Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Whole Minds Healthy Bodies, the podcast. A three sixty health initiative from Aetna exclusively for you, the MTA, where the goal is improving your total health and well-being. So today, we're speaking about relaxation techniques, the hows and the whys. And to help me relay some of these facts to you, I've invited miss Shanti Douglas onto the podcast. You might remember Shanti as she produced a five part meditation series for you all. Please go check that out on the website if you have not. And again, to help us relay some of these facts to you, miss Douglas, how are you today? I am doing absolutely fantastic. Thanks so much for having me back. I super appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me again. And Shanti with relaxation, this is a personal thing to me. So I'm super excited about hearing things that you may share and provide to the MTA. Shanti, my first question would be with relaxation. Why is it so important for workers in high stress jobs like the MTA? Why is relaxation techniques so important? Oh, I love that question because it really gets to the I think one of the most important things, which is the why. Right? If I don't have an understanding or a personal reason myself why I want to do something, I'm probably not going to be doing it. So I see relaxation as an anti stress response. It's really helps us to prepare, to prevent, and to be proactive about how we can show up, pay attention, and really be our best selves through the day. I know the work that you do, that we do here at the MTA is so focused, so driven. There's a lot of pressure that we might feel as we're going through the day, keeping things in balance, being even what we might call hypervigilant to all the circumstances that you have to navigate. And relaxation can help our nervous system and our brain to maintain a level of coherence and connection. So that, again, we can be right here in the present moment with that balanced sense of energy perception and really, how it is that we want to tune into our surroundings. Great. And, you know, with many MTA employees, it's long shifts, little downtime, or, you know, some space in between shifts. What are some quick techniques that they can use on the job, like during the day? Or even? Yeah. Yeah. So lots and lots of things. And, you know, a huge part of my practice is to make sure that we integrate the practice of relaxation or ease or sense of balance, whatever word fits for you. Sometimes even that word relaxation can feel so far away from where I'm at. So whatever works for you. And what we want to do with practices is to integrate them into what we're already doing. If we feel like we have to completely step away from our day, you know, for an hour or two, that just does not seem so manageable. So I wanted to bring a few very easy techniques that you can do, eyes open, wherever you are through the day. All right. You want to get started with some of these? Can we practice them together? Absolutely. Starting with eyes open. Go for it, Shanti. Right. So the first thing, imagine yourself, you're at a stop sign or a stoplight. What are you doing? You're probably Actually waiting. I'm waiting for it to go green. Or if I were to stop sign, I'm probably getting anxious on going. Exactly. You're like, hurry up. Let's get going. I have stuff to do. But what a beautiful opportunity because we have to stop, right? We have to be right there. So let's just be right there. So in that moment, while we're waiting, it's a perfect opportunity to relax our belly. Right? So let's do this right now. Let's just relax our belly. Notice how that body automatically takes in a much deeper breath, which helps us to slow ourselves down. And then we can feel our seat. We can feel our feet. And both of these areas are supports that we have right here and right now. And we know supports that we have right here and right now. And we know and the research is clear that when we feel that we have support, whether they're internal support or external support, it helps us to feel more relaxed and more connected. So at that stop sign, relaxing that belly, eyes open, feeling your seat, feeling your feet. Love that. And something that you said, it was a word that jumped out to me or a phrase I would say, to slow down. And sometimes it can be very difficult in a fast paced environment, the ever moving, the ever changing environment. So, you know, really slowing down and effectively work these relaxation techniques are great. And, you know, for those who may struggle to unwind after a long shift, a long day or a long pause, what are some effective, like, post work routines they can try? This is what I'm waiting for, post work routine. Well, I would say bring in something fun. Do something that you enjoy doing. Do something that's more lighthearted. Something to sort of get your senses invigorated. And when we're curious about things, when we're creative, maybe we have a great hobby that we enjoy, this can help us to naturally move away and let go of the buildup of tension that may come from a very busy, hypervigilant day. So that's something that I find to be really important to have some activities, some things in your world, in your life that, you know, you you enjoy for no other reason to do it just because you enjoy them. Yes. Over the years, I've become much more of an outdoor person. So now, like, that's literally my thing, really to go out regardless of the season, to go out to breathe deep breaths, enjoy a sunny day. Right? So, you know, that that's kind of one of my go tos as well. And it truly, truly helps. It truly, really helps. And sleep can certainly be a challenge for shift workers at the MTA. What are some tips for improving sleep quality even with kind of the irregular schedules that people may be on? Yeah. So one of the things that's important for helping you to decompress from the day goes to what we were just talking about, you know, having something fun, but also making sure that we're incorporating movement through the day. Maybe you want to join a club, a softball team, a volleyball team, you know, pick up a great trail around a park or somewhere. Get outside, explore nature, get a different perspective, broaden that view, get some of that fresh air, let go of those stressors. And all of this can help us to, you know, really unwind from the workday, but also as we navigate into those, sleep conditions that we want. Even if your schedule is, you know, different than the regular nine to five or whatever that may be, we have that opportunity before, you know, after we leave work, before we go to bed to kind of making some movement within our body. This also helps us to relieve some of that stress too, you know, helping to complete that stress cycle by, you know, getting that heart rate up, doing some stretches, doing something that, again, feels really fun and invigorating. Absolutely. Something other than, you know, possibly getting your brain moving and watching television or on your phone. Because those things do not work for me, but to each their own. I I love those techniques as well. And, you know, if someone is listening today to they really wanna start and make relaxation a priority in their lives, what's one simple step that they can start right now to begin this change? Yeah. I would attach it to something else. So we call this in so we call this a stacking practice where, say, every time I walk through a doorway, I feel my feet. Or every time that I sit down, I relax my belly. Or every time that I stand up, I do a micro stretch in my body. So when we can attach a relaxation technique to something that we're already doing, it helps us to remember to do it. And that's really key. That's really important. You might also set a little reminder on your phone for every half an hour just to take thirty seconds or even ten seconds and stretch your body in whatever way would feel good in that moment. Right? Whether it's your neck or your spine or your hands or even, you know, around your eyes because we're looking so much. You know, any of these little micro things that we can do through the day that are connected to something else that we're doing can help us remember to do them. Yes. And all of these micro things, they continuously add up, and they become huge components of change in our lives. So I I really, really love that. And this certainly wraps this episode up. Thank you all for listening to Whole Minds Healthy Bodies, the podcast. A three sixty health initiative from Aetna exclusively for you, the MTA, where the goal is improving your total health and well-being. Don't forget, you can visit wholeandhealthy. Web site for free access to incredible content created by experts just like Shanti Douglas, podcast, webinars and reading materials on topics like sleep, inner peace, nutrition and meditation. Again, exclusively for you, the MTA. And thank you again, Shanti, for joining us. Thanks so much, James. Wonderful. Until next time, everyone. Take care and be well.