If you read the Stress page, you learned what happens to your body when you are stressed. During relaxation, the opposite happens:

- Heart rate decreases

- Breathing rate decreases

- Blood pressure is lowered

- Oxygen consumption is reduced

- Carbon dioxide release is reduced

- Muscles relax and heal

- Proper digestion resumes

- Normal vision is restored

- There is blood circulation everywhere

During relaxation, the body nourishes and heals itself.

In the 1930s, Dr. Edmund Jacobsen, considered a pioneer in muscle physiology research at Harvard, Cornell and the University of Chicago, found that levels of muscular tension could be altered when people imagined themselves performing various events. When people imagined eating a sandwich, their jaw muscles would get electrically activated; when they imagined running, their leg muscles would get electrically activated. He noticed that muscular tension was a major problem in many medical complaints, and devised a technique known as Progressive Muscular Relaxation, to help relax the muscular tension. Many variations of this techniques are now being used.

Why do we need to RELAX? In a state of relaxation, our bodies have the optimal ability to do maintenance work, or to repair and regenerate damaged parts. Our bodies seem to be able to withstand intense periods of stress, if followed by relaxation. The example often given is of a hunter, surprised by a lion. After the initial shock, the hunter's body reacts and the episode is over shortly: he is either eaten (no need to relax his body any longer) or, through intense fight or flight, he gets away. During the flight/fight response, the hormones poured in his body to help him achieve that level of intensity are burnt, and the repair work starts as soon as he collapses, exhausted by his adventure.

Nowadays, the fights are not that physically intense, and we often don't even know precisely what we are fighting. We get a negative letter in the mail or a bothersome phone call, and our bodies tense up for action: however, there is no "real" fight, nor places to flee to. The tension is not resolved immediately, and it takes time for the body to process the "stress hormones". Before this tension is over, we are faced with another letter/phone call. More stress hormones are poured in the body, no real processing takes place and we do not usually take the time to relax before we get yet another troublesome letter or phone call.

Little by little, unresolved tensions build up in the body, and dis-eases start to show up.

Relaxation classes are offered to help ease today's stresses, as well as private sessions using the EPFX-QXCI to relax and rebalance the body's energy system.

For more information, click on the link below.