Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR)

The concept behind PMR is that you tense a group of muscles as tightly as you can, hold the tension for several seconds and note the feeling in your body. Then relax the muscles completely so that you are as relaxed as possible and take note of the different feeling.
It can be beneficial to work through the muscles of the body in sequence for example starting at the feet and finishing with the muscles of the face and scalp.
Jacobsen and Mitchell both use this form of relaxation in their methods
Once the difference between relaxation and tension in muscles has been learnt we can self regulate and reproduce a sense of relaxation by relieving muscle tension.

Play pause Unwind incorporates PMR with visualisation and music to gain best effect as Lehrer and Woolfolk’s 1993 literature review found that the combination of music and relaxation produces greater physiological effects than each technique separately.