We don't realize it but we're straining a lot of our muscles by doing everyday things like sitting at a desk, bending down to pick something we've dropped and even cooking and cleaning. If you work out at the gym, you're straining your muscles even more.
And stretching your body can only help so much. Besides, stretching can itself feel a little painful, even if it ends up making you feel better later. So there's nothing like soaking in your tub after a long day.
The Beneficial Effects of a Bath
Soaking in your tub is pleasurable in and of itself. Plus, it ensures that you go to bed feeling wonderfully relaxed. And you'll also wake up feeling refreshed after a good night's sleep. So soaking in your tub can overall help to improve your health and wellbeing.
The Effect of Water Plus Heat
Your muscles automatically relax when immersed in hot water. Part of the reason behind this is that water stretches your muscles out, having the same effect as yoga, without all the strain.
The other reason why you end up feeling relaxed is the heat. Whenever someone has strained or sprained a muscle, doctors often prescribe the use of heat pads or hot water bottles to relax that muscle. You get the same effect all over your body when you soak in a hot tub.
Using Progressive Relaxation in the Tub
If you want to enhance the relaxation effect, try some progressive relaxation. This involves focusing on each part of the body, one by one and relaxing that part individually.
- You can start with your face—your forehead, your eyes, your cheeks and your chin.
- Move to your arms. Start with your fingers, move to your wrists, then your forearms, your elbows, your upper arms and your shoulders.
- Then move to your legs—your toes, your feet, the soles of your feet, your ankles, your calves, your shins, your knees, your thighs and your backside.
- Finally, you can move to your torso—your lower abs, your upper abs, your sides, your back, your upper back and your chest.
The more you can subdivide your body into smaller parts and focus on each part, the more relaxed you will feel at the end. If you feel like you can't consciously relax each part of your body, just focus on that part and it will relax automatically.
Contact us for more relaxation and meditation techniques in your tub.