What can you substitute for a massage if you can’t have one? 5 ways to relax your body and muscles

What can you substitute for a massage if you can’t have one? 5 ways to relax your body and muscles

You won’t need to leave the house to do this – everything you need will surely be at your fingertips.

PhD in medical sciences, doctor of integrative, preventive and conventional medicine, nutritionist.

How to relax muscles without massage?

Breathing practices

Breathing helps you relax and take away anxiety. Perhaps the best effect is given by the exercise Sama Vritti Pranayama (even breathing), the essence of which is to make equally long inhalations and exhalations. To perform this exercise you should sit comfortably and breathe through the nose. Counting should be conducted so that the inhalations and exhalations always end with the same number.

You can complicate this exercise by adding a pause after the cycle “inhalation-exhalation”. The breathing exercise should be done for at least five minutes two to three times a day.

Meditation

With the help of meditation you can get rid of anxiety, relax the body and muscles, cope with stress.

Meditate in a quiet place, taking a comfortable position and concentrating on the process, without distracting yourself with extraneous thoughts. Specialized audio and video materials will help.

About one of the ways that will suit even beginners, read in the article at the link.

Baths with English salt

Salt, also called magnesium sulfate, is extracted from mineral sources. It consists of sulfur, magnesium, oxygen and water. This combination of elements helps to cleanse cells from toxins, fills the deficiency of magnesium in the body, helps to relax, relieve tension in the muscles, improves the nervous and cardiovascular system.

Bath should be taken no more than 15-20 minutes in a sitting position. The water temperature should be +36…+38°C.

Deep muscle relaxation

Tension is one of the main companions of stress. Practicing relaxation allows you to feel the difference between different muscle states and learn to relax them faster.

You should assume the most comfortable position and start to tense and relax the muscles of the whole body in sequence. For example, first engage the muscles of the legs for 5-10 seconds, then release the tension and wait for 15-20 seconds. And then move on to another muscle group, thus working the whole body.

Art therapy

This is one of the simplest, but at the same time effective ways to relieve emotional tension. That, in turn, will have a positive effect on the physical state. And the ability to draw for art therapy is not necessary at all.

You can buy or download from the Internet coloring or painting by numbers. This activity will help you relax, get rid of anxiety and obsessive thoughts. You can draw something of your own, depicting the problem that currently worries you – so all the negativity will go from your head to paper.

Read more about the benefits of art therapy in the material at the link.