How to Relax Your Mind in 6 Steps

Relaxing your mind is a way to decrease stress levels, prioritize mental health, and steady your heart rate. Calming the mind is similar to meditation, and you can practice this technique in groups, such as during a yoga class, or independently with a series of breathing exercises. A quiet, comfortable environment is all you need to relax your mind.

Stressful situations trigger hormones that can set your body on edge. Relaxing your mind plays a crucial role in stress relief and elicits other significant benefits:

1. 1. Lowers blood pressure: Stress spikes blood pressure, so relaxation techniques and meditation can help lower blood pressure and enable you to calm down when you encounter stressors.
2. 2. Lessens muscle tension: When you tighten your muscles, oxygen is harder to move through the body. Practicing progressive muscle relaxation—tightening one muscle group at a time before releasing that tension—can help lessen muscle tension, relieve insomnia, and ease chronic pain.
3. 3. Promotes mindfulness: Multitasking inhibits the relaxing of the mind. When you relax your mind, you clear your thoughts and allow yourself to focus on less. This enables you to stay more in the present moment.

Yoga poses led by a studio or instructor, meditation circle, or other professional class can all be great ways to tend to your wellbeing, but you can also build your routine. Follow these steps to practice meditation and breathing techniques at home or the office:

1. 1. Get in a quiet, comfortable place. You’ll want to turn the TV off, silence your phone, and get in a cozy part of your home or office. Dim the lights to minimize distracting stimuli. To enhance the experience, you can lightly play some nature sounds or apply essential oils.
2. 2. Close your eyes. Sit upright or lie down in a comfortable position you can hold for a few minutes. Get comfortable in your relaxation position and close your eyes. Quiet your mind and let negative thoughts dissolve. You can focus on nothing or place yourself in an environment or place that brings you relaxation and joy, such as a favorite vacation spot.
3. 3. Take deep breaths. Open your mouth slightly to avoid holding tension in your face or breath. Place one hand on your stomach and one on your heart. Take deep breaths, inhaling through your nose for a full five seconds and then exhaling through your mouth for five seconds. Feel your chest rise and fall with each breath.
4. 4. Conduct a body scan. After breathing for a minute or two, spend time doing a body scan by gently wiggling your body to see where you might be holding tension. Relax that body part, and keep breathing.
5. 5. Add in visualization. In meditation, visualization can help reduce stress hormones and allow you to understand your goals more clearly. While breathing, try imagining an outcome or event you hope will happen—it can be a more immediate goal or a long-term one. You can also direct kindness to people and loved ones.
6. 6. Return to your daily life gently. Thank yourself for prioritizing your wellness and letting your busy mind take a break, even for just five minutes. When you feel less anxious, enjoy a few more deep breaths, then slowly open your eyes. Rise to a standing position in a way that is comfortable for you. To conclude your experience, write in a gratitude journal before heading right back to work or the rest of your day.

Find something comfortable to sit or lie on, grab a MasterClass Annual Membership, and dial into the present moment with Jon Kabat-Zinn, the father of the Western mindfulness movement. From formal meditation exercises to examinations of the science behind mindfulness, Jon will prepare you for the most important practice of them all: life itself.