Flight of Fright - How I learned to relax

I hope everybody is having a marvelous holiday.  Tomorrow is the day of giving thanks and eating lots and lots of food.  I am spending my holiday in Nashville with my husband, mother, sister, and brother-in-law.  Here are some pictures from our day today.  I am definitely having a great time.  It is so awesome to relax and enjoy doing absolutely nothing!  A couple of days ago, we flew here from Texas on a tiny express jet through continental airlines.  Did I mention that I hate flying?  Well of course I had that same anxious feeling I always get when I am on a plane.  For some reason I don't trust things that are in the air with nothing below but the sky and the clouds.  Every time that jet would hit any sort of bump, I would start to panic.  I know, I know I am little overly nervous.  But I just can't seem to get over this fear.  I remembered that I had my iPad in my purse and grabbed it during the flight.  I thought, "Since I use relaxation techniques with my clients, why not try them on myself?"  I guess I never thought about actually using music therapy with myself before because I am so used to giving it to others.  My heart was racing and my stomach was way above the plane.  If we dipped one little bit, there went my calmness.  So I turned on some relaxation music and closed my eyes to avoid the night fog outside the window.  After a couple minutes, my hand loosened it's grip on my poor husband's hand.  I started feeling my heartbeat slow down to the beat of the music and I kept my eyes closed.  When there was slight turbulence, I still felt nervous but did not squeeze his hand.  The music really did help my anxiety level and gave a little bit of peace until it was closer to landing time.  The moral of this story is that we as music therapy students, interns, and therapists need to take care of our mind and body just as much as we aim to take care of our clients.  We can reap the tremendous benefits of music just like anyone else.  I will definitely take along my music and headphones for the next trip....which is on Sunday again.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!