Using Music

Using Music or Relaxation Tapes*
- Easy mental relaxation

* For 'tape', please also read CD or MP3!

The three tools we have looked at so far in this section are active techniques. You need to concentrate to use them - unfortunately you may, quite legitimately, be too tired at the end of a busy day to want to concentrate on anything.


An alternative approach is to listen to calming music, or to pre-prepared relaxation or hypnosis tapes. It takes no effort on your behalf to listen to these, and this may be very welcome at the end of a long, hard day's work!


Quite obviously, you can buy relaxing music in very many places.


An up-to-date approach is to listen to hypnosis MP3s, for example on an iPod.


Click here to find out about Mind Tools' own relaxation MP3s. Our "Healthy Rest", "Instant Stress Relief" and "Island" MP3s are proving to be very popular as a way of getting 15 minutes of intense relaxation.


Another good source of these is Mind Tools' partner Hypnosis Downloads, who provide the following relaxation and stress management programs:

* The Four Seasons - Relaxation hypnosis
* Boost your energy levels with hypnosis - Stress management hypnosis
* Relieve stress and tension with hypnosis - Stress management hypnosis
* Improve your mood now with hypnosis - Stress management hypnosis

These are instantly available, so you can try them out and see their effectiveness right away.


Similarly, there are many sources of relaxation and self-hypnosis tapes, most of which will be perfectly adequate. Three sources of tapes and CDs are:

* Centerpointe Research Institute, which uses a proprietary audio technology to achieve deep relaxation;
* Relaxation CDs and Tapes, which has clear, well-written reviews of many different relaxation and self-hypnosis tapes with hyperlinks to the stores offering them; and
* RelaxationTapesMusic.com, a store that has tapes of relaxing music and nature sounds