How to Relax and Focus Your Mind in Minutes!
By Michaiel
Many years ago, while still in high school, I was tossing and turning in bed, flipping from one side to the other, like a fish on a hot dry dock. My untamed mind, raced all over the place. I was scattered and confused. No way could I relax much less sleep. I was stressed out and there was no more denying it.
On the surface, I remained calm, cool and collected like a teenager who “had it all together.” At the time, there didn’t seem to be anything too stressful for me to handle. But looking back, I now realize that it was the combination of many of life’s challenges I had to face about “growing up”. The pressure of selecting a college and trying to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life was enough stress to confuse one’s mind. My parent’s recent divorce and the tension in our household certainly didn’t help matters.
I was dazed and confused. My mind was like a highly unorganized swat team racing through memories and leaping out at me when most unexpected. I was captivated by the power of my mind and became extremely curious at how it works. I wanted to learn how to tame it and access its power. I knew that my mind was very different from my brain, but wasn’t sure how. I started reading books and researching the library. (There was no internet back then) I began my journey of self empowerment, well over twenty-five years ago. I’ve learned so much and the peace I now experience would have been unimaginable back then. This report is a summary of what I learned and how it can help you to relax and focus your mind.
The Difference between your Mind and Brain
Unlike the brain, your mind has no boundaries and can be “scattered all over the place.” There are many easy ways to relax your mind. All intense exercise, jogging, meditation or mental games like chess or billiards will help to focus your mind. However, most people don’t have time to jog five miles or shoot a game of pool when they most need to focus. Also, these activities don’t necessarily lead to relaxation. Here are some simple and easy methods to help you both relax and focus your mind in minutes.
Of everything I’ve learned over the years about the mind, I believe that meditation, especially guided imagery meditation to be the most powerful way to gain control over your mind and create the changes you desire. However, this report is about five easy methods for you to relax your mind in minutes, and I’ve enclosed some the follow tips that will help you.
To succeed at focusing your mind, it is important to understand that your mind is not your brain. Your brain is the physical apparatus that tunes in and expresses your mind. For instance, your brain can identify a joke, but it’s your mind that has a sense of humor and makes you laugh. Your brain can identify opportunities, but it is your mind that ultimately makes the decision. Like a computer, your brain doesn’t have the power of choice, your mind does. Your brain is similar to a television set. It is a receiver of the airwaves that carry information (thought). Your mind produces the airwaves (information-thoughts) of your consciousness, your personality, and your spirit. It is your brain’s function to receive and interpret those messages and express them.
Your mind is pure consciousness, an ageless, non-tangible consciousness that contains the energy including your beliefs, attitudes, thoughts and feelings (emotion), imagination, creativity, memories, hopes and dreams. Your brain is the receiver of your mind. Its purpose is to organize, plan and express your mind’s information. Knowing how to relax and focus the energy of your mind can help you discover yourself and help you to make trustworthy decisions to live a peaceful life.
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Your Imagination is the star pupil of the mind. Your imagination is incredibly powerful. It has the basis of your body-mind connection. What you hold and see in your mind affects your body function, chemistry and autonomic systems.
Now, did anything occur in your mouth as you listened and imagined that lemon? Did you find your mouth watering more than normal?
Most people do. Your mind stores the memory of lemon juice and your past experiences. Simply by imagining the lemon you altered the moisture in your mouth. The saliva glands are regulated by the autonomic nervous system. This system controls your heart rate, blood pressure, immune function; digestive, respiratory, circulatory systems and much more.
The secret of hypnosis is using the power of your mind (imagination) to communicate directly to your body, thus creating change. This is commonly known as your body-mind connection. Everyone has it, but most don’t consciously use it to benefit their lives.
Now think about how easy that was for you to do. Imagine if you closed your eyes and really focused on that exercise, how much more effective it could be. My guided meditations all use imagery to help you communicate to your subconscious mind and generate positive influence and change over your mind and body. It works. All you need to do is close your eyes and let the meditation guide you through the process.
I have formulated five powerful techniques to pick and choose from. Try any of them or if you are really scattered, do all five.
Five Techniques to Relax and Focus Your Mind
Technique One: Breathe Slowly.
Begin by inhaling a deep breath through your nose and as you slowly exhale through your mouth, mentally repeating the word “relax.” Repeat these three or four times. You can say the word, “relax” out loud at first, but then practice silently repeating the word, like a mantra. Next focus your awareness on what has captured your attention. What are you thinking or worrying about? Is your mind in the past or the future? Are you thinking about someone in particular? Explore what has captured your attention and then repeat the breathing exercise above to release it with your exhale.
Tip: You can visualize that as you exhale, you are breathing out the thoughts and feelings from your mind through your mouth, like bubbles floating off into the distance
Technique Two: Write.
This exercise will help you gain clarity and perspective. Find some paper and write down your thoughts. This will help you slow down your thinking and release what’s “on your mind”. As you write, remind yourself… “I have these thoughts… I am not my thoughts; I have these feelings… I am not my feelings.” Let the words flow out of you and write them down without editing or being concerned with grammar or spelling.
To clear your consciousness fast express in writing what’s on your mind. Then take these papers and destroy them. Tear them up and throw them away, flush them down the toilet or burn them. You want to destroy the writing with gusto and intensity. Mentally tell yourself, “I am letting go of these thoughts and feelings. I am freeing my mind.” This technique is great for insomnia, on restless nights, like I described above.
Tip: An important fact, you can not write as fast as you can think, so when you write down your thoughts you will slow down your thinking automatically. This is one of the benefits of journaling and why it is considered a meditative experience. It slows your mind down and focuses your attention quickly.
Technique Three: Hum.
Take a few moments and hum the lyrics of a favorite song. Concentrate on remembering the lyrics and feel the vibration of humming in your throat, face and chest. This will benefit you two ways: 1. Concentration and remembering the song will focus your mind. 2. The vibration of humming will ground you into the sensation of your physical body. It is a great technique and you can do it anywhere at anytime. After just a few minutes you’ll feel a difference.
Technique Four: Visualize.
Follow this simple guided meditation. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply three times and mentally (silently) say the word “relax.” Imagine a “basketball size” sphere of white light hovering about twelve inches above your head. Focus your mind to visualize the minutest detail. Imagine that you see it and feel the warmth radiating down on the top of your head. Next imagine this sphere slowly lowering and touching the crown of your head.
Take another deep breath and bring the sphere down around your head, like a helmet. Imagine that your head is filled with white light. If you were to open your eyes, the light would stream out from inside of you. Imagine the light dissolving these scattered thoughts.
Focus on the light, feel its warmth and sense it filling your mind with peace and comfort. Breathe naturally for a few minutes. When you are ready, simply open your eyes and go back to your activities. This is great for a quick focus before an important meeting. You can do this in a parked car, at your desk or in a bathroom stall.
Technique Five: Be Sensual.
Focus your attention on your five senses. This provides a mental boundary to contain your scattered mind. Being sensual simply means to be aware of your five senses. Smell the air, feel the temperature on your skin, listen to the sounds around you and taste the food that you eat. Being sensual brings you into the present fast and effectively.
You now have five easy ways to focus your mind and harness its power. Your mind will help you make more trustworthy decisions throughout your day and you’ll experience overall greater inner peace.
These techniques will offer fast and temporary relief of a scattered mind. For a more in-depth method that will help you heal more permanently from a scattered mind and keep you centered, I recommend that you learn to meditate. If not from me, then from someone else you know and trust. I don’t recommend books on meditation, because they can only describe the process. Classes and weekend courses are great, but very time consuming and expensive.
My guided meditations are especially geared to help you experience meditation, in the privacy of your home without spending a fortune and you can be guided into meditation anytime you desire with a CD.
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Bio-Michaiel Patrick Bovenes is a creative writer, author and professional speaker and teacher. He has a popular series of guided visualization meditations, he calls, "Soul-utions". He offers classes and words of wisdom in many articles published in various magazines worldwide. He currently resides in San Francisco, CA.
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