neuro3

Reaping the Benefits
of Relaxation
Both in your daily life, as well as when you are actively engaged in
the exposure techniques described in chapters 7 and 8, we believe
you will find relaxation practices extremely valuable in reducing
anxiety. When you feel anxious, other people may try to help you
feel better by telling you not to worry, that everything will be all
right, or that you have no reason to be anxious. You may try the
same strategy with yourself. The problem with this approach is that
when you try to use thinking processes and logic to cope with feelings of anxiety, you’re relying on cortex-based methods. And by itself,
the cortex can’t reduce the stress response, for two primary reasons.
First, as we’ve noted, the cortex doesn’t have many direct connections to the amygdala. Second, the initiator of the stress response is
the amygdala. Therefore, interventions that target the amygdala are
more direct and effective in easing anxiety.
By activating the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and stimulating the release of adrenaline and cortisol, the central nucleus can
instantly increase heart rate and blood pressure, direct blood flow to
the extremities, and slow digestive processes. Consider Jane, who
had to give a speech. She found herself trembling, with her heart
pounding and her stomach feeling queasy. These spontaneously activated processes, whether described as anxiety, the stress response, or
the fight, flight, or freeze response, result from brain activities that
don’t lie within conscious awareness.
Rewire Your Anxious Brain
96
However, lack of conscious awareness doesn’t mean we completely lack control over these processes. For example, although we
don’t consciously control our rate of breathing most of the time, we
can deliberately modify it if we choose to do so. A variety of techniques have been developed for activating the parasympathetic
nervous system (PNS), which reverses many of the effects the central
nucleus creates by activating the SNS. As mentioned in chapter 1,
whereas activation of the SNS creates the fight, flight, or freeze
response, the action of the PNS is often referred to as “rest and
digest.” It slows heart rate and increases secretion of gastric juices
and insulin as well as activity of the intestines.
The PNS is more likely to be activated when people are relaxed.
That’s why medical professionals often encourage anxious patients
to engage in activities that strengthen the tendency toward PNS
activation and decrease SNS activation. Relaxation training is one
of the primary methods suggested to facilitate PNS activation. A
variety of studies have shown that techniques that promote relaxation, such as breathing exercises and meditation, reduce activation
in the amygdala (Jerath et al. 2012). When you reduce amygdala
activation, you reduce SNS responding, and with practice, the PNS
can be trained to intervene.
Relaxation Training
Relaxation training has been formally recognized since the 1930s,
when physician and psychiatrist Edmund Jacobson (1938) developed
a process called progressive muscle relaxation. Recent neuroimaging
studies have identified actual changes in the brain that occur when
people practice various relaxation techniques, including meditation
(Desbordes et al. 2012), chanting (Kalyani et al. 2011), yoga (Froeliger
et al. 2012), and breathing exercises (Goldin and Gross 2010). These
studies have found that many of these approaches almost immediately reduce activation in the amygdala, which is good news for
people who struggle with anxiety. We present several such techniques in this chapter, and we encourage you to try all of them to
Reaping the Benefits of Relaxation
97
discover which ones work best for you or which you prefer. Whichever
you choose to practice in the long run, you’ll know that scientific
evidence indicates that you can directly affect your amygdala when
you use them.
Most approaches to relaxation focus on two physical processes:
breathing and muscle relaxation. Individuals respond in different
ways to various relaxation strategies, but virtually everyone will
benefit from relaxation training. Relaxation is a very flexible
approach that can be used in many situations, and it has many beneficial effects, especially in the short term. The effectiveness of relaxation strategies is often immediately apparent. Relaxation is also an
integral component of more complex approaches to reducing stress
and anxiety, such as meditation and yoga.
Breathing-Focused Strategies
If you take a few moments right now to attend to your breathing, you
may be able to demonstrate to yourself some of the basic effects of
relaxation. Take a deep breath, making a point of expanding your
lungs as you inhale deeply and slowly. Don’t hold your breath. Allow
yourself to exhale naturally. Some people feel a reduction in anxiety
almost immediately when they do this for several minutes. Merely
altering your breathing and adopting a slow rhythm of deep breathing can be soothing and relieve stress.
People tend to hold their breath or breathe shallowly when experiencing something stressful, without being aware that they’re doing
so. Several specific breathing techniques can help you consciously
deepen your breathing and reduce your heart rate to counter physiological processes that are part of SNS activation. Here are a few
that are especially effective.
Exercise: Slow, Deep Breathing
The first technique is basically the same as what we described above:
slow, deep breathing. Practice it now, taking a few deep breaths. Inhale
Rewire Your Anxious Brain
98
slowly and deeply, and exhale fully. Don’t force your breathing; rather,
breathe gently both in and out. It doesn’t matter whether you breathe
through your mouth or nose—just breathe in a comfortable manner.
Note how this deliberate slowing and deepening of your breathing
affects you. Does it have a calming effect?
Not everyone finds slow, deep breathing to be calming. Increased
attention to breathing can increase anxiety in some people, especially those with asthma or other breathing difficulties. In such cases,
people may get greater benefit from relaxation strategies that focus
on reducing muscle tension or that use music or movement. That said,
most people are surprised at how effective simple breathing exercises
can be in reducing anxiety and increasing calmness almost immediately. Many students find this approach helpful before and during
exams. Nervous drivers use it while on the road, and people who
are claustrophobic often find it helpful when they’re in an enclosed
space. Plus, the breath is readily available in all situations. You can
practice slow, deep breathing almost anytime and anywhere, and it’s
completely free!
Breathing Techniques to Counter
Hyperventilation
When people are anxious, they’re likely to breathe quickly and
shallowly. They may not get enough oxygen, which produces an
uncomfortable sensation. Hyperventilation can also result, due to
expelling carbon dioxide too quickly, resulting in low levels of carbon
dioxide in the blood. This can cause dizziness, belching, a feeling of
unreality or confusion, or feelings of tingling in the hands, feet, or
face.
Hyperventilation disrupts the balance between oxygen and
carbon dioxide in the body, and the amygdala detects this instantly.
Correcting this imbalance using deliberate breathing techniques
sends a signal to the amygdala to relax. Consider Toni, who thought
her feelings of dizziness and tingling were just part of her anxiety.
Reaping the Benefits of Relaxation
99
When she learned that she was experiencing the results of hyperventilation, she found that she could reduce those symptoms by
simply attending to her breath.
People who are hyperventilating are often instructed to deliberately slow their breathing or breathe into a paper bag. The bag captures carbon dioxide when they exhale; therefore, breathing in from
the bag increases the amount of carbon dioxide inhaled and replaced
in the bloodstream. It’s a very effective method of reversing lightheadedness and other anxiety symptoms.
Diaphragmatic Breathing
A specific method of breathing known as diaphragmatic or
abdominal breathing is recommended for its particular effectiveness
in activating the PNS (Bourne, Brownstein, and Garano 2004). This
type of breathing helps turn on a relaxation response in the body. In
this technique, you breathe more from the abdomen than from the
chest, and the movement of the diaphragm (the muscle under the
lungs) has a massaging effect on the liver, the stomach, and even the
heart. This type of breathing is thought to have beneficial effects on
many internal organs.
Exercise: Diaphragmatic Breathing
To practice diaphragmatic breathing, sit comfortably and place one
hand on your chest and the other on your stomach. Take a deep
breath and see which part of your body expands. Effective diaphragmatic breathing will cause your stomach to expand as you inhale and
retract as you exhale. Your chest shouldn’t move much at all. Try to
focus on breathing deeply in a manner that expands your stomach as
you fill your lungs with air. Many people tend to pull their stomachs in
as they inhale, which keeps the diaphragm from expanding downward
effectively.
Rewire Your Anxious Brain
100
Shifting Breathing Patterns with
Regular Practice
Healthy breathing techniques can become second nature with
practice. Pay attention to your style and pattern of breathing and
work to consciously modify it. Practicing for brief, five-minute sessions at least three times a day can increase your awareness of your
breathing habits and help you train yourself to breathe in more
healthful, effective ways.
Also try to notice times when you’re holding your breath, breathing shallowly, or hyperventilating, and then make a deliberate effort
to adopt a better breathing pattern. Breathing is an essential bodily
response that you can control, and in the process, you can reduce
amygdala activation and its effects. With practice, you’ll find that
healthy breathing becomes a valuable tool and that it alleviates many
symptoms that you may have thought were part of your anxiety.
Muscle-Focused Relaxation Strategies
The second component of most relaxation training programs is
muscle relaxation, which also works to counter amygdala-based activation of the SNS. The SNS creates increased muscle tension
because fibers in the SNS activate muscles in preparation for
responding. Although the problems we face in today’s world are
seldom things we can fight or run from, this muscle tension is programmed into the nervous system, and people often feel stiff and
sore because of it. Luckily, as with breathing, you can modify your
muscle tension if you deliberately attend to it. Additionally, relaxing
your muscles can promote the PNS responding you want to increase.
People are often completely unaware that muscle tension builds
up as a result of amygdala-based anxiety. However, if you observe
yourself, you may find that you often clench your teeth or tense your
stomach muscles for no apparent reason. Certain areas of the body
seem to be vulnerable as repositories for muscle tension, including
Reaping the Benefits of Relaxation
101
the jaw, forehead, shoulders, back, and neck. Constant muscle
tension uses energy and can leave people feeling tight and exhausted
at the end of the day. The first step in reducing muscle tension is to
discover which areas of your body tend to tighten up when you’re
anxious. The next exercise will help you do just that.
Exercise: Doing a Muscle Tension Inventory
Right now, check your jaw, tongue, and lips to see if they’re relaxed or
tense. Consider whether muscle tension is tightening your forehead.
Determine whether your shoulders are loose, low, and relaxed, or
tightened up toward your ears. Some people tense their stomach as
though they expect to be punched any moment. Others clench their
fists or curl their toes. Take a brief inventory of your entire body to see
where you’re holding your tension at this moment.
Once you have an idea of which areas in your body are vulnerable
to muscle tension, you’re ready to learn to relax those areas. To begin,
you may find it helpful to experience the difference between feelings
of tension and relaxation in your muscles. The next exercise will help
you explore that.
Exercise: Exploring Tension vs. Relaxation
Tension is often experienced as a tight or strained feeling. In contrast,
relaxation is often described as a loose and heavy feeling. To help
you tune in to your own experience of tension versus relaxation, make
a fist with one of your hands and clench it tightly while counting to
ten. Then let that hand relax by dropping it limply into your lap or onto
another surface. Compare the feeling of tension that you experienced
as you clenched your fist to the feeling of relaxation while the muscles
are loose and limp. Do you recognize a difference? Also compare
the hand that you tightened and relaxed to the other hand and notice
whether one hand feels more relaxed than the other. Often, tensing
and releasing muscles helps create a feeling of relaxation in those
muscles.
Rewire Your Anxious Brain
102
Exercise: Progressive Muscle Relaxation
One of the most popular muscle relaxation techniques is progressive
muscle relaxation (Jacobson 1938), which involves focusing on one
muscle group at a time. It’s a practice of briefly tensing and then relaxing the muscles in one group, then switching to the next muscle group,
and then the next until all major muscle groups are relaxed. When you
first learn progressive muscle relaxation, it may take you up to thirty
minutes to complete the entire process of tensing and relaxing every
muscle group. With time and practice, you can train yourself to relax
your muscles more readily so much less time is required. If you practice diligently, eventually you’ll probably be able to achieve a satisfying
level of relaxation in less than five minutes.
We recommend doing this exercise while sitting in a firm chair.
Begin by focusing your attention on your breathing. Take a few
moments to practice slow, deep, diaphragmatic breathing. If you can
slow your breathing to five or six breaths per minute, it will promote
relaxation. You may find it helpful to think a word, “relax” or “peace,”
as you breathe. Or you might prefer to use imagery to enhance relaxation, perhaps imagining that with each exhalation you’re breathing
out stress and with each inhalation you’re breathing in clean air. Consider imagining that the stress has a color (perhaps black or red) and
that you’re breathing it out and filling yourself with stress-free, colorless air.
Next, you’ll begin to focus on specific muscle groups. Throughout,
maintain some attention on your breath and keep it slow and deep.
Begin by tensing the muscles in your hands by briefly clenching
your hands into fists. After a few seconds, let go and try to completely
relax your hands, including each finger. Let your hands drop into your
lap and feel gravity pulling them down. You may need to wiggle your
fingers to relax them.
Next, focus your attention on your forearms and create tension by
making fists again and also tightening your forearm muscles to briefly
create muscle tension in your forearms. After just a few seconds, drop
your hands into your lap and allow the muscles in your hands and
forearms to completely relax. Focus on releasing any tension in your
forearms and feeling the heaviness of relaxation.
Reaping the Benefits of Relaxation
103
Next, move to your upper arms, pulling your hands and forearms
close to your upper arms and tensing your biceps. Then completely
loosen and relax, allowing your arms to hang at your sides and feeling
how the weight of your relaxed hands and arms lengthens your biceps
into a relaxed state. Shaking your arms may help release any remaining tension.
Now turn your attention to your feet and tense them by curling your
toes. After a few seconds, release the tension by wiggling or stretching
your toes. Continue working up through your legs in the same way.
Tense your calves by leaving your heels on the ground and flexing
your feet and toes upward, then relax by stretching your feet out comfortably. Tense your thighs by pushing your feet into the ground, then
release and focus on the sensations of relaxation. Then tense and
release your buttocks.
Now move to the muscles in your forehead and tense them by
frowning. To relax, lift your eyebrows, then allow them to relax into a
comfortable position. Next, turn to your jaw, tongue, and lips, clenching your teeth together firmly, pushing your tongue against your teeth,
and pushing your lips together. Release the tension in your mouth by
allowing it to be slightly open, with your lips and tongue relaxed. This is
a good time to check to make sure your breathing is still slow and deep.
Now tense your neck by tipping your head back. To relax, gently
tip your head to one side, then the other, then gently tip your chin
toward your chest. Next, tense your shoulders by bringing them up
toward your ears, then relax completely, allowing the weight of your
arms and hands to pull your shoulders down. Finally, turn to your torso
and tighten the muscles in your abdomen as though bracing for a
punch to the stomach. Then relax completely, allowing your stomach
muscles to be loose and soft.
Take a moment to feel the sense of deep relaxation throughout
your entire body, then gently stretch comfortably and return to other
activities.
* * *
We recommend that you practice progressive relaxation daily,
preferably at least two times per day, until you’ve reduced the time
it takes to achieve relaxation to approximately ten minutes. Typically,
Rewire Your Anxious Brain
104
people eventually learn to relax most of their muscles without having
to tense them first, perhaps tensing only stubborn muscle groups that
seem particularly vulnerable to stress-related tension. Different groups
of muscles may be problematic for different people. For example, one
person may find that he’s constantly gritting his teeth, while another
holds tension in her shoulders. Learning to relax effectively is an individual process that you must tailor to yourself, with your specific needs
in mind.
Designing Your Own Strategies for
Muscle Relaxation
Try a variety of approaches to muscle relaxation and choose the
one that’s most effective for you. After all, you know yourself best. As
you experiment with different approaches, do bear in mind that,
with any technique, more practice is often required at first.
If you have an injury or chronic pain difficulties, tensing your
muscles may be counterproductive. If this is the case for you, you can
follow the above procedure for progressive muscle relaxation, but
instead of tensing each muscle group first, simply turn your attention
to each muscle group in turn and try to completely relax and loosen
all of the muscles in that group. Even if you use the tensing recommended in progressive muscle relaxation, once you master the
process of relaxing your muscles you should feel free to use the
tension-free approach, which is more efficient because it’s quicker.
For the most effective approach to reducing activation of the amygdala and SNS in order to produce a PNS response, combine
breathing-focused methods with muscle relaxation.
Imagery
Using imagery, or visualization, is also a beneficial relaxation strategy. Some people have the ability to imagine themselves in another
location and can use visualization to effectively attain a relaxed
Reaping the Benefits of Relaxation
105
state. If you’re one of those individuals, you may find that imagining
yourself on a beach or in a peaceful forest glade allows you to achieve
a more satisfying state of relaxation than a focus on muscle relaxation does. Either way, the most important goal is to achieve deep
breathing and relaxed muscles. That’s the key to reducing activation of
the amygdala. The truth is, it doesn’t matter whether you attain this
state by directly focusing on your breathing and muscles or by imagining yourself in a setting that allows you to relax.
Exercise: Assessing Your Ability to Use Imagery
Read through the following description of a relaxing situation, then take
a few moments to close your eyes and imagine yourself in that setting.
Imagine yourself on a warm beach. Feel the sun warming your
skin and the cool breeze coming off the water. Listen to the
sounds of the waves as they wash against the shore and the
calls of birds in the distance. Allow yourself to relax and enjoy
the beach for several minutes.
How well were you able to imagine yourself in the described
setting? If the visualization arose for you readily and you find it pleasant and engaging, we highly recommend that you use imagery as one
of your relaxation strategies. It may allow you to achieve a relaxed
state more effectively than other approaches. On the other hand, if
you found it difficult to relax using this method and noticed your mind
wandering, you’ll probably find other strategies more helpful.
Exercise: Practicing Imagery-Based Relaxation
When you use imagery to relax, you take yourself to another location
in your imagination. Start by slowing your breathing and relaxing your
body as you mentally travel to another scene. We’ve provided a guided
script based on the image of a beach below, to give you an overview
of the process, but feel free to choose any location you enjoy. The key
is to close your eyes and allow yourself to experience this special place
in detail. Try to use all of your senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, and
Rewire Your Anxious Brain
106
even taste) as you imagine yourself in this particularly relaxing situation. You might ask someone to read this script to you so you can close
your eyes and focus.
Imagine yourself walking on a sandy path to a beach. As you
walk on the path, you’re surrounded by trees that keep you
in dark shade. You feel the sand begin to get into your shoes
as you walk along. You can hear the leaves in the trees softly
moving in the wind, but up ahead you hear another sound:
gentle waves washing up on shore.
As you continue, you leave the shade of the trees to walk
out onto a sunny, sandy beach. The sun warms your head
and shoulders as you stand still for a moment to take in your
surroundings. The sky is a beautiful shade of blue, and wispy
white clouds seem to hang motionless in the sky. You take
off your shoes and feel the warm sand as your feet sink in.
Holding your shoes, you move toward the water. The sound of
the waves rhythmically washing up on the shore has a hypnotic
quality. You breathe deeply, in unison with the waves.
The water is dark blue, and far off, on the horizon, you can
see a darker blue line where the water meets the light blue sky.
In the distance, you see two sailboats, one with a white sail
and one with a red sail; they appear to be racing one other.
The damp smell of driftwood reaches your nose, and you see
some driftwood nearby. You place your shoes on a smooth,
weathered log and walk toward the waves.
Seagulls swoop overhead, and you hear their excited cries
as they glide on the gentle breeze coming in with the waves.
You feel the breeze on your skin and smell its freshness. As you
walk toward the waves, you see the sun reflected on the water.
You walk into the damp sand, leaving footprints now as you
walk along the shore. A wave breaks over your feet, surprisingly
cold at first.
You stand still as the waves wash over your ankles.
Listening to the repetitive sound of the waves and the cries of
the gulls, you feel the wind blowing your hair away from your
face. You take slow, deep breaths of the cool, clean air…
Reaping the Benefits of Relaxation
107
We recommend that you end each imagery session gradually,
counting backward slowly from ten to one. With each number, gradually become more aware of your surroundings—the actual environment around you. When you reach one, open your eyes and return to
the present moment feeling refreshed and relaxed.
Through imagery, you can take a trip each day that’s limited only
by your imagination and that can decrease SNS activation in just a
few minutes. Choose locations that you can explore and that lead
to feelings of peace and comfort. As you practice, remember that
visualization will be most effective at reducing amygdala activation
if you achieve relaxation in your muscles and slow and deepen your
breathing.
Meditation
Various meditative practices—including mindfulness, which is currently the most popular approach—have been shown to reduce
amygdala activation (Goldin and Gross 2010). All forms of meditation involve focusing attention, perhaps on the breath, or perhaps on
a specific object or thought. Extensive research on meditative practices has shown that they affect a variety of processes in both the
cortex and the amygdala (Davidson and Begley 2012). Because it’s a
relaxation strategy that can target the cortex, we’ll provide a more
detailed explanation of meditation, and mindfulness in particular, in
chapter 11, “How to Calm Your Cortex.” However, meditation is also
an effective method for calming amygdala activation, particularly
when the focus of attention is the breath.
If you’re experienced in meditation or interested in it, we encourage you to pursue this practice. Research has demonstrated that a
regular practice of meditation can reduce a variety of stress-related
difficulties, including high blood pressure, anxiety, panic, and insomnia (Walsh and Shapiro 2006). But most importantly for people who
struggle with anxiety, meditation has also been shown to have direct
and immediate calming effects on the amygdala. It produces both
short-term and long-term effects in the amygdala, reducing amygdala
Rewire Your Anxious Brain
108
activation in a variety of situations and increasing PNS activation
(Jerath et al. 2012). Clearly, it’s an effective relaxation strategy, and
we’ve spoken to many people who find that incorporating regular
meditation into their morning routine decreases their overall
anxiety and helps them feel more prepared to cope with the demands
of the day.
Breath-Focused Meditation
Many approaches to meditation include a focus on the breath,
with meditators concentrating on the experience of breathing or
modifying the breath in some way. Studies have shown these breathfocused practices to be effective in reducing the amygdala’s reactivity. In one study (Goldin and Gross 2010), people with social anxiety
were trained in either breath-focused meditation or distraction techniques. Then they were presented with negative self-beliefs related to
their anxiety, such as “People always judge me.” Those who had
engaged in breath-focused meditation had less amygdala activation
in response to the statements. In another study (Desbordes et al.
2012), adults without an anxiety disorder were trained in breathfocused or compassion-focused meditation. All experienced a general
and lasting decrease in amygdala activation, with those who were
trained in breath-focused meditation experiencing greater benefits.
Using meditation effectively requires some practice. In most
studies, people received at least sixteen hours of training prior to
being assessed as to whether practicing meditation had changed
their amygdala functioning. So for maximum benefit, you may wish
to seek specific training from a therapist or other instructor.
Mindfulness approaches to meditation are particularly popular at
this time, and books on mindfulness techniques are plentiful. (We
list some that we recommend in the “Resources” section.) There’s
also a good chance that you can find a therapist or other mindfulness meditation instructor in your area.
Meditation techniques that focus on breathing and relaxation
seem to be most effective in modifying the amygdala’s response. One
Reaping the Benefits of Relaxation
109
study (Jerath et al. 2012) found that after meditation, people have a
slower breathing rate and increased PNS activation. These effects
are probably central to its effectiveness. The next exercise will help
you enjoy the benefits of reducing activation of the amygdala through
a focus on breathing.
Exercise: Breathing Meditation
This practice is very straightforward. Close your eyes if you like and
simply focus your attention on your breath. Breathe in through your
nose, and as you do so, attend to the way the air feels as it travels
through your nostrils. Don’t force the breath; simply take in long, slow
breaths and observe the sensations of inhaling and exhaling in your
nose and chest. Enjoy the sensations of breathing.
Notice the difference between the air moving into your nostrils
and the air coming out. Pay attention to the way the air causes your
lungs to expand. Notice the different stages of breath: as you inhale
and air fills your lungs, and as you exhale and your lungs empty. Then
focus only on the process of inhalation, noting that the beginning of
an inhalation feels different than the process of inhalation or the end
of an inhalation. Notice the same aspects of exhaling: the beginning,
the middle, and the end.
During this meditation, your mind is likely to wander to other
thoughts. This is common and natural. When this happens, just bring
your focus back to your breath. If it wanders fifty times, bring it back to
your breath fifty times.
Continue focusing on your breath for about five minutes, then
slowly and gently come out of the meditation.
Relaxation as a Daily Process
Whatever approach you choose, working opportunities for relaxation into your daily schedule is an essential part of coping with fear
and anxiety. Consider practicing in the morning or evening, during
work breaks, or even on public transportation or while walking. Try
Rewire Your Anxious Brain
110
to schedule at least three or four opportunities for some type of
relaxation each day. Even a five-minute relaxation session can reduce
your heart rate and muscle tension. If you’re prone to panic attacks,
relaxation strategies can help prevent them or provide relief. In addition, regular practice can help reduce your overall stress level.
Like most people who struggle with anxiety, you may find that
tension tends to build gradually over the course of your day. You can
thank your central nucleus and SNS for keeping your body in this
tense, alert state. As your central nucleus activates your SNS during
the day, you can keep switching your SNS off by using relaxation to
activate your PNS. Just like an air conditioner that keeps cooling a
home, you need to keep cooling off your amygdala. The advantage of
the techniques in this chapter is that, unlike air-conditioning—or
medication or psychotherapy—they cost nothing beyond a small
amount of time. If you practice relaxation techniques routinely,
eventually they will become second nature and help decrease your
general anxiety level.
We’ve outlined a number of different approaches to relaxation
that can be helpful in reducing activation of the amygdala. There’s
no single right way to achieve the relaxation that reduces amygdalabased anxiety; you simply need to find which techniques work best
for you. Of course, the ability to relax is only beneficial if you use it
when you need it, so be sure to choose strategies you can incorporate
into your daily life. If you’re only able to achieve muscle relaxation
while lying down, or can only use imagery when your surroundings
are perfectly silent, you won’t be able to use those techniques in all
situations. This may mean that you sometimes need to use different
techniques, or it may just mean you need more practice.
Summary
Sometimes you may try to reason yourself into calming down, using
cortex-based strategies in an attempt to think yourself into relaxing.
We hope this chapter has helped you see the usefulness of another
approach. Instead of focusing on your thoughts (the cortex approach),
Reaping the Benefits of Relaxation
111
you can work directly on the physiological responses that the central
nucleus of the amygdala is initiating and counter them with PNS
activation. The ultimate goal is to increase activation of your PNS to
help you recover from the stress response and promote well-being.
Slower breathing and relaxed muscles will send a message directly to
the amygdala that the body is calming down, which is more likely to
calm the amygdala than all of the thinking you can do.