My ultimate quick full brain reset

If you are struggling to concentrate, or are feeling that your brain has been fully used and needs a break, this is a really quick and effective way of clearing your head so you can get back to that important project you are working on!

My full brain reset is a mix of three techniques: Andrew Huberman's non-sleep deep rest, Feldenkrais' covering the eyes and an adaptation of progressive muscle relaxation. By utilising all three of these techniques at the same time, you can relax deeply and get rid of a lot of tension in a short amount of time.

Step 1: Non-sleep deep rest

First, lie down on a solid surface or hard mattress. You need the solidity to ground yourself and to figure out where your tension is. (Something that is not so easy if you are on a soft surface.) Then close your eyes and focus on your breathing. You should breathe in deeply, then breathe in again without exhaling first, and then exhale in a slow, controlled way. (This method of breathing is called the physiological sigh.) The exhaling part should take longer than the inhaling part.

If you like, you can listen to a guided meditation whilst you do this, but I prefer to do it in silence and focus on my breathing and physical sensations instead. Continue this method of breathing for the whole duration of your relaxation period.

Step 2: Covering the eyes

Now that you are a bit more relaxed and are breathing deeply, cover your eyes with your palms and gently apply pressure to your eyeballs. Tense eye muscles can lead to pain behind the eyes which can then in turn trigger a tension-type headache (Nunez, 2020). To prevent this from happening, relaxing the eye muscles by applying pressure and gently massaging them is very important.

If your eyes feel particularly sore, another eye exercise you can do is to open your eyes and keep your head focused straight on. Then move your eyes slowly and smoothly from left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top and all around in a circle. You want to focus really hard on ensuring smooth, even movement with no skipped visual area where you realise that your eyes have jumped from one scene to the next as this indicates that your eye muscles are tense here. If this happens, try the movement again and see if you can make it any smoother. (Don't worry if you can't do it straight away, it will come with regular practice!)

Step 3: An adaptation of progressive muscle relaxation

The normal method of progressive muscle relaxation involves tensing and then relaxing the muscles, but my method involves just the relaxing part. (Mainly because I am so tense to start with haha.) Whilst resting on the ground, scan your body from head to toe, noticing areas of tension and discomfort. Then try to stretch out those areas and relax them. I have found that learning your own stretching methods by listening to your body can be way more effective than following a generic stretching routine online!

You will know that you have fully reset when your head feels clear and your eyes and body feel free of tension. If you feel a bit too relaxed for getting back to work, do a few star jumps or jog on the spot to increase your energy levels and then get back to the task at hand!

References

Nunez, K. (2020, July 1). "What to Know About an Eyestrain Headache". Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/eye-strain-headache