Free English Class! Topic: Relaxing! ☀️☁️🌊 (Lesson Only)

Well hello everyone and welcome to this English lesson about

relaxing. I was looking through the topics of past lessons and

I think I did a lesson on stressful things. I think I did

a lesson on good things and bad things. But I'm not sure I've

ever done a lesson on relaxing. In this English lesson I'll

talk about the kinds of things you can do in order to relax.

There are plenty of things you can do that are stressful in

life. But it should be a priority to every once in a

while do something that helps you relax. If you're unfamiliar

with the word relax or relaxing when you relax it means you

calm down. It means you try to have a bit of time where things

are peaceful. So in this English lesson I'll talk about

a number of words and phrases that we use. To talk about the

different things you can do to relax. Relaxing is I think the

most important thing to do. But it's the thing we often forget

to do. So one again welcome to this English lesson about

relaxing. Get a massage. Now there are a number of different

types of massages. A massage is when another person rubs your

skin. This is what's called a hand massage you can get a

massage from a professional or you can get a massage from

maybe your spouse. When my neck is sore or when I have a

headache Jen will sometimes give me a neck massage. Or

she'll just kind of give me a bit of a head massage. That

sometimes helps me to relax. A massage is a very pleasant

experience. It's a very nice thing to have. Um I've never

had a professional massage. I've never gone to a spa for a

massage. But certainly if you want to relax one of the things

that you can do is you can get a massage. This felt really

nice by the way. Maybe I should do this more often during my

live streams. So that my neck doesn't get tight. So I don't

feel all kinds of stress in my neck and in my head. But

anyways one of the things you can do to relax get a massage.

This is something I do to relax. I read a good book. Now

usually I don't do this during the week. I usually do this on

the weekend. Uh but if you have a good book to read you should

do that. The last book I read was called Out of the Dark by

David Weber. And it's a story about Aliens Invading the

Earth. As many of you know I love science fiction so I read

science fiction quite a bit. Um so that was a great book. I

finished it. Now I'm reading a book called Into the Light by

David Weber. It's part two. Book two. So if you want to

relax if you have some time find a nice place to sit and

read a good book. Always enjoyable to read a story to

help you kind of forget about life for a while. Drink a cup

of tea. Now this might be different for you. You might

want to drink a cup of coffee. You might want to drink a cup

of hot chocolate. You might want to drink a cup of tea.

When you drink a cup of tea. Especially in the winter. Like

it's winter here right now. We did get snow last night. It's

very nice to have a warm or hot drink we would call it. So sit

down. Maybe the tea smells nice. Maybe you're drinking an

herbal tea. And it's not just taste of the tea that's helping

you relax but the smell of the tea. Jen drinks peppermint tea

and the smell of peppermint and the taste of the tea both help

her relax. Um but certainly having a nice cup of tea is a

good idea. Um it certainly helps me to relax. Sometimes at

work I will stop and take a break and have a cup of tea.

Notice I'm saying drink a cup of tea and have a cup of tea.

You can say both. Oh I'm going to have a cup of tea. Oh

I'm going to drink a cup of tea before I go to work. Take a

warm bath. So there's something about warm water that helps us

relax. There's something also again about the smells of the

soaps that you might use. But if you were to fill a tub with

warm or hot water and then sit in there. Um the warmth of the

water helps your muscles to relax. And it helps your whole

body to relax. I don't often take baths. I think in North

America it's more common to take a shower. Showers where

the water shoots on your head from a a faucet. Or a shower

head sorry. Um I think because showers are quicker. But if you

take a warm bath sometimes in the winter on the weekend I

might take a warm bath and it's just a very very relaxing

feeling. You sit in the warm water and it just makes you

feel really really nice. Makes you feel relaxed. Take a walk.

Especially if you can take a walk outside. For me one of the

best ways to relax is to take a walk. Or in English we

sometimes say go for a walk. I like to go for a walk. Now for

me there's two kinds of walking. I walk for exercise

but I also walk for pleasure or I walk for fun. When I say take

a walk. I'm talking about the kind of walk you take for fun.

In English we might call it a stroll. Go for a stroll. If you

can do this in nature. If you can do this somewhere where you

can see trees and where you can see maybe some wild animals not

the dangerous guide. If you can take a walk outside you'll get

some fresh air. In English we often say it's important to get

some fresh air every once in a while. But if you can take a

walk. Go for a walk. Enjoy the outdoors a little bit. Put on

some comfy clothes. Now the word comfy is an informal

English word and it's short for comfortable. Put on some

comfortable clothes. When I go to work I wear shirts with

collars. I wear what are called dress pants or casual dress

pants. I don't wear jeans and a T-shirt when I go to work. But

I find wearing jeans with a T-shirt very comfortable.

Sometimes I'll wear a hoodie as well. That's a sweatshirt with

a hood on it. So when I come home from work in order to

relax a little bit I get chain I put on some comfy clothes. I

put on jeans. I put on a T-shirt and I usually put on a

hoodie in the winter because it's a little colder out. Um

and that just helps me to relax. Let's say you have a job

where you have to wear a dress. Or you have to wear a suit and

tie. Those are nice clothes to wear during the day but it's

very nice to come home and put on some comfy clothes so that

you can relax a little bit. So put on an old your your old

favorite sweater put on some big warm socks whatever you

need to do put on the kinds of clothes that help you to relax

a little bit put on some comfy clothes listen to music. Now

this is a pretty common one. Music has a magical effect on

us. There are different types of music. Some music makes us

excited. Some music makes us feel sad. Some music makes us

feel happy. Some music though can calm us down and help us

relax. For me that would be something like classical music.

Classical music is a very beautiful way to relax if you

like classical music. Um if you like the music played by an

orchestra do that. Um just take some time sit somewhere

comfortable and listen to some music. Um and you can do this

with headphones as well. And by the way you can combine some of

these. You can put a radio on playing nice music while you

have a warm bath. You can drink a cup of tea while listening to

music. All of those things will help you relax. So we have this

interesting term in English. Comfort food. Comfort food is

usually food we eat in the winter. That's usually warm and

when I think of comfort food I usually think about something

like soup or stew and homemade bread. For me that's the kind

of food on a January day that makes me feel relaxed. When I

come in from outside if it's minus 5° outside. And I come in

and have some stew. Stew is a thick soup by the way. This is

Um when I come in and have some stew and maybe Jen or I have

made a loaf of fresh bread homemade bread. To me that just

makes me relax. I would call that comfort food. Comfort

food. It's very very very delicious. Um I love it. It's

very tasty and very very delicious. Meditate. When you

meditate you sit somewhere. It can be in your house. It can be

out on a dock by a lake. You sit somewhere and you try to

empty your mind of all of your thoughts. You try to think

maybe of just one thing. Maybe you sit and think about a tree.

Or you sit and think about the sun. Or you try to think about

nothing at all which is very difficult. Um I'm not a

professional meditator if that's a term. But I do

sometimes value just sitting maybe staring at one thing. Or

sitting and closing my eyes and just kind of letting all of the

stress of the day go away. And just think about happy things.

Think about happy thoughts. So meditation is then a relaxing

of the mind. And there are ways to learn how to do it well. I

think someday I should take a class to learn how to meditate

well. How to do meditation well. Go to a spa. So again

I've never been to a spa. Um a spa is a place where you can

they can you know do things for your skin. Like maybe you put

on mud and then you go and hot bath. Maybe you sit and get a

face massage or a head massage. Uh maybe you go in a hot tub

which is very relaxing as well. Um but a spa is usually a place

you go. Sometimes for a day or for a weekend. Where the entire

point of going is to do things that relax you. Maybe you'll

sit in a warm bath with candles. Maybe you'll sit in a

hot tub like I mentioned. But definitely some probably next

time I'm really stressed maybe Jen and I should go to a spa

for a day but they're kind of expensive. I just mentioned sit

in a hot tub. Some Canadians have what's called a hot tub.

It looks like this. It has lots of hot water in it and then

there are jets that you can turn on to make the water move

around really fast. This can be very relaxing. It can make your

muscles simply because there's this you know it's almost like

the water massages you. Like the water's moving so quickly

that it helps you to feel relaxed and enjoy your time

there. Um I don't have a hot tub. I wish I had a hot tub.

One of my colleagues has a hot tub and he really enjoys it.

Because he is getting older but he still likes to play sports.

And after he plays sports the next day his muscles are very

sore. He likes to play tennis in badminton. And so he likes

to go in his hot tub after the day after he plays a game

because it helps his muscles to relax. Uh buy a hammock or have

a nap in a hammock. A hammock is this. It's something you

hang between two trees or from a tree or between two poles.

And it's just a place to go outside. And to lay and read a

book or to lay in it and have a nap. We do not have a hammock.

I might ask for a hammock for my birthday next year. Um it

might be a fun thing to have. And we can attach it to a tree.

And then on a lazy Sunday afternoon I can go lay in the

hammock and read a book. That would be fun. So the sun comes

up in the morning sunrise and it goes down in the evening

sunset. And watching the sunrise or watching the sunset

can be very relaxing. It can be very enjoyable. I think

sometimes we forget how amazing it is that we live on a planet

that turns and and it orbits the sun and the sun comes up

and the sun comes down. Um and it's good to reconnect with

nature. It's good to reconnect with the fact that we live on

an amazing rock in the middle of space. So take some time.

Get up early. If that's the thing you can do. If you're a

good person if you're good at getting up early and go out and

watch the sunrise. Or if you have trouble getting up early

watch the sunset at night. Just two very beautiful times of the

day. I prefer sunrise. Very very cool. Sleep in. If you

want to relax you can always sleep in. You can just stay in

bed in the morning longer than you normally would. Jen and I

sometimes sleep in a little bit on Saturday and Sunday because

I don't have to go to work. Um but certainly sleeping in is a

great way to relax. Put away your phone. So these things are

super handy. This is probably the coolest tool that humans

have ever invented. But they can also be quite stressful

because they're constantly buzzing or ringing. Or maybe

you just look at social media too much. So putting away your

phone. Just coming home and taking your phone out of your

pocket and putting it somewhere else for the evening can be

relaxing. Or even trying to go a whole weekend without using

your phone. Although I think I would really have trouble doing

it. It's that's a challenging one isn't it? To put away your

phone. But it would be relaxing. But I might be

stressed because my kids can't text me then and let me know

where they are and what they're doing. I'm going to try it. I

don't know if it's going to go well. Maybe it'll be the

opposite. Maybe it would be stressful. Build a fire. So

humans for some reason most humans enjoy sitting around a

fire at night. Now depending on the time of year this can't

work very well. Jen and I actually had a fire last

weekend and we didn't sit around it. We just had a little

fire outside for fun. Um but when you build a fire and you

watch the flames in the fire. And you watch them flicker and

you watch the flames go up and down and the smell of the of

the wood burning. All of that can be very relaxing. I think

there's something primal about it. The English word primal

means like how we used to live a thousand years ago. Um there

was a time where humans always had fire because we used it to

cook and we used it for warmth. And I think that it's just very

relaxing to listen to a fire the the wood pops and crackles

and you can smell the smoke and you can smell the wood burning.

So have a fire. Build a fire. Enjoy it. Spend some time

alone. So this is one that I really enjoy. Obviously when

you spend some time alone you can meditate. But because I

have a job where I'm surrounded with people all day. And

because I have five children. Um life can seem very busy.

There's a lot of people around me. So sometimes I just need a

little bit of time alone. Most of the time I get my time alone

by driving. So if one of my kids needs to go somewhere I

drive them there. And then when I home by myself. It's just

some I just get some time alone. I can just think about

things. When I go for a walk in the morning I get to have a

little bit of time alone which we also call me time by the

way. So in English if someone says I need more me time

they're saying they need to spend some time alone. They

also could just be saying they need to do something that's fun

for them. I'm going to go shopping because I need some me

time. I'm going to go to the because I need some me time. So

spending some time alone getting a little bit of me time

can be very very enjoyable. So Jen made me add this one. Do a

puzzle. This is something Jen does to relax. We usually have

a puzzle on the go in our back room throughout the winter. We

have a table in the backroom of our house where Jen usually is

doing a puzzle at any given time during the winter. During

the summer she's too busy. But she likes to do puzzles because

they help her relax. They don't help me relax. They I find

puzzles a little bit stressful because I can't find the pieces

and I want to I think I'm too motivated get it done. But Jen

just likes finding the pieces and finding where they go and

putting them in place. So do a puzzle. Look at the stars. So

we had you know watch the sunrise or watch the sunset.

You can also just go lay outside at night in the grass

and look at the stars or look at the moon. For me this is

very relaxing. Um I don't know what it's like where you live.

Where I live it's very dark at night because I live out in the

countryside. So if I lay in the grass at night and look up at

the stars I can see them very very well. Um it's very clear.

Um it's very dark. It's very easy for me to see the stars.

So you want to relax. Um get a blanket. Throw it down in the

lawn. Lay down on your back at night and look at the stars.

Very very relaxing. And you can do the same thing during the

day. You can look at the clouds. This is a fun thing to

do with kids. Because sometimes the clouds look like different

things. You could say oh that cloud looks like a cat. That

cloud looks like a potato. But most clouds look like mashed

potatoes don't they? But anyways do the same thing. Go

to the park. Bring a blanket. Lay the blanket down. Lay on

your back. And watch the clouds go by. That's another way we

say it. Or look at the clouds. Daydream. So daydreaming is

similar to meditation. Um but it's a little more relaxing I

think. Maybe. Is that a good way to describe it? Daydreaming

is when you just think about whatever you feel like thinking

about. It also usually means you're not thinking about what

you're supposed to be. Thinking about. Sometimes students in

class will be day dreaming. They're not listening to me.

They're not doing their work. They're just kind of lost in

their own thoughts. And they're thinking about maybe their new

phone or they're thinking about what they're doing later that

day. Um or they're thinking about their future. Or they're

remembering something fun that happened the weekend before. Um

so Daydreaming. Just a time to think about whatever and to not

be stressed to relax a little bit. Smell some flowers. Again

when I think about relaxing I do often think about things in

terms of smells. It's nice to smell a fire. It's nice to

smell the soap from a warm bath. It's nice to smell yummy

food cooking. It's also really nice to smell flowers. This is

lavender. Lavender has a beautiful aroma. It's a

beautiful smelling flower. So take some time if there are

flowers available in the season you in. For me I have to go to

a special store to smell flowers right now because it's

winter. I have to go smell flowers that have been imported

from somewhere. But if you can smell some flowers. We usually

keep some dried lavender in the house so we can just go and

smell that because it keeps its smell even when it's dried. But

go and smell some flowers. Listen to the ocean. Um you

don't just have to listen to the ocean. You can listen to

any kind of running water or moving water. I think this is

similar to listening to a fire. When you hear waves crashing

into the shore. When you hear a babbling brook or a running

stream. When you hear the sound of water it's very relaxing.

It's very soothing. So if you can go to the lake. Go to an

ocean. Um go to a lake or the lake. If there's a specific

lake go to the ocean. Uh go to a local stream or creek where

you can hear Um go to a waterfall. You can listen to

the thundering water. Uh but certainly the sound of water is

amazing and is very helpful for relaxing. A hug or cuddle. So

the difference between a hug and cuddling. When you hug

someone it looks like this. You walk up you put your arms

around each other and you give each other a hug. They've

proven that when you hug someone it does physically make

you feel better. I think different things are in your

brain that make you feel relaxed and loved when you give

someone a hug. A cuddle is a little bit different though.

Cuddling is when you sit in the same place as someone and they

sit close to you. Jen and I can cuddle while we watch a movie.

That means Jen and I are sitting very close. I would

probably have my arm around her. You can also have a kid

who wants to cuddle. When kids are very very little. They like

to sit with adults. They like to sit with their parents. So

you might sit and have a kid cuddle with you. They sit with

you or right beside you. One of my kids when they were little

when they were four or five they would sit no matter where

I sat they would sit right beside me and then they would

try to snuggle or cuddle. So anyways definitely something

that will make you relax. Give someone a hug today. An

appropriate hug. Not some random person. Someone either

your spouse or someone who would be expecting it. Uh so

some people like to burn incense or light a candle. When

you do either of these things it kind of creates an aroma. It

creates a nice smell in the area. I'm not someone who

normally burns incense but I had a friend at college who

like to burn incense. And the room always had a very nice

relaxing smell to it. You can get the same effect by lighting

a candle and the bonus with a candle is you can watch the

flame flicker. That's very enjoyable and relaxing as well.

So not everyone drinks alcoholic beverages. I

recognize that. That not all of you are people who like to have

a glass of wine. But some people do like to have a drink.

They like to drink an alcoholic beverage to relax. So they

might come home from work on a Friday and have a glass of

wine. Uh they might go with friends for drinks at a bar on

a Saturday night. They might just have a drink of something

in order to relax a little bit. Jen and I in English We would

say Jen and I aren't big drinkers. So I do like to have

beer every once in a while. And I do like to have a glass of

wine with dinner every once in a while. But we certainly do

not like when I buy a case of beer it lasts six months. I

just don't drink a lot. But having something to drink can

be relaxing. Take a vacation. So when you go somewhere else

when you stop doing your daily routine and you go somewhere

else for a little while. This can be very very relaxing. Um

you can forget about life for a while we would say in English.

You can take some time to enjoy another country. Maybe you go

on a trip with friends or relatives and you can enjoy

each other's company. But certainly taking a vacation is

a great way to relax. I need to do this soon I think. Hello at

a photo album. This is something that Jen and I do

sometimes with our kids. Um we'll pull out a photo album

and actual photo album. We have photo albums. We try to get

about 100 pictures a year developed or printed and we put

them in an actual album and sometimes we'll sit and look at

them and with the kids and we'll laugh about how they

looked when they were younger or those kinds of things. Do

some yoga or stretching. So yoga a type of movement a type

of exercise that helps you relax. It primarily focuses on

stretching out the muscles and having good balance. Balance is

what keeps you from falling over. In order to do this yoga

pose you would need really good balance. You would need to be

able to stand on one leg and you would need to have really

good flexibility. Flexibility is the ability well to put your

leg like You would need to be very flexible to put your leg

like that. So do some yoga. Do some stretching. Maybe take a

class. There's a new yoga class in my town. Maybe I should join

and do some yoga. I think that might be good for me with my 51

year old body to do some stretching and do some yoga. Go

barefoot. There's something fun in particular about what this

guy is doing. He's walking or running a little bit along the

beach and he is barefoot. He doesn't have socks on. He

doesn't have shoes on and he's walking on the sand. Going

barefoot has has it's just a really nice feeling. Especially

where he's doing it. I often when I go to the beach like to

walk along the water's edge. Barefoot feel the sand between

my toes and listen to the waves. You can also go barefoot

at the park. Uh walking around in the grass barefoot can be

fun as well. But this is probably the place where I go

barefoot the most often. Take a nap. I think this one doesn't

need much explanation. Um but when you take a nap maybe

you're in the middle of studying for an exam. And you

just decide you know what I need a 10 minute nap to relax.

I'm too stressed. I need to just take some time to relax.

So close your eyes. Fall asleep for a little bit. And then when

you wake up five or 10 minutes later hopefully you're

reenergized and more relaxed and able to do what you need to

do. Go to a concert similar to listening to music. I mean you

can put music on the radio. Uh you can listen to music with

your stereo or your sound system. You can put in earbuds

or headphones and listen to music or you can go to a

concert. Um a heavy metal rock concert might not be relaxing.

But certainly some kind of classical music or some sort of

quieter music might be very relaxing and enjoyable for you.

I A few years ago fidget spinners became very very

popular. A fidget spinner is a little device that you can use

with your hand and you can spin it and it would keep spinning

for a long time. We don't see these at school very often

anymore. They were popular about seven or eight years ago.

But certainly there's a number of different things that people

buy that they can manipulate with their hands. Some people

will do this to relax. They'll I can't do it. But they'll spin

a pen. They'll fidget in some way and that helps them to

relax. Um yeah I should learn to do that. Drummers can do

that right? This is my very poor example of spinning a pen

but fidgeting can help people relax. A fidget spinner is one

device you can use to do that.

There's something about chocolate that makes me quite

relaxed. This is a nice box of chocolates. There's even a

white chocolate heart in the middle. But eating chocolate.

Eat some chocolate is a great recommendation in order to

relax a little bit. Um I've done this too much though. Over

the Christmas break there was a lot of chocolate around. I

spent too much time eating chocolate. Um I should have

spent more time walking. Uh and so now I'm more time walking

and less time eating chocolate. But if you want to relax eat

some chocolate. Get some sunshine. There's something

very healthy about having the sun hit your skin. It helps

your body make vitamin D. So it actually has a benefit. Um but

it also feels good. It feels good to feel the warmth of the

sun. If you work inside and you don't have a lot of windows

where you work. Um it's nice to get outside at lunch time if

the weather's nice. And just feel the sun on your skin. It's

nice to get some sunshine. Um not too much though if you're

someone like me. 20 minutes or more in the sun without

sunscreen and I get and I burn. But definitely spend some time

outside. Get some sunshine. Uh on your face on your arms.

Great for relaxing. Try acupuncture. So I'm not

familiar with this. But I have been told that this can be very

relaxing. Acupuncture is when small pins are put into your

skin just gently. And it helps to reconnect the flow of energy

through your body. I'm not an expert on acupuncture. But my

understanding is that acupuncture can feel really

good. It can help your body to feel whole and reconnected. So

try some acupuncture. I should try this. Jen has said before

that I have a shoulder that gets sore sometimes and she has

said you should try acupuncture. She hasn't tried

it but she thinks I should try it and then let her know how it

went. So if any of you know a bit more about acupuncture let

me know in the chat or the comments. Clean your house. So

this is an interesting one because for me the relaxing

part about cleaning the house isn't the cleaning. It's how I

feel when I'm done cleaning. When our is clean I am more

relaxed. When our house is messy I am not relaxed. But

some people actually find the act of cleaning. That cleaning

itself can be very relaxing. Um but for me like cleaning the

toilets and doing the dishes and mopping the floor that's

work. But when I'm all done on a Saturday when the house is

clean I am very very relaxed. It is a very nice feeling to

have your house clean. Dance again any kind of physical

activity will help you relax but dancing in particular can

have an extremely good effect on you. Especially if you're

doing it somewhere fun. When our kids were little we would

turn up really loud music and we would dance just for fun.

And it would help all of us to laugh and relax and enjoy each

other's company. So dance a little bit. Um maybe fun some

music where you can learn some English and dance to it a

little bit. Don't worry. No one's watching you. And then

laugh. Laughter it this is another one where I think it's

just magical in some ways. When I say magical it means we don't

quite understand how it works. But laughing can just make you

feel better and really help you to relax. There's nothing like

sitting with friends or sitting with family for an evening and

talking and laughing. It just helps you forget about the

world. It helps you forget about stressful things. It

helps you enjoy what's happening. So laugh. Um go out

with people who you enjoy spending time with and enjoy

each other's company and laugh a little bit. And then lastly I

don't have a slide for this one but spend time with your dog or

your cat. I should have made a slide for this. I saw it

mentioned in the comments earlier. Spending time with a

pet has been proven to help people relax. Dogs love you.

Your will always love you. No matter what happened during the

day when you come home your dog will be happy to see you. So

spend some time with your dog. Take your dog for a walk. Cats

are interesting. When you pet cats they purr. Want me to make

that sound? It's hard to make that sound. Cats will purr.

When you pet a cat and it purrs there's kind of this reciprocal

feeling. The cat's happy so you're happy and you can relax

a little bit. So spend some time with your dog. Spend some

time with your cat and that will help you relax a bit.