110. Relaxation Technique to Center and Focus

Foreign welcome back to Leadership in a Nutshell. We're cracking the code of that driven mind we're blessed with. And I want to thank you so much for being here with me. I'm your host, Kenny Chapman, and it is such an honor to play the game of life alongside you and be able to join you weekly for a little check in, a little snapshot, a little mind stirring, if you will. Maybe we'll call it that. And today is episode 110, get centered, get Focused, and Get Relaxed. A technique. I want to share a technique with you today. So if you're driving, I'm going to ask you to listen to the episode while you're driving. Do not participate if you're driving. And then I want you to circle back and kind of earmark this episode. When you get home or maybe tomorrow morning, give yourself. You know, this is going to be 5, 7 minutes is all we're going to do here. But I'm doing this at your request. And when I say your request, maybe you specifically didn't request it, but many of your peers that are listeners to the podcast have requested this. Different than the meditation that I've done in the past, I'm just going to do a relaxation technique, that's all. No meditation today. I just want to give you something to where you can kind of get centered, get focused and relaxed, because I want to slow down your mind and I want to release some tension that you're carrying physically that you don't even realize it. So what's the point? You know, it's really as a leader and as somebody who creates impact and influence daily in the lives of those around you, it's important that you are as grounded as possible, that you are as centered as possible. And so I'm going to guide you through a short relaxation, like a physical relaxation technique that will also slow your mind. And then I'm going to give you a quick little writing exercise right at the end. Okay? So here's what I want you to do. Not driving, not engaged. But when you get to a place, and if you're in that place now, I'm going to ask you to just allow your eyes to close. And I'm going to ask you to take a deep breath in through your nose. And as you release, just release into your seated position, or if you're laying down, just release and almost feel heavy. As you relax, just observe your entire body relaxing a little bit, leaning into how good it feels to not be needing to do anything, waiting on anything to happen, and just Being here with me for a moment. And what I'd like you to do is create tension in your feet. Just tense every muscle in your feet.

Tense, tense, tense.

Relax. Now, I would ask you to move on up to your calves and tighten. Tense your calf muscles.

Tense, tense, tense, relax.

Moving on up the body to your thighs.

Tense, tense, tense.

Relax. Notice how your lower body is beginning to release some tension that you didn't even know you had. Now around to the buttocks. Tense your buttocks.

Tense, tense, tense, relax. Abdomen tense.

Hold it.

Tense, tense, tense, relax.

Just check in with yourself and realize how good that lower part of your body is feeling as it releases some tension you weren't even aware of. Moving on to the chest. Tighten the chest.

Tense, tense, tense, relax.

Now the arms. Both arms, same time.

Tense, tense.

Make a fist.

Tense, tense, tense.

Relax. Onto the neck. Create tension in the neck and the neck only.

Tense, tense, tense.

Relax. Now up to the face. Create tension in the face. Make a face. Squeeze it.

Tense, tense, tense.

Relax. Deep breath in. Back out. Another breath in deep. Hold it. And back out. And you feel completely relaxed at your own pace and at your own time. I would like you to open your eyes, and I would like you to grab a piece of paper or a keyboard if there's a computer near you. Whatever's best for you. And I would like you to just write, and I want you to write what's on your mind. Maybe there's a project you need to look into. Maybe there's something you need to sort out. Maybe there's something you're feeling just right. How do you feel right now? Does it feel good? Is there any disturbance when you think about your task list? What gives you energy and what brings you to darkness? No judgment, no fixing, no working through. Just writing information. And in the interest of our time together in a podcast scenario, I'm going to ask you to continue this exercise. And now you'll kind of know the process when you come back and do this exercise again in the future. And as you position, one of the reasons I wanted to come to you today, so relaxation. To get centered, to get focused. There's a technique. You know, there's a lot of talk around hacks right now. Mind hacks, business hacks, bio hacks, like, whatever it is, this is simply, you know, you can call it a hack if you want. I call it a technique. And I just want to slow down my mind, slow down my body, mental and physical is tied together. How my brain works is 100% based on chemical. And so what I've learned after, you know, kind of all the work I did getting sober and understanding the chemical in the brain, I probably have as much chemical firing in my brain now, maybe more than I did when I was a drinker and, and smoked and used external substance to change my physiology or my mindset. And now I use these techniques, like what I shared with you today, to get grounded and to slow down. And so I want you to be easy with yourself. If you're like, Kenny, I'm not feeling it, brother. I feel as stressed as I did when I started. That's okay. Be easy with yourself. And remember that words are beliefs. And if you say, I can't do this or this isn't for me, then you're right and you're going to keep blocking. And trust me, I'm here to serve you and I'm here to guide you as a happiness guru and help guide you to your greatest self. So though this is a leadership in a nutshell podcast, this is a life improving podcast. The way that I see it and what I know is if you'll slow down and you'll get centered and you'll get focused and you'll relax on a consistent basis, your life will improve. The chemical in your brain will shift. The fight or flight part of your brain that is just going nonstop will begin to readjust. And so what this technique does is it gives you a release and then you breathe a little bit and then you write. And so sometimes you don't have the time or the space to write. I've been in my vehicle and pulled over on the side of the road before and done this and just guide myself through it. Now you've got this as a guide. Heck, I'm going to go back and listen to this myself and have myself guide me. You know, there's. There's a lot of things out there. And that's what I was starting to say. Like, I'm just here to support you. And there's plenty of things online. There's plenty of, you know, specific relaxation techniques and people and different ways. But my responsibility to you is to continue to share what helps me and what helps the clients that I work with. And when we relax our mind and we relax our body, we relax into life. And there's a collective agreement that has bought into. Life is supposed to be stressful. And I 100% disagree with that. I believe in having my cake and eating it, too. I believe that life is about happiness. I believe that business can be about bliss. But it's up to you as a leader. Relationships before results. It's about you having quality relationships. And the number one relationship you have, my friend, is with you. And the more you center yourself, the more you focus yourself, the more you relax. Just for a few minutes a day. This technique took us about five minutes today. What if you did that every morning? Just five minutes, come back, give it a listen, then start turning it into your own routine. And maybe your routine eventually turns into a ritual. Check in with yourself, see what works for you, and just keep going. Life is about progress, not perfection. You've heard me say that. I'll continue to say it as long as we have time together. Just keep on working, but get centered, get focused, relax and open up to your next level. Thank you so much for being with me today. Please come back and redo this episode. Anybody that you kick this to, just fire them an email and say, hey, here's a cool relaxation technique that if this helps you obviously don't forward it if it didn't work for you, but if this worked, cool. And continue to let me know episodes that you want to hear. If you're one of our members, post it in the Facebook group. Kennyennychapman.com is an email that you can shoot me an email with some thoughts if any topics that you want to hear. But this was a listener request multiple times. So I wanted to give you a quick technique to relax your mind and body. And my friend, open up that spirit and step in to your next level of greatness. I'm Kenny Chapman, your host of leadership in a nutshell. Until we talk, make it a better than fantastic day. I'll see you next.

Sam.