What You Will Learn in this Chapter

• To discriminate between active and passive relaxation.

• To practice diaphragmatic breathing as a method for calming the fight-or-flight reaction and coping with stress.

• To practice other breathing techniques for lowering arousal.

• To explain the relationship between ultradian rhythms and relaxation.

As we mentioned before, the path toward stress mastery is lifelong. As the concepts and techniques become part of the daily fabric of your life, your capacity to thrive from stress continues to refine and become more elegant. Clearly, to deal with stress effectively, you must pay attention to both your body and your mind. A dramatic example of this is a study that showed that meditators tended to age more slowly than nonmeditators. During meditation one focuses on quieting both the body and the mind through the act of fixing on a single thought, image, or visualization.

Truth be told, the distinction between body and mind is really an artificial one. We now know that body and mind are really one, an intricately interrelated system where thoughts give rise to our physical reactions and, in turn, our physical reactions trigger our various thoughts. But for the purpose of learning how to begin traveling on the path toward stress mastery, it is useful to talk about addressing your body first. It is very difficult to change the way you think if your body is simultaneously sending messages of danger. Addressing the body is best accomplished by learning active relaxation.

Most people confuse inactivity with relaxation. You might say, “I do relax. I go home and sit down in front of the TV, watch my favorite programs, and let the stress of the day melt away.” But the fact is that when subjects' level of stress, as indicated by physiological arousal, is measured while watching TV, a negligible, if any, decrease is evident. Passive relaxation such as this is not nearly as effective in reducing stress. What is needed is relaxation aimed at reducing the fight-or-flight response and thereby restoring balance or homeostasis. Active relaxation involves becoming aware of your body and your physiological reactions so that you may consciously reduce your level of arousal.