Responsible gambling - Consumer Affairs Victoria

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Responsible Gambling | Section F: All about you
Consumer Affairs Victoria | consumer.vic.gov.au
Exercise 2 – Building your peaceful place
Practising relaxation can help you get better at being relaxed as you go about day. There are
many ways of practising relaxation and this is just one way.
In this exercise you will build for yourself a peaceful place. When you want to be relaxed, you can
go to this peaceful place in your mind. It is important to only have one peaceful place at a time so
that when you are feeling stressed and want to relax, you are not adding to the stress by having
to decide which peaceful place you will go to! You may wish to record this so you can play it back
whenever you need to.
First, get into a comfortable position – a good idea is to sit in a chair with your feet
flat on the floor – your hands resting on your thighs. Now take a deep breath…And
let it all out…And take another deep breath in, feeling it going right down to your
abdomen and...this time...let out any tensions and anxieties as you breath out. Let
them go. And now, softly breathe in and gently close your eyes…and as you listen to
the sound of my voice, you follow along the guidance offered…knowing at all times
that you are in control.
Now in your mind seek and find…a relaxed place…a relaxed place that you know that
you’ve been to before… and there, you had such perfect relaxation. Now in your mind…
rebuild that scene…using your five senses. First of all…bring in all the sights that
are around you … are you in the open?... is there green grass?… are there flowers?…
is there a forest?…are you on a mountain top?… is there snow?.. or are you inside
a house?… or a special place?…see what’s around you… and now recall and hear
the sounds… can you hear any wind?… or ocean?... or water?. Is anybody saying
anything to you?… and now you just get a sense of that place…like touching… and
feeling ... and smelling … all the things that are around… and from your relaxed place.
You look around… and you either get the sense of, or you see or you feel yourself
being drawn to a magic pathway. It’s a pathway that’s just opening up… and leading
off. Where is it leading to?… is it going up in the air?... is it going to the mountain
tops?… is it going across the sea?. …is it going to another universe?…is it going
through parks and gardens?…or forests?…and as you feel yourself being drawn
along this magic pathway…you go...because you know…whatever is at the end of
this pathway…is just so real for you…so wonderful…so magical… because it is your
Peaceful Place. You are the architect…you are the builder… and you are the owner
of this Peaceful Place... and every time you get to the Peaceful Place you are relaxed
and stress goes. You start building your Peaceful Place by deciding on the floor…
what is it made of?…is the floor in fact grass?…or is it timber?...or is it cloud?…is it
air?…is it glass?...whatever it is you build it. So do that now. And now you build the
walls… in the same way…you choose the material…do you have any walls?, or is it
out in the open?...whatever it is you choose the material and your build it.
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