The word “relaxation” is a term borrowed from the Latin word relaxatio which means “relaxation, relaxation, rest” and derived from the word relaxare which means “to loosen, release”. Is relaxation a rest for the body or the mind? Sleep being the time of rest par excellence, how is rest from relaxation different? What benefits can we expect from relaxation, a widespread practice today?
Several studies have been conducted to ensure the real effectiveness of relaxation. And the observations turned out to be quite amazing.
Today, many people know that relaxation acts on the different manifestations of stress:
By soothing these various disorders, the consequences extend far beyond what one could hope for. Mechanisms of immune defences are, for example, reboosted. You also probably know that stress is identified as the third factor favoring the risk of heart attack (after tobacco and cholesterol); studies have shown that the practice of relaxation reduces chronic cardiac and respiratory disorders.
In the case of people suffering from anxiety disorders of moderate intensity, this practice is prescribed in first intention, that is to say before any drug treatment.
People with eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia see their risk of recurrence decrease and, in some people, it is even the tinnitus that disappears with learning the relaxation technique.
Reduced headaches, improved sleep and concentration, better management of emotions are benefits you can also expect from relaxation.
Of course, there are no miracles.
Relaxation pays off provided you really want to get rid of the troubles that clutter our daily lives. It may seem like a no-brainer, yet practices are full of patients who basically don't want to get better.
You can have a wonderful tool:if you don't intend to do a good job, you won't achieve anything.
To get better is to change, and the fear of change is a widely shared fear. When we are better, our relationship with others can also change:we will be given less attention, we will be helped less, etc. Trying a technique and longing for it to fail is a waste of time. Relaxation only brings benefits if you have the desire to succeed .
There are different methods of relaxation but they have common points. First of all is to not just try but to fully commit to the practice. This means that you will not necessarily observe an improvement from the first session. Some people can testify to such quick positive effects, but this is more from personal experience than generality. Responses to relaxation techniques vary according to personality and the state of individual receptivity.
The common principle of all relaxation methods is to developself-attention to understand its own functioning and be able to make it evolve in a positive direction.
Some people have real difficulty taking a neutral look at themselves and learning to relax will probably take longer for them. People who are not used to observing their breathing may find that it becomes disorganized and more chaotic. This is a first step to pass, essential to move forward. With practice, the breath will persist in its natural flow, despite observation.
This observation should lead you to understand how you breathe, if it passes well through the nose, mouth closed, and if it mobilizes the belly or not.
Because the nose is the organ of respiration. The mouth is only a secondary pipe, mobilized in case of obstruction of the upper respiratory tract. It is because you breathe through your nose that you mobilize the parasympathetic nervous system , capable of slowing the heartbeat, lowering blood pressure, relaxing muscles, developing a state of calm and establishing inner peace.
And breathing through the belly is relaxation breathing, the only one that allows correct mixing of the abdomen and, consequently, the reduction or even the disappearance of the tensions that are placed at different points of the bust. When the belly is mobilized, breathing becomes more “deep”. This is the opposite of “superficial” breathing, which takes place mainly in the ribs, and which corresponds to breathing that does not stir the internal organs deeply enough. In these cases, it is the sympathetic nervous system who is in charge, the one who manages alert situations and produces adrenaline rushes, accelerates heart rate, increases blood and muscle pressure to enable the body to react to danger.
Learning relaxation leads you to take a step back from the situation or situations that are causing you problems. Falling behind in your work is not a dangerous situation and yet everything happens as if it were in your body. It is the sympathetic nervous system that dominates, not installing the conditions conducive to analytical clarity, and it's a safe bet that the situation is only getting worse since fleeing from danger (which is why the body is getting ready) does not happen. This awareness is an essential condition to lead you to relax the body and initiate the virtuous functioning that occurs when the parasympathetic nervous system is mobilized.
The relaxation techniques that have been developed all have their origins in age-old Asian psycho-corporal practices such as yoga or meditation. This is valid for sophrology:the Spanish neuropsychiatrist Alfonso Caycedo, the originator of the technique, notably stayed in India, Tibet and Japan to study awareness practices there. It is also for a technique like the Alexander method, well known to singers, who aim to become aware of their posture and to make it evolve for better performances.
If you are convinced of the benefits of relaxation and want to engage in this learning, you will have to choose the technique that suits you best. For this, you have two solutions. The first is to understand how you operate and what are your needs? Is the immobility of the body difficult to maintain and do you quickly feel the need to move? Do you have a lot of imagination and do you have very strong emotions (positive and negative) that are difficult to manage? Do you live a lot in the mind and get overwhelmed by nocturnal ruminations?
Another solution is to try very distinct techniques such as yoga which mobilizes the body, sophrology, where you lie still, or cardiac coherence where you focus on controlling the breath. Once you have identified what suits you best, you can practice the proposed exercises. Later, when you have advanced, you can change your practice according to your evolution and your needs.
You cannot expect benefits without installing the practice for a minimum period of time to integrate the fundamental principles. Learning relaxation is like learning to read:you will have to repeat the exercises , frequently at the beginning, to acquire fluidity in the daily implementation of the practice. For an initiation, a weekly session supervised by a professional is recommended. To give you an example, relaxation is effective on chronic low back pain on average from the sixth session. But if you stop when the practices are not put in place spontaneously on a daily basis, the pain may reappear.
