You can receive many benefits when you practice relaxation techniques. Some of these include lowering your blood pressure, reducing muscle tension, enhancing the immune system, better balance, improved memory and increased energy. It can also potentially improve concentration and cause you to be more efficient in daily activities.

1. Yoga -- is defined by Wikpedia -- its ultimate goal is the attainment of an eternal state of perfect consciousness. I find it to be a great relaxation technique to try. It really seemed to clear my mind by the breathing and concentrated movements. It brings yourself into a state of relaxation by blocking everything out and concentrating on what your body is doing.
2. Tai-Chi -- This type of relaxation technique is something that I have never tried. MayoClinc.com describes --Tai chi as a noncompetitive, self-paced system of gentle physical exercise. To do tai chi, you perform a defined series of postures or movements in a slow, graceful manner. Each movement or posture flows into the next without pausing.
3. Music -- We know how music can induce many emotions to surface. Emotions from the past for instance, can't some songs just bring you back to how you felt in that past moment? It makes sense to me that forms of music can calm and relax.
4. Exercise -- This relaxation technique can mean anything from cardio, weight training and low impact exercises. It really depends on the individual, some will get lots of stress relief when a training consists of higher impact workouts. Don't forget walking -- its one thing we can all try to do more of.
5. Meditation -- I'm no expert on meditation but I have listened to a few relaxation technique tapes after my breast cancer diagnoses. It seemed to help me relax. I never stuck with it though for some reason. I look at meditation as something that can be found in your own special way. I thought you had to just sit still and listen to music and try not to think -- not a very simple task as I'm sure we all know. I find a nice bath with a book and glass of wine as my form of mediation. You can find yours too.
6. Hypnosis --Again this type of relax technique is one that I have never experienced. It is said to be able to put a person into a deep relaxation stage very quickly and can relieve stress.
7. Massage -- This technique I'm happy to say that I indulge. Especially foot massages, it relaxes my whole body. Its a way to give yourself a much needed gift.

Remember before doing any exercises or relaxation techniques please talk to your doctor to make sure its safe -- especially if you have any medical conditions.

I'm just waiting for the call -- the call that prompts my first visit with any number of newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients who want someone to lend an ear, a shoulder, and a few good tips for steering through a scary journey.

I am a new American Cancer Society Reach to Recovery volunteer, trained this past Saturday and ready to help others who are slipping into the shoes I started wearing two years ago. I was first a recipient of this program -- designed to match new breast cancer patients with veteran survivors through face-to-face visits -- and I know well the comfort that comes from the support of someone not so overwhelmed by cancer. So now it's my turn to offer the comfort. And I am oh so ready.

I am armed with literature, communication techniques, gift bags for my patients, and my own official volunteer pin. And while I am a bit anxious about how my first meeting will go, I learned on Saturday that my mere presence will be enough to calm the women whose lives I am about to touch.

There is no better vision for someone just diagnosed with breast cancer than a healthy, happy woman who happens to be surviving the same disease. And so it is hope that I will spread and my unspoken portrayal of life after cancer that will inspire these women. My words will be icing on the cake. It's me these women want to see. And it's these women I want to see as I begin to reach to recovery -- a recovery I suspect will largely be my own.

A plant-based diet plentiful in vegetables, fruits and whole grains, combined with stress management techniques, slowed or stopped the spread of prostate cancer, according to a pilot study conducted by University of California San Diego Moores Cancer Center researchers. A diet with less meat, dairy products and refined carbohydrates was encouraged.

During the six-month study, results found nine out of 10 men had a reduction in their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) rates.

To reduce stress, the study participants were taught meditation, yoga and tai chi exercises. When the six-month study was completed, four out of 10 men experienced an absolute reduction in their PSA levels. You can read the abstract concerning this study, Potential Attenuation of Disease Progression in Recurrent Prostate Cancer Progression With Plant-based Diet and Stress Reduction here. You can access the entire study for a fee.

When a question or concern or worry related to breast cancer pops into my head, I typically find myself parked in front of my computer in search of instant answers, instant comfort, instant wisdom. There are several different websites I consult -- each one different from the others, each one complementing the others. They are my reference tools, my handbooks, my encyclopedias. They offer me a clear picture of a confusing, cloudy disease. And here they are -- seven super websites that have been become staples in my life.

There's a bit of breast cancer news in just about every magazine out there -- news about treatments and protocols and studies, news about celebrity diagnoses, news about lives lost to breast cancer and lives conquering breast cancer, news that is scattered here and there and everywhere. But now, there is a magazine all about breast cancer -- and just about breast cancer. All sorts of breast cancer wisdom is conveniently packaged into one slick, glossy publication that debuted on newsstands yesterday, September 19.

Beyond: Live & Thrive After Breast Cancer is a semi-annual publication from Meredith Special Interest Media, part of the Meredith Corporation -- a leading media and marketing company and home to magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies' Home Journal, Parents, and Fitness. Meredith's new breast cancer venture provides women living with the disease -- and those who may one day encounter it -- with support and with the latest information on treatment and recovery.

The Fall/Winter 2006 premiere issue of Beyond features a cover story about Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, a survivor forging ahead into a life beyond breast cancer. Also filling the pages are inspiring real-life profiles and stories, nutritional advice, up-do-date medical information, fashion tips, the Pink Pages -- a resource guide that details upcoming races and products that support breast cancer -- and much more.

Behind the scenes of this issue is an advisory board of leading experts in the breast cancer field. Experts include Susan Brown, the health manager at Susan G. Komen Foundation; Carolyn M. Kaelin, director of Comprehensive Breast Health Center and breast cancer survivor; and Lillie Shockney, Administrative Director at Johns Hopkins Breast Cancer.

If there is one theme common to women surviving breast cancer, it must be the desire to live beyond the control of this life-threatening and life-changing illness, to recapture an existence that resembles something normal, to embark on a journey outside the confines of cancer. Tips, techniques, strategies, and inspiration for accomplishing these feats are printed on the pages of this new magazine that is sure to reach its intended audience -- that today includes two million women who are living with breast cancer.

When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer almost two years ago, my greatest fear was losing my hair. The fear was consuming, painful, over-the-top. That was long ago -- and I survived. I can look back now and realize that the panic about losing my hair was such a small-scale fear -- compared to what I fear now. Now I fear a recurrence of cancer. And it's a whole lot more disabling than a little worry about being bald.

I have a few techniques for settling my fears when they get out of control. Sometimes I take deep breaths. Sometimes I distract myself and occupy my mind with something more pleasant than anxiety -- like writing, exercising, playing with my little boys. And sometimes I read about others who have come before me and have handled the same distress I sometimes feel about cancer taking up residence in my body again. Mostly I learn from stories of other women who have survived breast cancer. And I learn that I can handle the fear, that I can handle cancer if it does come back. And the women I find most inspiring are those who have had a recurrence -- or two or three -- and who still manage to happily tackle the life they have in front of them. They give me hope that if a recurrence comes my way, I too can conquer it. And here are seven snippets of hope from the book Hope Lives! The After Breast Cancer Treatment Survival Handbook -- from women who keep on surviving breast cancer.

Makeup artist Lori Ovitz has taken her twenty years of cosmetics experience in making celebrities and top models look beautiful, and written Facing the Mirror with Cancer, a book of tips and techniques to help cancer patients look less tired and create a natural glow at a time when cancer treatments can take a physical toll.

Ovitz began volunteering at University of Chicago hospitals working with cancer patients to teach them how to enhance their personal appearance using makeup. According to Ovitz, "Makeup is a very accessible, inexpensive way to make significant changes to your appearance. The tremendous gratitude that I've received from each patient I've worked with inspired me to write Facing the Mirror with Cancer -- A Guide to Using Makeup to make a Difference."

To publish her book, Ovitz and her husband Bruce, a 35 year cancer survivor, created Belle Press -- named to honor the memory of her grandmother Belle Michel -- so that 50 percent of the profits from the book could go to cancer research.

"Cancer does not have to rob you of self-esteem or beauty. By teaching cancer patients how to apply makeup, I've seen firsthand what an incredible transformation occurs in their appearance and how much better they feel about themselves. I've written this book because I want to reach cancer patients everywhere so they can learn the tricks of my trade," Lori Ovitz states with assurance.

You can order Facing the Mirror with Cancer, a 200-page book featuring step-by-step tips and techniques for dealing with appearance issues during cancer treatment and beyond, here.

Diana Dyer was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer, when she was six months old. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 34. She was diagnosed with a second breast cancer ten years after the first. Each cancer was treated by conventional medicine and included combinations of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But because her cancer kept returning, Diana realized that for her, something other then treatment was necessary to sustain her through a long life. So she considered a healthy recipe for living -- a blend of traditional medicine and alternative methods too -- and she implemented a holistic approach to healing into her personal world. She has not had a recurrence since 1995 -- and she credits this to the changes she's made in her life. She has tipped the scales in her favor, she believes, and she shares her approach with others who want to begin a journey toward recovery and healing after cancer.