Introduction

Achieving deep physical relaxation is a key part of many holistic health practices, including yoga and meditation. Many of us carry much more physical tension in our bodies than we need, and true relaxation – not just engaging in recreation, but loosening tense muscles and joints – seems an impossible task. However, there is a fast and easy proven method for relaxing the entire body that anyone can learn. It is used by physical therapists, trainers, and psychologists to train their patients to recognize the symptoms of unnecessary physical tension and act against them before chronic pain develops. The progressive relaxation method was originally developed by Harvard physiologist Edmund Jacobson in the 1930s, and can be applied in a few minutes.

One can best understand the method behind progressive relaxation through the idea of adaptation level. In anatomy, adaptation level refers to the average amount of physical tension held in a patient's muscle tissue. Adaptation level rises in response to stress, and, quite often, remains at a high level, which becomes the body's "neutral" state. Progressive relaxation is the process of tensing and untensing major muscle groups of the body in a specific, natural sequence. After holding them unusually tense for short bursts of time, the muscles will relax more than usual when released. Adaptation level gradually decreases, and the patient achieves true physical relaxation and all the benefits that go along with it – such as heightened alertness, more restful sleep, and less predisposition to muscle pain.