Jacky was in a mega struggle with stress, bill payment problems and the worst of pain flare ups. Her friend Dave had pain too and had done a self management course for pain where he found out about relaxation. He lent Jacky a CD with some relaxation tracks, saying “Give it a go. It really helps. Don’t do all the tracks at once – choose one track and explore it.”
That night, to help her sleep, Jacky followed the relaxed muscle breathing track from the CD. She was drifting off when her mobile phone rang. It was her son saying he’d be late home.
Jacky felt irritated as she was feeling quite soothed and comfortable. So she listened to the same track again and she went back to sleep – even sleeping through her son’s arrival home at 1am.
In the morning Jacky had a sense she was more rested.
Dave rang that day to find out how she had gone on. He was glad to hear that Jacky had a better night.
He suggested that she explore more of the CD and use the guide to relaxation skills sheet: “Find your two or three best tracks and work with them for a few weeks. I use the breathing one at work. No one notices and it is gets me through the busy times on the job.”