Active progressive muscular relaxation is different, it stems from the work of Jacobson (as do a number of exercises). This exercise asks you to tense and relax different muscles such as your arms, legs, etc the object being to identify what a tense and relaxed muscle feel like. For some people this exercise cannot be done due to an illness or severe pain. Remember you have the control, you control the amount of tension, and you control the amount of relaxation. It does no good if you have spent the entire exercise focussing on making your muscles as tense as possible. It may hurt you physically, which then deters you from attempting again. This is not useful. I may not feel it physically but I would rather you walk out of a room feeling relaxed.
Progressive relaxation reduces,
A. Pulse rate,
B. Blood pressure
C. Decreasing perspiration
D. Decreasing respiration
Jacobson a physician believed that progressive muscular relaxation required no imagination, willpower, or suggestion; just practise! It is based on the idea that the body responds to anxiety provoking thoughts and events with muscle tension. This physiological tension increases ones 'subjective' experience of anxiety. Therefore, the opposite can reverse the tension, so it becomes deep muscular relaxation reduces physiological tension and therefore anxiety. In the early stages of habit making, the muscles do hurt and we tend to notice and massage the area etc. Nevertheless, a point comes where we have become so used to the pain we no longer feel it. This does not mean the tension has gone, just that you have switched off the pain button for the muscle etc,
Because of the work involved, one is actually following instructions in a more practical manner. It is like doing the thumb exercise on each muscle group. This way you can find tensed muscle, for example it is common to find that tensing a particular muscle causes more pain, this is probably due to the muscle already being tense, and you have ignored the pain because it has become your norm. It is quite easy to spot a tense muscle, it is hard and is often painful. This is what we are looking for in this exercise. You need to know when a muscle is tensed so that you can do the exercise to relax the muscle by repeating the relaxing part of the exercise on all the muscles or muscle groups, they will become relaxed again and the pain will reduce and hopefully stop. When stressed tension (muscle tension) generally appears first in the, neck, shoulders, and lower back among other areas. It may be of interest to those who suffer from constant headaches as this is often called tension headaches, caused by muscular tension in the neck, shoulders; it basically interferes with the blood flow. By relaxing these muscles, one may find a reduction in headaches.
There are many muscles to go through, so there are now a number of shortened or specific exercises. One could do a short version to ease pain and discomfort in one area, and then spread the process through all of their body. The basic principle is that a muscle is first tensed for 5 seconds and then relaxed for 20 seconds, it is then repeated at least once, often to 5 repetitions. In today's use it appears to have been split into two, one where the basic principle is taught, the tensing and relaxing of the most commonly found tense muscle/muscle groups. The second part is about the deeper relaxation, the aim first is to simultaneously relax all the muscle groups at the same time, so that deep relaxation can become the focus.
With doing the exercise you will be refocusing your attention on how your entire body feels, the sensations. Thereby highlighting all tensed muscles, cramps etc. However, the best way to proceed with this exercise is NOT to jump in at the deep end and try to relax all the muscles at once, but to do it gently. Often massage or osteopathy etc is useful. In addition, one must remember sleep does NOT mean a relaxed body. With long-term tense muscles, the body does not have the time to heal them. By following the exercise slowly one can learn to identify when a muscle is starting to tense and do something about it immediately, if not as soon as possible. HOWEVER, one will also notice when the body is totally at ease and relaxed, and that feeling is a wonderful feeling to have. It takes time, practise and commitment, but these two exercises work extremely well together.
Both of the exercises can be done in public, it does not have to be in a quiet spot. If you need to relax at work for a few seconds to calm down then do it, these exercise with practice do help as they can become second nature. At the end of the day, you are the only one who can decide how useful a technique is.
There are a number of wise notes to make.
1 Regular practise is the best learning experience
2 Caution when tensing certain muscles such as neck, and back, you do NOT want to cause any problems such as spinal problems.
3 When releasing tension release it instantly NOT slowly as this causes more tension.
4 If you have painful muscles you can use the passive form of " notice the tension in your....." instead of "tense the muscles in your....."
Top of the page
View My Guestbook
Sign My Guestbook
