Relaxation for Rejuvenation:
How to unwind at days end and prepare for a good night sleep.
Slow down your activities by finishing phone calls, major work projects and emails, etc. earlier in the night and take the last hour or two before bed to read, do some relaxation breathing, take a bath, give your partner a massage (even if it is just a foot massage), do your nails, steam your face or try a relaxing hobby you would enjoy that is not too stimulating (reading, artistic painting, journalling).
Have a scented candle burning this time of the night. Studies have shown that a pleasant smell will relax you and the scent increases satiety in the brain so that you do not feel as hungry or crave sweets (scent is linked closely to taste/appetite). The best ones have non-lead wicks and a soy or non-paraffin base wax so they do not add toxins to the air.
Body care at night is healthy and relaxing especially if you use natural products with herbs and essential oils.
A short
dry brushing routine is so good. This will aid the immune system by moving lymph while it tones the skin and helps with cellulite (ask us for our simple instructions). Your brush should have natural bristles like the ones we offer in the center.
A warm bath can be very relaxing especially if you have a candle, or incense, burning and lower the lights while doing some deep breathing. It can also be a way to moisturize or gently detoxify the body. If you are using a bath salt, this will pull toxins out through the pores of the skin while essential oils (contained in our salt scrubs) penetrate the skin and go into the bloodstream to calm and sooth the skin and nervous system.
If you do not have time for a bath you can get the same wonderful, healthy experience from your doing your own little salt scrub, similar to the big expensive spas. It will scrub way excess skin while the salt pulls out toxins allowing the immune system a little break. The essential oils not only leave the just polished skin feeling soft but since the oils are small enough to penetrate into the pores their many healing properties will work with the skin and body.
Lying down or sitting in your favorite chair to read is a great way to unwind in the evening. This will prepare your body for sleep, educate you on something new and be much better than TV since TV stimulates your brain due to all the "changing" pictures, etc. Any stimulation is considered a slight stress and will not lower cortisol or prepare you for that deep sleep.
Placing a warm compress over the shoulder or abdomen automatically relaxes you. You can find them with refreshing herbs that smell great in most health foods stores or on the Internet. This is also great for muscle pain or menstrual cramps.
Having warm herbal tea (or cool in the summer) is great as long as there is no caffeine. This can be a treat instead of soda, or just plain water, and will serve to relax you even more.
Try a 4-8 oz. protein shake an hour or so before bed. This can be in juice, water or rice/almond milk. This will help stabilize your blood sugar throughout the night so you go into a deeper REM sleep (dream and remember them better) and your body can rebuild better so you feel more refreshed in the morning. This will also aid in burning fat better overnight, if this is your goal.
When you finally hit the sheets, lay a relaxing eye pillow over your eyes as your drift off. More than providing just a relaxing scent the weight of the pillow on the eyeballs slows REM (rapid eye movement). This allows the brain to relax even deeper ensuring you go into your slowest brain wave patterns of Theta and Delta where healing regeneration take place.
If you consistently have trouble falling asleep, check out the website www.brainsync.com for special relaxing CDs. These CDs will use sound waves that actually take your highly stressed brainwaves from a beta wave down to a more relaxing alpha wave then to a theta and all the way to a delta wave. The delta wave is the slowest (this is where deep sleep and healing/regeneration begins). You need to wear headphones to get the proper affect but these CDs can allow you to fall asleep faster and go into a deeper sleep. The proof in the morning is that you will feel more refreshed and remember your dreams better! They can also be used for a break in day to revive you or during your prayer time to relax or "listen" to what God may want to say to you.
And if you want to wake up with less toxins, perhaps less pain and more energy, make those 8 hours work for you by trying detoxifying foot pads.
They are simple to use, effective and really compliment any of the detox programs we offer at The Rejuvenation Center. The ones we offer at the center are much stronger than most out on the market. They use a special a special bamboo bark to pull toxins through the skin of the feet while you sleep (ask us for more information on these).
If you have any questions on what you read or if you would like to know how to get any of the products mentioned in this article feel free to contact us at 717-569-3040.
