Preface (by Renata Taylor-Byrne)
“Relaxation is letting go. Letting go of the day. Letting go of our worries. If stress draws us in, binds us, makes us ‘uptight’, relaxation frees us to be ourselves again. Body and mind are so closely connected that if we become anxious we become physically tense, but if we physically relax, we can also reduce our anxiety. Relaxation exercises bring the parasympathetic (or relaxation) branch of our nervous system into play. We calm down.”
Watts and Cooper (1992, Page 127).[1]
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I wrote this book because I want people to experience for themselves the deep peace, mental calm, health improvement and reduction in anxiety and depression that comes from practising the Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) technique, which was created by Dr Edmund Jacobson.
Here are two examples of people who were greatly helped by his technique:
– Firstly, a former soldier experiencing intense physical pain.
– And then a college student experiencing strong anxiety, which was affecting her ability to get a decent sleep at night.
The first example: A former US army soldier came to Dr Edmund Jacobson for help with the severe back pain he was experiencing all the time. The pain originated when he was a soldier, and he jumped from a plane to find his parachute would not open, and he crashed to the ground, breaking his back. His US army surgeons managed to save his life, but he was left with severe, chronic back pain.
What chance do you think this man would have of living a normal life, after this experience?
Not a lot, many people would think.
The outcome of this soldier’s accident was as follows: Trying to gain relief from the constant pain, he went to see Dr Edmund Jacobson, who was in his Chicago clinic. This man agreed to experiment with the exercises that Dr Jacobson had created – (See Chapter 10 for the list of exercises, and how to do them) – which were designed to teach him about tension in his muscles, and how to reduce and control it. He did the prescribed progressive muscle relaxation exercises for a number of months, until his chronic pain had mostly disappeared.
Then, on a first time visit to a golf course, he started to play a game of golf, and as he did so, some golf professionals watched him. They could see that he had natural talent for the game, and encouraged him to learn the sport properly. He followed their advice and, in time, became one of the most highly rated golf players in the US. (See page 91 of Jacobson’s 1976 book, which is listed in the References, below).
It seems almost miraculous that this man was able to make the recovery of spinal function and physical health described; but then progressive muscle relaxation is a little understood boon to good physical and mental health.
The Western medical emphasis on (largely ineffective) painkillers (which have serious side effects), and on surgery, which can fail to solve physical problems, leaves open the need for alternative treatments like Dr Jacobson’s progressive muscle relaxation.
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The second example: A college student had been plagued for a long time by fears of the dark; being on her own; and of fires breaking out, and harming her. Part of the cause was this: Her aunt had been killed in a fire three years earlier, and when she (this young student) tried to get to sleep each night, she had very strong images of scorching fires, and people in flames. This was obviously why she found it very hard to sleep at night; and she felt so vulnerable that she had to have someone in the room while she slept; and she had to have the room illuminated all night. (This case is described in a book by Bernstein, Borkovec and Hazlett-Stevens, 2000, Page 18, also in the References list, below).
Eventually she went to see a therapist, and told the therapist that she had to go and study in another country in seven weeks’ time. She didn’t think she could handle the stress of the travel and the new location, and would have to drop out of the study programme.
How could this student handle the necessary changes needed for her to be able to continue with her academic commitments abroad?
A physical solution for a mental problem
The therapist treated her with progressive muscle relaxation training (in a shortened form, similar to that in Chapter 10, because of lack of time), and she practised the exercises twice a day herself; the second session each day being at her bedtime. As well as the daily relaxation sessions, she was instructed to gradually reduce the light level in her room – over a period of many days – and to do her second relaxation session in bed before her roommate came in.
The procedure she was following was designed to enable her to become slowly adapted to more challenging situations, which she had previously feared – (a dark room, with no-one else in it) – and she was experiencing these situations in a very relaxed state.
She carefully followed the therapist’s instructions, and, by the time of the third interview, she was able to announce that her fears had greatly diminished, because of her growing skill at using the prescribed exercises to relax her body and mind, and to bring on sleep. Her training sessions and ‘in vivo’ practice[1] – (the gradually darkening room and her increasing ability to feel comfortable going to sleep in a room on her own) – had paid off!
Anti-anxiety medication and CBT would not have produced such radical results. Working through the body is one of the best ways of calming the mind!
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The speed of life has been increasing throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Living in this increasingly tension-creating world leads to physical problems in our bodies, and minds, as people try to cope with the increasingly high levels of stress and strain that life throws at us.
Dr Jacobson discovered that if people learned to conserve their energies, and avoid building up tension in their bodies, then they would be much healthier and happier.
Have you noticed how animals relax quite easily? A dog, for example, can suddenly and totally stop all activity, and collapse on the floor, like a rag doll. And they do this frequently, every day. And they can spring up with full energy if they are stimulated by some outside event or call.
Have you seen a cat relax? It completely releases all its tensions and yields itself to the experience of the moment, as if luxuriating in the warmth of the sun. And it recharges its energy as it does so.
Most humans, by contrast look tense and strained. Common signs of tension include: Shoulders too high; spines curled forward; brows furrowed; eyes dilated; breathing too shallow; fists and teeth clenched; and overly-serious, worried facial expressions.
For human beings, the benefits for the body and mind of relaxation are phenomenal. These benefits, which were once part of our birth-right are no longer well known, and urgently need to be rediscovered and restated. And this is what this book does for you. It will present to you a significant amount of evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of this Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) technique.
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Understanding tension and relaxation
Dr Art Brownstein described some common myths about the nature of relaxation, and how to achieve it.
“I am continually amazed at how many people don’t know or never learned how to relax. When I enquire, most people report to me that they need some external prop or activity, such as reading or watching TV, a mind-altering substance such as alcohol or a tranquiliser or a combination of these, to wind down from their busy days and help relieve their tensions. These methods often feel relaxing, but in most instances the mind is still actively engaged.
“Or, at the cost of achieving mental relaxation, consciousness, proper judgement and the body’s health (most commonly the liver’s), are sacrificed. At best, these methods and devices are only temporary and achieve only a small fraction of the relaxation that the healing system needs (in order) to function optimally.” (Brownstein, 2006, Page 362).
Unfortunately, many people are unaware of what living in a high speed culture like ours, in the UK, Europe and/or North America, does to their bodies – and their minds.
Here’s the bad news: Because of the increase in body tensions that living in our stressful, ever-changing environments create, there is an increase in physical disorders and diseases, including: heart disease, (the world’s number 1 killer), anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes and cancer, to name only the most serious illnesses. They are ever-present realities today.
Here’s the good news: It doesn’t have to be like this! We can’t control (or we have very limited control) over the outside world/ other people/ the economy/ public health crises such as Covid 19, and so on. But we can control our own bodies to a significant degree! We can learn to reduce our physical tension, and enjoy a healthier and more enjoyable life. And if we learn to relax properly, and reduce our tension, then our children will model their behaviour on what we do.
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The beginning
In 1908, Dr Edmund Jacobson started finding out about tension in the body, in the laboratories of Harvard University. He established how to measure its presence in the body, and came up with an easily learned technique that had a very wide range of benefits for the body. He studied this subject for seventy years, and set up an institute in Chicago for that purpose.
‘Muscle tension’ describes a condition in which the muscles of the body get stuck in a semi-contracted state for an extended period of time. Muscle tension is typically caused by the physiological effects of stress and can lead to pain and disease.
Even when we think we are at rest, muscle fibres are at least partially contracted, retaining some degree of tension, which is termed muscle tone or tonus. But in chronically stressed individuals, that retained degree of tension is too high, resulting in a constant drain on body energies, and mental capacities.
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About this book…
This book sets out to teach you how to learn and practice the PMR technique created by Dr Jacobson. However, it begins with the belief that you will not practice this technique unless you fully grasp its effectiveness, so I begin by teaching you about the nature of physical tension; and then move on to how PMR helps with a range of tension-induced problems – of pain, anxiety, and disease. Then, in Chapter 10, I teach you the system of Brief PMR which has evolved in recent years, and which I and my partner have further refined.
The benefits of regular practice of PMR include:
– a return to full health;
– improved sleep;
– reduced pain and illness;
– less worry and anxiety;
– a reduction in the pressures and strains of daily life;
– and a greater capacity to handle the demands of work and/ or academic pressures.
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The rationale behind PMR is explained; and evidence is presented that this system can help you with the following problems:
– Insomnia;
– Stomach and digestive problems;
– Hypertension and heart disease;
– Pain relief and pain management/reduction;
– Generalized anxiety, depression and fatigue;
– Test and exam anxiety;
– Memory and recall problems;
– Public performance, including sports performance, and musical performance anxiety.
The scientific research underpinnings of this system are also presented and the book is written in simple, accessible language; and it is designed so that you can go straight to the aspect of relaxation, or the specific problem, that you are most interested in, by checking out the chapter headings.
As I stated earlier, I wrote this book because of apparent widespread ignorance about the healing power of full-body relaxation. I wanted to promote a greater understanding of ‘scientific relaxation’ (meaning ‘neuromuscular relaxation’) as created by Dr Jacobson, which he named Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR).
If we learn to spot when our muscles are tense, and fully experience this in our muscles and our conscious mind – and then let go of the tension – the resulting experience of total relaxation will help us heal; sleep much better; reduce our stress and anxiety; help us perform physical skills more fluently; heal our bodies and minds; and increase our sense of physical and mental well-being and joy in life.
Jacobson considered that it is physically impossible to be nervous, or tense in any part of your body, if, in that part, you are completely relaxed. But in order to reap the rewards of this technique, you need to do it every day, for just a few minutes. It only takes a couple of minutes to do the exercise routine described in Chapter 10; but I recommend that you rest and snooze for a few minutes after completing the tension-relaxation exercises. So, altogether, it only takes about ten to fifteen minutes of your time to eliminate tension and recharge your batteries.
Many people who use this system find that they fall asleep automatically, for a few minutes; and this will really benefit your body and mind, as you may be catching up on a sleep deficit. Slowly and surely your physical and mental energies will increase over time, and transform the quality of your life!
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The benefits of PMR…
Progressive relaxation (PMR) yields a variety of benefits, including:
– Lowered stress levels;
– The development of a feeling of well-being;
– Lowered blood pressure and heart rate;
– Decreased muscle tension;
– Reduced need for oxygen;
– Reduced fatigue and anxiety;
– Improved quality of life and reduced blood pressure among people with heart disease;
– Reduced migraine headaches;
– Reductions in some forms of chronic pain;
– Improved sleep, and insomnia relief;
– Help with smoking cessation;
– Improvement in cognitive (thinking) performance for people with dementia;
– Increasing or activating the production of opiates (or our innate pain killers);
– Promoting optimal immune function.
– Improving sports performance;
– Improving public performance skills for athletes, sportspeople, actors, teachers, students and media presenters;
– And increased mental and physical energy
Furthermore, this system of relaxation is easy to learn and can be used almost anywhere.
Who is this book written for?
This book is designed to be helpful for:
- Self- help enthusiasts, who want to learn how to make the most of their physical and mental energy, as they pursue their goals in life.
- People experiencing pain who have been unaware of how relaxation of their muscles, resulting in reduced physical tension, can lessen the pain they are experiencing.
- People with tension-induced diseases who want to use alternative approaches to healing their bodies.
- Professional coaches, counsellors, psychologists, psychotherapists and social workers who want to add elements of progressive muscle relaxation therapy to their normal face to face work with clients.
- Students starting out on their professional careers who want to learn how to manage their energy, and reduce their anticipatory fears as they face the inevitable exams, presentations, skills assessments and other challenges in their roles.
- This book is also for people who need to manage high levels of stress in demanding work roles, including: Being ‘on the front line’ with clients and customers; in stressful and conflict-laden public roles, in their day to day jobs. Plus: Professional sports people, actors, public speakers, television presenters and those who perform their jobs under public scrutiny, who face intense performance pressure.
Jacobson created a superb technique which is available for everyone. It could be one of the best investments of your time that you ever make: Ten to fifteen minutes a day of energy recharging and tension reduction. And this investment of time (no money!) is ridiculously cheap compared to the cost of alcohol/drugs/tranquilisers – and it has no unhealthy side effects!
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Renata Taylor-Byrne, September 2020 – Updated in January 2025
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Contents
Preface……………………………………………………………………………………. v
Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………………….. 1
Chapter 2: How tension builds up in your body each day……………………… 7
Chapter 3: The different ways that excessive tension affects your body…. 13
Chapter 4: How progressive muscle relaxation cures insomnia…………… 19
Chapter 5: Reducing anxiety in sports & public performance roles:………. 27
Chapter 6: PMR helps children and adults to handle test anxiety………… 35
Chapter 7: How progressive muscle relaxation makes pain more manageable 41
Chapter 8: Reducing anxiety in various contexts, using progressive muscle relaxation 49
Chapter 9: How progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) fits into a healthy and flourishing lifestyle 59
Chapter 10: How to practice PMR at home…………………………………….. 67
Chapter 11: Conclusion……………………………………………………………… 73
References……………………………………………………………………………… 77
Appendix A: An Overview of Progressive Muscle Relaxation………………… 85
Appendix B: How to establish the relaxation habit………………………….. 107
Appendix C: The importance of diaphragmatic breathing…………………. 119
Appendix D: Some background on Jacobson’s electrical measurement of physical tension 125
Endnotes………………………………………………………………………………. 131
[1] In behaviour therapy, ‘in vivo exposure’ means directly facing a feared object, situation or activity in real life; which, in the example above, means facing up to the fear of being alone in an increasingly darkened room.
[1] Watts, M. and Cooper, C. (1992) Relax: Dealing with Stress. London: BBC Books.
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