Guided Imagery Relaxation Technique

RELAXATION is an important part of taking good care of yourself. It's a common enough word, yet very few of us have had much experience with real relaxation. By "real relaxation" we mean something different from exercising or just zoning out, different from socializing or pursuing some distraction like TV or a computer game or a book. We need those kinds of things, but they're not what we're talking about here. Real relaxation is a focused, intentional period of time during which one is mindful and alert, and yet one's muscles are relaxed. It's not necessarily as easy as it might sound. But when you get good at it, it probably restores energy and boosts mood and performance levels better than any of these other activities.

Guided imagery is an alternative way to achieve a deeply relaxed state; and a third procedure, cue-controlled relaxation (also known as Bensonian relaxation), enables us to easily relax our selves when confronting the stressors of daily life.