Bender said:

    @Statest16 said:

    Are you from Denmark or speak Danish

    I'm Scandinavian and understand Danish.

    Lies. No one understands Danish. Not even the Danish.

  • Statest16Statest16 Citizen, Mentor

    @Wolfram said:

    @Bender said:

    @Statest16 said:

    Are you from Denmark or speak Danish

    I'm Scandinavian and understand Danish.

    Lies. No one understands Danish. Not even the Danish.

    I don't speak Danish but I have looked through the dictionaries and Danish seems a bit like English,very close to English.Swedish and Norwegian seem closer to German but that being said English is hard to understand because a hodgepodge of so many other languages anyway.

  • A few years there came out a report that Danes are increasingly finding other Danes speaking Danish difficult to understand, due to a trend of increased mumbling in the language coupled with an increasing rate of speech. Having heard Danes speak, this does not surprise me.

  • Ah, the famous it's like they have a potato in their mouth 😆

    Speaking fast without articulating properly can be a problem, especially with a foreign language, some Parisians do this too.

  • @Isabella said:
    I think I may have posted this before. I watch it with my kitten but find I keep it going even when she's bounced away. Paul Dinning has hundreds of videos like this with birds and nature sounds.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYoZgpAEkFs&ab_channel=PaulDinning

    This is the video I watch for homework for relaxation, for Occupational Therapy.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2bnj5hMkIw&ab_channel=ImmerseInNature

    Oh yes, perfect for me also, tx Issy, exactly what calms me too.

  • Potato in the mouth, throat full of oatmeal and probably drunk, too.

  • Statest16Statest16 Citizen, Mentor
    edited November 2020

    A lot of what you guys are talking about sounds like Noam Chomsky's "language doesn't exist theory"
    The concept of language evolving so fast that language is obsolete by the time it ever get's formally taught.
    He may as a long time Boston resident (he is now in Arizona),came up with this theory after being tired of hearing his name pronounced as "Nam Chowawmsky". (that was a joke😁)

    I live 125 miles from Boston and I can't understand Bostonian English.😀

  • When I was in the UK, we had a colleague from Northen Englad and I swear I could barely understand a word he was saying. I've never had this problem before with American, English, Irish or Scottish accents, but the locals assured me they understand as little of what he says as I did 🤣

    Dialects are the worst - we once stopped in a small German town where even my wife (native speaker) couldn't figure what they say.

    You get used to it if you spend enough time in a place where everybody speaks that way.

  • Statest16Statest16 Citizen, Mentor

    @Bender said:
    When I was in the UK, we had a colleague from Northen Englad and I swear I could barely understand a word he was saying. I've never had this problem before with American, English, Irish or Scottish accents, but the locals assured me they understand as little of what he says as I did 🤣

    Dialects are the worst - we once stopped in a small German town where even my wife (native speaker) couldn't figure what they say.

    You get used to it if you spend enough time in a place where everybody speaks that way.

    In Northumbria they still use a lot of Elizabethan era dialect,it is known for being one of the most backward English sub-dialects.If your interested "Simon Roper" youtube channel has great commentary on Old and Middle English and the evolution of modern English.

  • BenderBender Citizen
    edited November 2020

    Thank you, I'll definitely check that out - I'm very interested in languages and language in general, Mr Chomsky is a remarkable linguist, but I'm not that familiar with his political activism (or very interested in it).

    It always annoys me when people say "semantics" in a dismissive way, I'm fascinated by nuances and you'd think the meaning of words is actually important 😜

  • Statest16Statest16 Citizen, Mentor

    @Bender said:
    Thank you, I'll definitely check that out - I'm very interested in languages and language in general, Mr Chomsky is a remarkable linguist, but I'm not that familiar with his political activism (or very interested in it).

    It always annoys me when people say "semantics" in a dismissive way, I'm fascinated by nuances and you'd think the meaning of words is actually important 😜

    🙂

  • BenderBender Citizen
    edited November 2020

    @Amity said:
    Before bed I listen to particular ASMR videos, the proper ones, not the poser ones.

    It doesn't really qualify, but do you happen to like Laurie Anderson? I find her voice (and music) very restful, especially the little stories. The Ugly One With The Jewels (the whole album) has an extremely relaxing effect on me, and she's an incredibly talented and funny story-teller and musician ❤

    https://youtu.be/RFIpxaAzi9k

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