Sweet talkin’ guy

Relax. Let your mind go blank. It’s a tall order for me, with lots of squeaky, needy voices in my head all talking at once like an ill-disciplined Zoom call. I need someone else’s calm, comforting voice in my ears.

When I was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s, the second thing my doctor encouraged me to do (after exercise) was to find ways to relax. She told me that anxiety and lack of sleep would fuel my symptoms, so any way to reduce them would be helpful.

I was sceptical – I’d found other tracks where the voices were irritating or the music too tutti-flutey. I can’t remember how I found the soft, Scottish voice of Andrew Johnson – but the moment I pressed Play, I knew he was The One. 

Favourite place

Andrew has been helping people relax, meditate and be mindful for more than 25 years. This is my favourite sequence:

Progressive relaxation: The guided tour of the body from the toes upwards, softening muscles one by one. There’s always a little frisson of excitement when I know he is about to say ‘Shoulders’.

Diaphragmatic breathing:  Big, deep breaths into the abdomen. Also really useful for running, Qigong, and playing the tenor horn.

Visualisation: Then I’m to imagine I’m standing on a balcony, with stairs leading down. For me, this balcony is in Riva del Garda in Italy. He counts me down each step from 10 to 1.

At the bottom of the stairs, Andrew invites me to open the door to my favourite place of relaxation. In an instant, I have travelled nearly 7,000 miles from Italy to Tafika camp in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley. This was our home on safari.

I’m not sure quite why I’m so relaxed, given how close lion and elephant pass by on the the other side of rush walls, and hippos in the river are laughing manically. But relaxed I am. It’s warm. I can go there any time. Beam me up, Scotty.

Easy on the ear

With podcasts or audiobooks I can relax and learn at the same time if the voice is easy on the ear and doesn’t distract from the content. My current favourite is the historian David Olusoga.

My friend Jo Allen says:

“I could listen to Stanley Tucci read the telephone directory.”

I couldn’t oblige but I have found him mixing a cocktail.

Who are your favourite famous voices – male and female – and why? Let me know in the Comments below.

Play > Visualisation > How to Relax > Andrew Johnson

I was going to give you the Chiffons’ Sweet Talkin’ Guy, but to be honest he’s not awfully nice to have around, apart from a few flowers. Here’s Andrew’s Visualisation sequence, now available as part of 8 Essential Life Skills on the Relax. Change. Create app.