Progressive Muscle Relaxation A Must Read Article

Unlike paced breathing, the this technique, called is
Progressive Muscle Relaxation, PMR for short, focuses not
on breathing, but on muscle tension.

Hold up your right arm, tense it, and make a fist with your
right hand. Go ahead, do it now. Now, at the count of three,
let go of all the tension in that arm.. One, Two, Three!

Your arm should have fallen limp into your lap or down to
your side. Now, imagine that you are with a person who has
been quadriplegic since birth. How would you explain to
that person what you just did? How did you release the
tension? Most people would say, I just thought it, and it
happened."

In essence your mind said, "Release the tension," and the
muscles in your arm obliged. But how? Explaining this
activity is difficult.

In order for someone to really understand it, one has to
experience it. The same holds true for PMR. While you can
learn what to do for PMR through reading this article,
the only way to master the procedure is through practicing
it.

PMR is in essence a procedure through which one learns to
release even very small amounts of muscle tension at will,
much in the same way you just did when you relaxed your
right arm.

The technique involves alternatively tensing and relaxing
different muscle groups throughout your body. However,
while tensing and then letting go of the tension in your
muscles may serve to make a person feel relaxed, this is
not the real purpose of this exercise.

The purpose of this exercise is to learn how to identify
and let go of tension mentally.

This is the way it works. Whenever you tense a muscle group,
you should inhale and focus on the feelings of tension in
the muscles of that body part.

In your mind's eye, see the muscle strands stretched out,
feel the rigidity in the area being tensed, and notice
anything that you can about what it feels like to be tense
in that part of your body.

Tense with about 70% of your strength only, and hold for
about five seconds.

Next, release the tension, exhale, and focus on the feelings
of relaxation in those muscles. In your mind's eye, imagine
the muscles being more smooth and supple, Notice anything
you can about what the muscles feel like now that they
are relaxed.

You may experience them as heavy, light, or warm, or you
may detect a sensation of tingling, or an occasional
muscle twitch.

More important, focus your energies on detecting the
DIFFERENCES between the feelings of tension and relaxation.

What you are doing is retraining your mind to become more
sensitive to even small levels of tension in your body.
The tensing that you do is to help you to more easily tell
the difference between tension and relaxation.

With time you will practice using only 50% of your strength
to tense, then only 30%, 10%, and finally, without tensing
at all.

At the point, you will be able to scan" your muscle groups
mentally, and, detecting any tension in any muscle group,
you will be able to "think" the tension away.

Remember to start by using 70% of your strength, tense for
five seconds, inhale, and focus on the feelings of tension.
Then, exhale, release the tension, and focus on the
difference of the feelings in those muscles.