COMING OFF TRANQUILIZER: EXERCISES SITTING IN A CHAIR

1. Check the position of your head and neck and breathe in through the nose as you loosely lift the shoulders, breathe out noisily as you drop them, and go limp in the chair. Try it eight times,.

2. Roll each shoulder first back then forward in a circle

Keep calm when facing an angry boss

(keep the arm limp). After you have circled both shoulders eight times in each direction, try doing both together.

3. Raise arms to the ceiling and stretch without straining, then let them fall loosely towards the floor.

4. Add any shoulder or arm exercises you know and stand up to do a few loose swinging arm movements.

5. To exercise the legs draw eight circles with each big toe, clockwise and anticlockwise.

6. Finish by standing up and loosely shaking the whole body.

Shaking increases circulation and lets fear out. Dogs don’t stop themselves shaking when they are afraid. Don’t try to control nervous shaking. Stand up and encourage it. If it is not suppressed the need to shake (and to cry or be angry) will diminish.

Don’t push yourself to do more exercise than you can manage, but carry on slowly even if it hurts. It may be uncomfortable. Remember the tight arm band previously mentioned? Taking it off the arm would make the hand feel more uncomfortable for a time, but it would be curative. In the same way, some people have held their head and shoulders tight for so long that they need the help of an osteopath to free the joints. In tranquillizer withdrawal it is not advisable to tighten groups of muscles before letting them relax. Because the muscles are not behaving normally it increases spasms. It is better to use your imagination. Pretend that your feet/legs/trunk/arms etc. are being bathed in warm water or sunlight. This allows them to go slack and heavy. Avoid using the word relax. Some people are so frustrated by their unsuccessful attempts at relaxation that the word is a trigger for more tension.

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