Parenting Children's Talents

Quick Relaxation

After your child has mastered the long version of Progressive Muscle Relaxation, he or she can use the following shorthand version to relax muscles quickly.  The description below comes from The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook.  Children like the short version below because it is quick and easy to perform.  For younger children, you can give each tense-relax sequence a funny name to bring humor into the relaxation exercise.

Shorthand Version 

During the shorthand version of progressive muscle relaxation, whole muscle groups are simultaneously tensed and then relaxed.  As before, repeat each procedure at least once, tensing each muscle group from five to seven seconds and then relaxing from fifteen to thirty seconds.  Remember to notice the contrast between the sensations of tension and relaxation.

Curl both fists, tighten biceps and forearms (Charles Atlas pose).  Relax.

Roll your head around on your neck clockwise in a complete circle, then reverse.  Relax.

Wrinkle up the muscles of your face like a walnut:  wrinkle forehead, eyes squinted, mouth open, and shoulders hunched.  Relax.

Arch your shoulders back as you take a deep breath into your chest.  Hold.  Relax.  Take a deep breath, pressing out the stomach.  Hold.  Relax.

Straighten your legs and point your toes back toward your face, tightening your shins.  Hold.  Relax.  Straighten your legs and curl your toes, simultaneously tightening calves, thighs, and buttocks.  Relax.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation: Relax and Enhance Your Brain Power

As I mentioned yesterday, stress limits your mind's ability to think, reason and focus attention.  You can use Progressive Muscle Relaxation to notice and reduce stress.  Progressive Muscle Relaxation requires you to briefly tense and relax muscles from your toes to your head while breathing.  It is a great way to notice what muscle groups are harder to relax.  I have provided below a video from Stress Affect that guides you through the long version of Progressive Muscle Relaxation (takes 10-15 minutes).  Perform the long version each day for one to two weeks before using the short-hand version (takes 1-2 minutes) I will provide you tomorrow.

Always keep in mind, whenever you relax your body, your mind also relaxes and can better process information.

Reduce Stress To Access More of Your Brain

A recent study of medical students by the Weill Medical College at Cornell and Rockefeller University reveals the importance of helping all performers in school, sports, arts and work reduce stress in order for them to access more of their brains.

According to a recent Los Angeles Times article about the study, “ The brains of the stressed gave the inside story: During the attention-shifting task, activity in their prefrontal cortices -- the seat of such functions as attention, task-planning and judgment -- was far lower than that of the non-stressed-out.”  In short, stress limited the students' ability to access the full potential of their brains. 

An important first step to reduce stress as a performer is to notice when you are stressed.  In our highly active lives, we are often not aware of the stress our minds and bodies experience because high stress has become a natural way of life.

To help you and others notice stress, I will post tomorrow a description about how to do “progressive muscle relaxation.”  It is an effective way to relax and, at the same time, notice how and when your muscles tense when under stress.  The ability to notice stress manifested in tense muscles has been an effective trigger for people to use relaxation techniques.  Ultimately, the more you stay relaxed, the more you can use your brain’s executive control center to think effectively.  For now, please read the LA Times article below.

Performance Anxiety: How Improving Balance Can Relieve Children's Anxiety

When children come to me because they are having problems performing in school, sports or the arts, their anxiety is often very visible.  Anxiety is the distress or uneasiness in someone's mind caused by a fear of danger or misfortune.  Sometimes the anxiety can be specific to the problem they face.  On the other hand, some children have high anxiety or uneasiness as a trait that shows up in many parts of their lives.

To address children's performance problems, I often use perceptual motor development activities that improve integrated mind and body functions such as balance and midline awareness.  While these methods are geared toward creating stronger coordination between the mind and body, I notice that they can reduce the stress and anxiety children experience.