Progressive Muscle Relaxation for Stress and Anxiety

     This is a slight variation of the progressive muscle relaxation technique which was invented by Dr. Edmund Jacobson in 1930.

     A doctor I was seeing taught me this exercise for my anxiety, and it worked! Simply put, you contract groups of muscles and when you relax them you say the word relax. One day I was sitting in a gridlock of traffic, late for work, and feeling very stressed and overwhelmed, barely able to sit still. I said the word relax, not at all thinking about the exercise and I was surprised when my body immediately responded. I had unconsciously trained my body to respond to myself saying the word, "relax".

     It doesn't matter what part of the body you start with or even what order you do this in so feel free to experiment with what works or makes sense for you.

     Lay down comfortably in a quiet low light place with little distractions. Start with your hands by making tight fists and squeezing them as hard as you can. Don't injure yourself but you should apply so much tension that your hands may even start to shake. Hold this for 5 to 7 seconds. The very instant you release them you will first say the word relax then immediately tense the next part, maybe your shoulders or feet.

     The body parts you relax and tense could include:

• hands
• feet
• shoulders
• hips
• neck
• mouth
• forehead 
• thighs, etc.

     You should for the first couple weeks do this exercise twice a day, then just once a day. When you feel your body is perfectly responding to the conditioning you can drop it to a maintenance level of 2 or 3 times a week.
     Whenever you feel tension or anxiety just repeat the word "Relax" and you will feel relaxed. Give it a try!