Activity is what we do.Rest is how we rebuild, restore, and renew.Active rest bridges and unites the two.
Fortunately, waiting on a security line is a near perfect place for using active rest techniques. So if you find yourself freaking out when you're waiting to get through airport security, try this:
1. Be prepared. Have shoes you can take off quickly (this won't be true everywhere; in Korea, as I started taking off my shoes the security officer looked puzzled and said, No, only Americans do that.")Dont bring a bottle of water, but a fruit like an apple or a pear, plus some granola. Get your handy dandy cosmetics and shampoo into tiny containers you find in hotels.
2. Expect things not to work. Weather can make for really long lines, and machines break down. Bring books and magazines you really like, ones that you find entertaining and funny.
3. Despite preparing for number 2 above, treat this as the beginning of a vacation. First, it might be a real vacation.And even if you're a CEO expecting to thumb away at your blackberry for hours (in which case you're probably nowhere near a TSA line) some things in life cannot be controlled. As on a vacation, go with the flow.
So start with mountain pose. Stand straight. Imagine a straight line aligning your ankle, knee, hip, and shoulder. Tuck in your chin and breathe -- just breathe. If you can, make your breathing in half as long as breathing out, and feel your chest move up and out (there's more on rest techniques at therestdoctor.com.)
Now focus on what you want to do that day. What do you want to see? Concentrate on what you look forward to doing, visualizing what it will be like.4. Still nervous? Try paradoxical relaxation, where you pay attention to small differences in muscle tension, paradoxically relaxing the rest of your body. Just feel a small muscle on your head or face, and concentrate on it, feeling and sensing it.5. Now the moment of truth arrives -- the luggage belt and the individual safety screener.Take your time putting everything on the luggage screener. Check your pockets, and take out anything you think might trip up a screener, putting it on a tray.Now stand straight in mountain pose. Feel the strength of the floor coming up through your legs and spine as you breathe. As you're motioned forward, walk proudly through.They want to check you some more? Just breathe deeply. Breathe in to the count of four, out to the count of eight.On my last trip to Berlin, I was taken away to a small room. "Take off your clothes, except for underwear." Perhaps because I'm a doctor it didn't seem that strange, though I wondered what they were looking for. However, I felt quite calm as the security staff was thoroughly professional, if a bit brisk. A few seconds later, "Ah, money belt." I showed them the belt around my waist, and was out in a couple of minutes.6. Do as asked. Remember the security staff is harried, worried, often caught between boredom and fear. Try to think a little like them, as they wonder what they saw on an xray machine or off a monitor. Breathe deeply, and watch.Suddenly, you're out of the line, putting on your shoes. Free! Time to get in a vacation mode as you prepare to board a plane, with its many opportunities to do active rest.
