Core Relaxation Plus



Core Relaxation

This process gives you mental and physical relaxation.

Do it in a situation where you do not have to attend to anything. This needs ten minutes per day. It is important to do it every day, if possible.  Use a timer for it.

Sit in a chair in which you can relax fully. Feet apart on the ground, hands relaxed on thighs.

Pay attention to your hands. Imagine a ball of energy.  I have a yellow tennis ball, which helps my imagination. If you don’t make pictures in your mind, you can imagine the movement, that’s fine.

Imagine the ball of energy moving from hand to hand, back and forth. Each movement from one hand to the other should take as long as you would take to say the word “relax” slowly.

This process uses both sides of the brain and settles you down. You do this for about thirty seconds. Don’t be concerned about being exact.

Then silently say to your brain, “Just keep doing that for me. Thanks.”

Switch your attention to your nose, to the air moving in and out of your nose. This is all you attend to for the remainder of the time.

As you are a human, you will have thoughts come. Tell them, “Later!” Wave them goodbye.  Don’t take any notice of them (unless something does require immediate action – you left the stove on, the welder is still burning in the garage!).

If you find that you have gone off on a daydream or a train of thought, don’t criticise yourself. Just think, “Thank you.” And go back to breathing through your nose.

At the end of ten minutes, get up, move around.

IN ADDITION:  Once you are used to it you can shorten it to also use at another time of the day. Just do the hand-to-hand for ten seconds and breathe for a minute or two.

SUPER HYPERACTIVE: For the very small number of people who could not possibly sit still for ten minutes – this may not be quite as effective, but -

Do it walking (in a safe place no crossing roads etc.). As you walk, the imagined ball of energy goes from foot to foot with each step for about thirty seconds. You keep your eyes open, preferably fixed on a point just above eye level. Attend to the air moving in and out of your nose. Do this for ten minutes.

Remember to structure this in a way that is safe. It is your responsibility.



Some people find it useful to start with this.  The goal is to extend the time so that you do a twenty minute session each day.

Once you have done the first step of shifting from hand to hand for 30 seconds, begin to form a sound or say a word in your head as you breathe out. A common sound is Om, which you sound deeply as

 “owe ..mmmmm”.

As you do this, imagine that you are making a basic universal sound of harmony, and it reverberates through every part and cell of your body, relaxing, harmonising and healing you.

Some people like to use other words such as Peace, Love, Joy, Shalom, or specifically spiritual phrases such as ‘Christ in me’ or “In The One’. Whatever you choose, it should be something that is relaxing.

The purpose of this is to create a relaxation response, the opposite of stress.  Even if you believe you have no stress, you probably do, and in any case, this is a useful way to strengthen your inner self.

 Meditation of this type supports good mental and physical health.

There is a longer form of self-relaxation. Go here.

There is a free video of relaxation by David Townsend on YouTube in channel David Townsend Hypnosis Expert

 © David Townsend 2014