Relax Your Body
Anyone who has experienced
stress (and that’s everyone) knows that it can take a physical toll. When you
are highly stressed, you spend much of your day feeling and acting tense.
Eventually this “hyped-up” state becomes so familiar that you do not realize
when you start tensing up. Instead, you feel only the end products of that
tension: tiredness, headaches, or possibly back pain. Managing your stress
means breaking this cycle of tension. To do this, our f rst mission is to help
you identify the areas of tension in your body and then provide you with
techniques to help you reduce that tension
IDENTIFICATION
Tension, like stress, can be desirable at low levels. For example, you would not be able to write if you could not tense the hand that holds the pen. However, you do not need to tense your whole body, your neck, or your back just to write; your hand is enough. People who have a high level of general stress ofen tense their entire bodies when they need to tense only one or two muscles. For this reason, it is important to learn to isolate the various muscle groups in your body, so that you will know how each one feels when it is tense.
REDUCTION
Once you have learned how your various muscles feel when they are tense, you will be able to tell when they are tensing up needlessly. This is when you will want to reduce the unnecessary tension. Reducing unwanted tension (relaxation) is a skill that requires a great deal of practice. It is not some sort of “psychological Valium” or a handy crutch you can pull out when you are feeling uptight and then hide away until you need it again. Instead, relaxation must be practiced often—at least once a day at f rst, for 20 minutes each time. Te results will be worth it. You have probably heard of various relaxation techniques, all with catchy names designed to snare the consumer. Most of them work in much the same way. In fact, you may have already tried some of them. Research has not shown that any particular technique is best for any particular type of person or problem. Te deep muscle relaxation technique we recommend here has been studied, researched, and clinically tested and has worked well for many people. Give it a chance
to work for you. Remember that this is helping you build a valuable new skill. However, if you have a favorite relaxation technique that works for you, it is quite okay to stick with that. Te key is not the particular technique itself—rather it is the regular, consistent practice that is important, together with incorporating relaxation into your life.
Te rest of this lesson will show you how to practice deep muscle relaxation. Although no
technique is a magic cure for all your troubles, relaxation is an important part of your stress management program.
Tension, like stress, can be desirable at low levels. For example, you would not be able to write if you could not tense the hand that holds the pen. However, you do not need to tense your whole body, your neck, or your back just to write; your hand is enough. People who have a high level of general stress ofen tense their entire bodies when they need to tense only one or two muscles. For this reason, it is important to learn to isolate the various muscle groups in your body, so that you will know how each one feels when it is tense.
REDUCTION
Once you have learned how your various muscles feel when they are tense, you will be able to tell when they are tensing up needlessly. This is when you will want to reduce the unnecessary tension. Reducing unwanted tension (relaxation) is a skill that requires a great deal of practice. It is not some sort of “psychological Valium” or a handy crutch you can pull out when you are feeling uptight and then hide away until you need it again. Instead, relaxation must be practiced often—at least once a day at f rst, for 20 minutes each time. Te results will be worth it. You have probably heard of various relaxation techniques, all with catchy names designed to snare the consumer. Most of them work in much the same way. In fact, you may have already tried some of them. Research has not shown that any particular technique is best for any particular type of person or problem. Te deep muscle relaxation technique we recommend here has been studied, researched, and clinically tested and has worked well for many people. Give it a chance
to work for you. Remember that this is helping you build a valuable new skill. However, if you have a favorite relaxation technique that works for you, it is quite okay to stick with that. Te key is not the particular technique itself—rather it is the regular, consistent practice that is important, together with incorporating relaxation into your life.
Te rest of this lesson will show you how to practice deep muscle relaxation. Although no
technique is a magic cure for all your troubles, relaxation is an important part of your stress management program.
GETTING READY TO PRACTICE
Tink of a sport you enjoy—let’s use tennis as our example. Remember how clumsy you felt the f rst time you tried to hit that ball over the net? If you had quit then, as you might have wanted to, just think of all the pleasure you would have missed. It’s much the same with relaxation. You may not “get it” at f rst; you may feel as awkward trying to relax as you did trying to keep a tennis ball in play. But gradually, if you keep practicing, you will master the skill and become prof cient in its use. Before you begin, there are some preparations you can make to create the right environment.
First, choose a time and a place to practice relaxation. If you use a calendar or planner, write it down. Remember to be specif c. It is not advisable for you to try and sneak it into spare moments when you are likely to be interrupted. Instead, choose a time when no one else is around or when you can ask others not to bother you for about 20 minutes. Now select a place. Eventually you will be able to do your relaxation anywhere and at any time. But when you are just starting out, make it easy on yourself. Find a quiet room, pull the shades down, turn down the lights, and sit in a comfortable chair. A bed is okay as long as you don’t fall asleep. It is difcult to learn when you are sleeping! We recommend you practice the relaxation skill either before your day begins or toward the end of your day. You may need to get up a litle earlier or go to bed a litle later, but the few
minutes of lost sleep will be well worth the effort.
Tink of a sport you enjoy—let’s use tennis as our example. Remember how clumsy you felt the f rst time you tried to hit that ball over the net? If you had quit then, as you might have wanted to, just think of all the pleasure you would have missed. It’s much the same with relaxation. You may not “get it” at f rst; you may feel as awkward trying to relax as you did trying to keep a tennis ball in play. But gradually, if you keep practicing, you will master the skill and become prof cient in its use. Before you begin, there are some preparations you can make to create the right environment.
First, choose a time and a place to practice relaxation. If you use a calendar or planner, write it down. Remember to be specif c. It is not advisable for you to try and sneak it into spare moments when you are likely to be interrupted. Instead, choose a time when no one else is around or when you can ask others not to bother you for about 20 minutes. Now select a place. Eventually you will be able to do your relaxation anywhere and at any time. But when you are just starting out, make it easy on yourself. Find a quiet room, pull the shades down, turn down the lights, and sit in a comfortable chair. A bed is okay as long as you don’t fall asleep. It is difcult to learn when you are sleeping! We recommend you practice the relaxation skill either before your day begins or toward the end of your day. You may need to get up a litle earlier or go to bed a litle later, but the few
minutes of lost sleep will be well worth the effort.
DEEP MUSCLE RELAXATION
Deep muscle relaxation is a process of tensing, then relaxing, individual muscle groups. In this way, you will learn how each group of muscles feels when it is tense and when it is relaxed. You will then learn how to reduce unwanted tension in each one. We will begin with a large number Relax Your Body 21 of muscle groups and then, over the weeks, reduce the number, making your relaxation technique shorter and more portable. Te chart below lists some of the major muscle groups and suggests ways of tensing them
Deep muscle relaxation is a process of tensing, then relaxing, individual muscle groups. In this way, you will learn how each group of muscles feels when it is tense and when it is relaxed. You will then learn how to reduce unwanted tension in each one. We will begin with a large number Relax Your Body 21 of muscle groups and then, over the weeks, reduce the number, making your relaxation technique shorter and more portable. Te chart below lists some of the major muscle groups and suggests ways of tensing them
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Relax Your Body
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