Best Meditation Technique for Relaxation

[Collective]

Which meditation technique is the best for purely relaxation effects?

Being a stressful person, that's what I need more than any other

[Sanghamitta]

Meditation is not purely for relaxation Collective, although a side effect can be relaxation.
Relaxation excercises are for relaxation.

Your local Hatha Yoga class might be able to help.

[Collective]

Thank you

I guess I could start closing my eyes during my meditations

[jcsuperstar]

He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming bodily fabrication.' [3] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming bodily fabrication.'

anapansati

when the breath is calm, the body will calm and then the mind can calm


http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html

[Mukunda]

For pure relaxation, nothing beats Yoga Nidra.

[jcsuperstar]

For pure relaxation, nothing beats Yoga Nidra.

i just fall asleep

[IanAnd]

Which meditation technique is the best for purely relaxation effects?

Being a stressful person, that's what I need more than any other

You need to practice samatha techniques. For that, jcsuperstar's suggestion would be adequate.

The following quotation from Thanissaro Bhikkhu's book Mind Like Fire Unbound is also indicative of this:

The first step is simply being mindful of the breath in the present:

There is the case of a monk who, having gone to a forest, to the shade of a tree or to an empty building, sits down folding his legs crosswise, holding his body erect, & keeping mindfulness to the fore. Always mindful, he breathes in; mindful he breathes out.

Then comes evaluation: He begins to discern variations in the breath:

Breathing in long, he discerns that he is breathing in long; or breathing out long, he discerns that he is breathing out long. Or breathing in short, he discerns that he is breathing in short; or breathing out short, he discerns that he is breathing out short.

The remaining steps are willed, or determined: He 'trains himself,' first by manipulating his sense of conscious awareness, making it sensitive to the body as a whole. (This accounts for the term 'mahaggatam' — enlarged or expanded — used to describe the mind in the state of jhana.)

He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to the entire body, and to breathe out sensitive to the entire body.

Now that he is aware of the body as a whole, he can begin to manipulate the physical sensations of which he is aware, calming them — i.e., calming the breath — so as to create a sense of rapture & ease.

He trains himself to breathe in calming the bodily processes, and to breathe out calming the bodily processes. He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to rapture, and to breathe out sensitive to rapture. He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to pleasure and breathe out sensitive to pleasure.

(As we will see below, he maximizes this sense of rapture & pleasure, making it suffuse the entire body.)

Now that bodily processes are stilled, mental processes become apparent as they occur. These too are calmed, leaving — as we will see below — a radiant awareness of the mind itself.

He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to mental processes, and to breathe out sensitive to mental processes. He trains himself to breathe in calming mental processes and to breathe out calming mental processes. He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to the mind, and to breathe out sensitive to the mind...
— MN 118

The above description/instruction will lead the practitioner into the absorption state. One can use the absorption state for the effect that you are attempting to achieve with your meditation practice. It will also strengthen mindfulness while creating the condition for clear comprehension to arise. So, be careful. You might come across some unintended insights along the way that may disrupt or distract you from your "relaxation."

[rowyourboat]

mindfulness of breath

[BlackBird]

I have a three step formula I use when my mind is restless and stressed out.

1. Do some dana (Whether you're giving your time, your labour doing chores, your ear to a friend in need, the options are only limited by your imagination)
2. Metta meditation (Here is a good method on how to cultivate metta)
3. Anapanasati (As others have described it's a great soother of the mind, but the dana and the metta as precursors really kick it up a gear in terms of putting the mind at ease)

All this can be accomplished in the space of about an hour, so if you're home for the day by 4pm, by 5 you're revitalized for the entire evening.

metta
Jack

[Mukunda]

For pure relaxation, nothing beats Yoga Nidra.

i just fall asleep

That's not Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra is awake, mindful relaxation of the body and mind.