Try These Tension Tamers

Do a 20-Minute Tension Tamer

Twenty minutes is all you need to do a full progressive relaxation routine. To get the most benefit, try to practice this at least once a day, perhaps at bedtime.

1. While either lying down or sitting in a comfortable chair that supports your head, close your eyes and start by mentally scanning your body for places that feel tense.

2. If your shoulders are tense you can relieve the stiffness by shrugging your shoulders as far up toward your ears as comfortable. As you release, you will feel the relaxation in your neck. To target other body parts by clenching each muscle area as tightly as you can and holding for 5 seconds. Take about 20 seconds to gradually release the tension, consciously relaxing your muscles as much as possible, then move on to the next area.

3. Silently repeat a soothing thought, such as “I am totally calm” or “Goodbye, tension.”

Relax to a Eurythmic Beat

No, we’re not talking about the British rock band from the ’80s. Eurythmics is a music education technique developed by a Swiss composer who believed the body is finely tuned to musical rhythms. Some relaxation therapists have adopted his methods to combine full-body muscle relaxation with deep breathing in a meditative rhythm set to the tick-tock of a metronome. Here’s how to do it.

1. Set a metronome so it ticks off one beat per second (or use a ticking clock).

2. Inhale for a count of six, hold your breath for one count, then exhale for a count of six. (You can take more than six beats to inhale and exhale if your lungs take longer than that to fill.)

3. Repeat the breathing exercise, but this time, gradually tense all your muscles for the count of six. Hold the tension for one count, relax your body for a count of six, and pause for a count of one.

4. Continue tensing and relaxing your entire body in time with your breathing, or use each cycle of counting to focus on isolated areas, such as your arms, legs, torso, and head.

Arm Yourself with Autogenics

Like progressive muscle relaxation, autogenics—a form of self-hypnosis—harnesses the power of the imagination to make the body relax. Therapists sometimes use it in conjunction with biofeedback, but you don’t need to be hooked to a machine that monitors your body functions to benefit from it. All you need is a quiet room and a comfortable chair that supports your head, back, and arms. Or you can sit slightly stooped on a stool, with your arms resting on your thighs and your hands hanging loosely between your knees.

After you’re settled into position with your eyes closed, do the following sequence.

1. Concentrate your attention on your dominant arm, usually the right. Slowly repeat “My right arm is heavy” in your mind and imagine the arm actually becoming heavier. Pause after the statement, repeating it four times.

2. Do the same with your left arm.

3. Next, repeat the exercise using the words “Both my arms are heavy.”

4. Concentrate on your right leg and slowly repeat “My right leg is heavy” four times.

5. Do the same with your left leg, then both legs.

6. Repeat the exercise, but this time use the word warm instead of heavy and imagine your limbs becoming warmer.

Once you’re used to this technique, you can do another exercise in which you imagine your limbs becoming heavier and warmer at the same time. It’s possible that you’ll enter a trance-like state—which is fine. When you’re finished with the exercise, simply mark its completion by telling yourself, “When I open my eyes, I will be refreshed and alert.”