Conscious Relaxation, How it Helped Me Survive the Dentist

I don't like going to the dentist. The sounds, the scraping and I swear the hygienist uses that scraper thing as a torture device. But alas it is a place one must go to have healthy teeth and catch any problems before they start. Ayurvedic medicine believes that the health of your mouth affects the health of your body.

When I used to go to the dentist I would leave with such a tension headache. This would be due to the fact that while my teeth are getting cleaned tension slowly creeps into my body. It starts in my neck and works its way down, all the while I'm holding my breath. If I focus on how uncomfortable I am my anxiety will start to increase to the point I feel like I'm going to panic. This is not good.

Since I can't avoid the dentist for the rest of my life, oh what a joy that would be, I must learn to relax. As we all know we can't convince ourselves to relax, we have to teach our bodies how to do so. You can do this through conscious relaxation.

There are quite a few techniques out there on conscious relaxation, below are two of my favorites.

Relaxing each body part. Start with your feet and work up to your head. You can be as detailed here as you want. I generally do feet, calves, thighs, hips, butt, low back, upper back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, upper arms, lower arms, hands, throat, jaw, eyes and head. With each inhale gather up the tension in that area and with each exhale let it go. If you are exposed to a lengthy exposure of stress once you get to your head you may need to start back at the bottom again. For example in the dentist chair I may have to cycle through a few times verse when at home after the dentist one time through should do the trick.

Flooding the body with color and images. Close your eyes and picture your favorite place, a place that you find relaxing. From that picture pick a color. Do the same relaxation technique as relaxing each body part but on the exhale flood that body part with your relaxing color. Once you reach your head see your relaxed self in your favorite place.

These techniques are simple. If the mind begins to wander as you do them, like why is the hygienist trying to dig a hole in my gums, just bring the focus back to the breath. You may have to bring it back several times and that is ok. If you know you are going somewhere that is going to make you tense, it may help to do a bit of relaxation before you go. That way your body and mind will at least have a good head start.