James' girlfriend gave him a book and continued, "You can also practice relaxation exercises to prevent stress from building up. That's how I keep myself in a healthy emotional state."

You may want to read the following chapters in the book.

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Simple muscle relaxation(5-10 minutes)Expand
  1. Sit or lie down comfortably in a quiet place. Close your eyes and breathe slowly. Take at least three seconds to breathe in and at least six seconds to breathe out for every breath. Focus on your breathing and your lower abdomen when you breathe until you feel calm and peaceful inside your heart and mind. Say the word "Relax" to yourself whenever you breathe out.

  2. Relax one group of muscles whenever you breathe out after taking a deep breath, and say the word "Relax" to yourself at the same time in the following order:

    Eyes → Forehead → Face → Head → Upper part of your body → Lower part of your body → Whole body

    (That is, take a deep breath, relax your eyes when you breathe out and say the word "Relax" to yourself, take a deep breath, relax your forehead when you breathe out and say the word "Relax" to yourself, and so on.)

    If you cannot relax a group of muscles in a single breath, continue to breathe slowly and say the word "Relax" to yourself whenever you breathe out until that group of muscles is relaxed, and then relax the next group.

Abdominal breathing(5-10 minutes)Expand
  1. Sit or lie down comfortably in a quiet place. Close your eyes. Put one hand on your chest and the other hand on your lower abdomen.
  2. Take at least three seconds to breathe in and at least six seconds to breathe out for every breath. Focus on your breathing; notice the rise of your lower abdomen when you breathe in and the slight contraction in your lower abdomen when you breathe out. Also be aware that there should be little or no movement in your chest. Say the word "Relax" to yourself whenever you breathe out.
  3. Continue until your lower abdomen rises comfortably and effortlessly when you breathe in and contracts slightly when you breathe out. You should feel relaxed when you started to breathe with abdominal breathing.
    • If you are not relaxed enough after finishing the exercise, you can start from step 1 again.
    • Abdominal breathing means breathing mostly with your abdominal muscles.
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Imagery(5-20 minutes)Expand
  1. Sit or lie down comfortably in a quiet place. Close your eyes and breathe slowly. Take at least three seconds to breathe in and at least six seconds to breathe out for every breath. Focus on your breathing and your lower abdomen when you breathe until you feel calm and peaceful inside your heart and mind.

  2. Imagine you are in a beautiful place where you can relax yourself, such as at a forest, a field, the seaside, a lake, or a beach.

    You can play soothing, relaxing music, or nature sounds when you do imagery to help you feel relaxed.

The following guidelines can help you to design the content of your imagery.

  1. Only imagine places and things you like

    You can imagine being at a favourite place and seeing only the things and people you like.

  2. Use all of your five senses

    Imagine what you can hear, feel, smell, and taste if you were in that place besides what you can see.

  3. Avoid being too precise

    For example, you only have to imagine there are birds flying freely in the sky. There is no need to imagine there are three birds, or three seagulls, or three white seagulls flying in the sky.

  4. Avoid rapid changes

    You can imagine yourself strolling along the path to the lakeside after you cross the field, but avoid imagining getting from the field to the lakeside in just a few steps.

  5. Avoid intense actions

    You can imagine yourself walking slowly, walking a small distance with light steps, sitting down, or lying down, but not running, exercising, touching cold water, or stepping on hot sand.
Choose music that is not less than 10 minutes in each song, or that there is no obvious pause and transition between songs.