How to restart mysql successfully in Ubuntu

I am finding a way to reliably restart only mysql service in Ubuntu without harming rest of the processes. I am failing to do so as my command: sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop makes not only the terminal to hang but also entire CPU gets struct. The CPU usage shoots to almost 100% and nothing happens thereafter until i forcefully close the application entirely. AM i trying to close the mysql service in a wrong way? Can anybody help me on this restarting issue? Any comments are highly appreciated
