Physiology of Progressive Relaxation
True or False: Progressive Relaxation of your muscles reduces pulse rate, blood pressure, and startle reflex.
True
What is the technique that is based on the premise that the body responds to anxiety-provoking thoughts and events with muscle tensions?
Progressive Relaxation
When would you do threshold tensing?
When you are injured
True or False: Progressive Relaxation is hard to master
False, progressive relaxation can be mastered in a matter of days to weeks
What are the three levels of muscle tensing?
Active, threshold, and passive
What is it called when you tense a particular muscle group only slightly?
Threshold tensing
When would you do passive tensing?
During a body scan, helps you deepen the state of relaxation
True or False: Deep muscle relaxation is compatible with anxiety
False, it is incompatible with anxiety and almost acts as an anti anxiety pill
What did Edmund Jacobson say that body's physical reaction to anxiety-filled thoughts and events is?
Muscle tension (a somatic response)
What is active tensing?
Tensing a particular muscle group as tightly as you can
When would you do active tensing?
Learning, it helps you learn to notice where you are creating tension
How long should a Progressive Relaxation session last?
15 minutes
Physiological tension increases the subjective experience of anxiety.
What is passive tensing?
When you simply notice any tension that is present in a particular muscle group
What is a mistake that many people new to the technique make?
Gradually relaxing the tension, the slow-motion release of tension actually requires sustained tension
What is the difference between long form and shorthand?
Long form works through tensing and relaxing each individual muscle while shorthand deals with whole muscle groups simultaneously.