Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) was first introduced by Dr. Edmund Jacobson in 1908 at Harvard University. However, it wasn’t until Jacobson published his book “Progressive Muscle Relaxation” in 1929 when Jacobson listed the step by steps directions involved to achieving relaxation. The idea of PMR came to Jacobson when he was conducting research on patients suffering from anxiety at the Harvard University. Jacobson once said, “An anxious mind cannot exist in our relaxed body” (Jacobson, 1974). There is a consensus the stress and anxiety disorders are associated with physical illness resulting in a poor the quality of life (Ramsawh, et al., 2009). Jacobson’s PMR is a type of therapy that focuses on tightening …show more content…
(1) You tighten and apply tension to various muscles groups, one at a time starting with your hands and forearms. (2) Release and let go of the tension and focus on how the muscles feel as they relax and the tension flows away from the body. However, over time we learned that for PMR to be more successful the person needs to; practice on an empty stomach (avoid eating, drinking or smoking), allow 20-30 min a day (ideally 2x a day), find a quiet location with no distractions, wear loose fitting clothing and remove their shoes, assume a comfortable position on the floor or seated in a chair, close their eyes, and assume a passive, unrushed attitude, tense and relax each muscle group once (focusing on the sensations of tensing and relaxing) allowing the other muscles in their body to remain relaxed, use the same intervals (inhale and purposely tense up or tighten hard the selected muscle group for 5-10 second, followed by an exhale, gently letting go, releasing tension. Taking 15-20 seconds before moving on to the next muscle group) for all the muscle groups. McCallie, Blum, and Hood (2006) suggested the following sequence for tensing the various muscle groups for effective PMR
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) was first introduced by Dr. Edmund Jacobson in 1908 at Harvard University. However, it wasn’t until Jacobson published his book “Progressive Muscle Relaxation” in 1929 when Jacobson listed the step by steps directions involved to achieving relaxation. The idea of PMR came to Jacobson when he was conducting research on patients suffering from anxiety at the Harvard University. Jacobson once said, “An anxious mind cannot exist in our relaxed body” (Jacobson, 1974). There is a consensus the stress and anxiety disorders are associated with physical illness resulting in a poor the quality of life (Ramsawh, et al., 2009). Jacobson’s PMR is a type of therapy that focuses on tightening …show more content…
(1) You tighten and apply tension to various muscles groups, one at a time starting with your hands and forearms. (2) Release and let go of the tension and focus on how the muscles feel as they relax and the tension flows away from the body. However, over time we learned that for PMR to be more successful the person needs to; practice on an empty stomach (avoid eating, drinking or smoking), allow 20-30 min a day (ideally 2x a day), find a quiet location with no distractions, wear loose fitting clothing and remove their shoes, assume a comfortable position on the floor or seated in a chair, close their eyes, and assume a passive, unrushed attitude, tense and relax each muscle group once (focusing on the sensations of tensing and relaxing) allowing the other muscles in their body to remain relaxed, use the same intervals (inhale and purposely tense up or tighten hard the selected muscle group for 5-10 second, followed by an exhale, gently letting go, releasing tension. Taking 15-20 seconds before moving on to the next muscle group) for all the muscle groups. McCallie, Blum, and Hood (2006) suggested the following sequence for tensing the various muscle groups for effective PMR