Daily Dose: Three Steps To De-Stress Instantly Ten Minute Meditation To Elicit Your Relaxation Response

Hello and welcome to the daily dose portion of the Chill Pill for Moms podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Juna Bobby MD, and on this portion of the podcast, you can always count on me to have this relaxing, peaceful voice because this is where you're gonna get your daily dose of the relaxation response. Today's dose is 3 steps to instantly de-stress. So wherever you are, sitting, lying down, or standing, just notice your feet. Perhaps they're on the ground, or you can feel the air around them, or maybe you can feel them in your socks or in your shoes. Now focus your eyes with a soft gaze at something in front of you. Taking a deep breath in. And noticing where that breath moves into your body. For example, you can notice that breath entering into your nostrils and into your throat and lungs and chest. You can go ahead and close your eyes now, if that feels right to you. And on the next inhale, try to notice a part of your body that you don't normally notice moving with your breath. Maybe it's your back, maybe your abdomen, maybe even your arms or legs moving with that breath. Now imagine a scanner moving over you. Maybe it's a warm scanner or a cool one, depending on what you need right now. Just the perfect temperature. For you in this moment. Picture this perfect temperature scanner moving from the very top of your head and over every single part of your body, not missing any part, all the way down your face head, neck, shoulders, arms, to your fingertips, over your chest and back, abdomen, hips, legs, and all the way down to the bottom of your feet. Now, as you inhale, bring the scanner up back to the top of your head. And as you exhale, imagine that perfect temperature scanner releasing any tension in your body as it scans from the top of your head all the way down to the bottom of your feet, not missing any part of your body. Do that again with a deep inhale to the top of your head. Scan all the way down from the top to the bottom of your feet. And each time you do this Melt away even the tiniest bit of tension in any part of your body where you still feel any tension. Now repeat for 3 more breaths. Inhale. And exhale, scan. Inhale and exhale. And now on your own. Now visualize yourself when you're at your absolute best self. Are you calm, peaceful, confident, kind, and compassionate? What is the expression on your face as you imagine your best self? What's the tone of your voice? How do you carry yourself? How are you making others feel about themselves? See this in as much detail as you can, maybe even what you're wearing or the people you're surrounded by, especially that expression on your face. The tone of your voice. And now feel that emotion in your body. How does that peace, compassion, or calm feel in your body? And now mentally say to yourself, I am that quality, whether it's calm or peace. So I am calm. I am compassion. Whatever that word may be that uplifts you, say it mentally to yourself. 3 times as you visualize yourself at your best self. Now take a deep breath in, releasing that image on the exhale. Now take a deeper and slower breath in, feeling your spine get longer, and exhale. Take a deep breath in energetically and hold it for 4 counts. 2, 3, 4, and release. And now inhale energetically, reaching up over your head. Interlace those fingers, palms up towards the sky. And exhale, float those arms down. Inhale, float them up again, interlace them, and hold those arms up there, fingertips reaching. Exhale. Now do a few head rolls. Inhale up and exhale down. Inhale up and exhale down with your head. And now some shoulder rolls. Inhale up, exhale, shoulders down. One more time. Inhale up, shoulders down. And now if you haven't already opened your eyes, you can slowly come back to the room. Ready for the rest of your day. That was a dose of the relaxation response, increasing the size of our frontal lobes where a lot of great things happen. For your full dose of 20 minutes for the day, 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the late afternoon is great, or if you can do up to 20 in one sitting, that's fine too. You can also work your way up to 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the late afternoon. Find me on Instagram @mindbody.space where you can DM me questions or topics for the show that you'd like to hear, or go online to the website mindbodyspace.com. There you'll find our school for stress management and resilience, all of these chill pills on one page, and even subscribe to our podcast Chill Pill for Moms. Until then, this is your host, Dr. Juna Bobby MD, signing off and wishing you and your family wellness.