From the author: Despite the fact that relaxation is one of the main methods of work of a psychologist, very often this method is underestimated by both specialists and clients themselves. This happens because people are accustomed to considering it as a way of relaxation, sometimes equating it with meditation. But relaxation itself has a very wide range of indications and, when used correctly, can have a powerful healing effect on both the soul and body. Relaxation is not just relaxation, but the path...to health! “People who know how to relax not only have greater flexibility of thinking, but are also better equipped to deal with stress.” R. Copelan The hot summer is behind us, and with it the carefree days of a fleeting vacation, when you could lie all day on the couch or on the beach, tinker in the garden beds at a country dacha, wander the streets of the city at night, in short - relax completely. Ahead are gray everyday life with a busy work schedule, cold, dampness and sheer hassle... Don’t rush to despair! You can easily regain the carefree feeling of lightness in your body and flight in your soul using the relaxation method. Relaxation, as a phenomenon, is often devalued and confused with idleness and “doing nothing.” In fact, this is a very effective and powerful method of psychotherapy. Introduction to the method and the history of its origin Relaxation (from the Latin word “relaxatio” - “relaxation”) is a special method that appeared abroad in the 30-40s. XX century, aimed at relieving muscle and nervous tension with the help of specially selected techniques. RELAXATION - a voluntary or involuntary state of rest, relaxation, associated with complete or partial muscle relaxation. Occurs as a result of the release of tension, after strong experiences or physical effort. It can be involuntary (relaxation when going to sleep) and voluntary, caused by adopting a calm posture, imagining states usually corresponding to rest, relaxing the muscles involved in various types of activity. Muscle relaxation methods are historically the earliest techniques of body-oriented psychotherapy and are still remain its main methods. The emergence of relaxation techniques is based on Eastern spiritual and religious practices that have developed their own psychoregulation techniques. When penetrating into European culture, these esoteric methods were subject to reworking, primarily from the point of view of a pragmatic approach. The first Western specialists to apply the relaxation method in their activities and develop their own muscle relaxation techniques were the American psychologist E. Jacobson and the German neuropathologist I. Schultz. As a psychologist, E. Jacobson studied objective manifestations of emotions. One of the ways to assess a person’s emotional state was to record muscle tension. The specificity of changes in muscle tone was discovered in various psycho-emotional disorders, neuroses and psychosomatic diseases. E. Jacobson called the discovered relationship between muscle tension and neuropsychic tension neuromuscular hypertension, which he considered as a manifestation of the reflex principles of the functioning of the nervous system. He proved that muscle relaxation helps relieve the state of hyperexcitation of the nervous system, helping it to rest and restore balance. Therefore, teaching a person the skills of muscle relaxation is useful both for relieving mental tension and for eliminating the symptoms of a number of diseases (such as headaches, heart pain, gastritis, hypertension, etc.) In addition, additional effects of muscle relaxation are improved sleep, elimination of “muscle tension,” emotional “release” and increased performance. Relaxation can be different... There are a great variety of techniques, techniques and methods aimed at relieving tension and relaxation. The relaxation stage is one of the mainpreparatory stages when providing psychological assistance to various categories of clients and it is no coincidence that it is a mandatory component of trainings of various types (including business trainings and personal growth trainings). Relaxation is one of the auxiliary techniques in sports and autogenic training, speech therapy work, acting, etc. To teach a person to independently use the skills of muscle relaxation and mental self-regulation, there are special relaxation trainings. A modern psychologist must have in his working arsenal a sufficient number of relaxation and meditative exercises. After all, it is known that relaxation is not limited only to the effect of relaxing the muscles of the body. The skills of self-relaxation and self-regulation, as well as the ability to restore physical and psychological resources in a short time, are now in demand in a variety of areas of human activity. The range of application of relaxation techniques is quite wide: it includes removing muscle tension, working through emotional trauma, treating psychosomatic diseases, and much more. In addition, training in various relaxation techniques is available to both adults and children. Conventionally, several main types of relaxation can be distinguished. By time: long-term - occurring during sleep, hypnosis, under pharmacological influences and relatively short-term - replaced by tension. By method of implementation: muscular and mental (figurative). By origin: primary (natural, arising spontaneously after physical activity) and secondary (purposefully caused, created under artificial conditions). By depth: superficial and deep. Superficial relaxation is equivalent to a short rest. Deep relaxation lasts at least 20 minutes and is performed using special techniques. It is deep relaxation that has a powerful effect on the body and has known healing properties. According to the speed of occurrence: emergency (emergency relaxation methods in case of urgent need) and prolonged (involving long-term training and systematic use for medicinal purposes). As an example of emergency (fast) relaxation You can use the metaphor of M.E. Stormy, describing such “instant” relaxation. A bird, exhausted from a long flight, falls like a stone from the cloud-like heights. And in this rapid fall, reflex mechanisms of muscle relaxation are activated. Thanks to natural, natural, life-saving relaxation, in a short moment of falling, the bird has time to rest in order to continue its flight. Likewise, a person who has mastered the techniques of muscle relaxation can, in a short period of time, create the conditions for the necessary inner peace in order to restore strength and relieve physical and psychological stress. According to the scale of impact: general (total) and differentiated (local). Differentiated (local) relaxation involves the elimination of local muscle tension through selective intensive relaxation of individual muscle groups. The first stage of this exercise is self-observation, which is used primarily after stressful situations. The purpose of this observation is to find areas in the body of stagnant muscle tension, felt as pain or heaviness, especially aggravated in connection with unpleasant emotions. Then, along with a deep, long exhalation, you need to instantly relieve tension (“exhale with relief”). To achieve a greater effect of muscle relaxation, you can combine the described methods of general and differentiated relaxation with the respiratory relaxation technique - working with sensations in the area of ​​tense muscles using “directed” breathing. When using this method in medical practice (for example, during manual therapy), each tension-relaxation cycle ends with passive movements performed with the help of a doctor to gently stretch the corresponding muscles(“post-isometric relaxation”). Well-known psychotherapeutic methods often combine several types of relaxation at once, which makes them as effective as possible. As an example, we can cite the methods of E. Jacobson and I. Schultz that we mentioned at the beginning. E. Jacobson’s method of progressive muscle relaxation is based on the principle that after a strong muscle tension occurs, their strong relaxation occurs. That is, in order to relax a muscle, you need to first tense it strongly. By alternately straining different muscle groups, you can achieve maximum relaxation of the whole body. This type of muscle relaxation is the most accessible; it is used in a playful form even with small children. In autogenic training (AT) by I. Schultz, in order to achieve a state of relaxation, not real preliminary muscle tension is used, but an ideomotor modification of its tone (the “mental” method movements"). This corresponds to the more general principle of ideodynamics, according to which mental representation alone causes a physiological reaction of the body without the participation of consciousness (according to M. Sandomirsky). The main elements of relaxation here are sensory awareness and guided imagination. This is careful observation and memorization of bodily sensations of muscle relaxation, on the basis of which the skill of voluntarily reproducing these sensations, and, along with them, the necessary functional state is developed. This type of relaxation can be called more advanced, since it is its mastery that gives a person the opportunity to control the state of his The body can independently and effectively cope with tension and stress. What are the benefits of relaxation Relaxation is a fairly common phenomenon and is understood differently by everyone. Therefore, you can get different effects from it: from passive “relaxation” with meditative music to curing a serious illness. It all depends on the knowledge and level of training of a person. The effectiveness of relaxation as a special method has been studied and proven, its possibilities are endless, but in practice it is mainly used in the following areas: · As a means of relieving muscle “tightness”, accompanied by pain, local fatigue and limitation of movements . The appearance of painful lumps in the muscles of the neck and limbs can be associated with both psychological reasons, that is, chronic stress, and with initially physical reasons, disorders of the peripheral nervous system (osteochondrosis of the spine, musculofascial pain). More often, there are causes of both types, which overlap each other (the “mutual burden” syndrome).· As a way to restore the body’s energy balance. Good relaxation helps restore the body's energy and gives all muscles and joints proper rest. Excellent physical condition is closely related to improved blood and lymph circulation. All organs, from the brain to the limbs, are enriched with oxygen, which stimulates the metabolic, respiratory, digestive and other functions of the body, and, in addition, the body gains strength to overcome stress. · As a means of restoring mental balance and emotional response. When talking about relaxation as a psychotechnique for personal growth, it is necessary first of all to keep in mind its use as a subtle tool for creating transformational, altered states of consciousness in combination with the technique of sensory awareness. · As a way of healing the body. All of the above functions of relaxation in their totality lead to the body getting rid of chronic stress and gaining access to new resources for survival and self-healing. In addition, the process of deep muscular and mental relaxation itself has a beneficial effect on the autonomic nervous system, which regulates the activity of internal organs. To correctly understand the basis of changes occurring in the body, it is necessary to consider psychophysiologicalideas about the mechanisms of muscle relaxation and its influence on the functional state of a person. Psychophysiology of relaxation As is known, muscle tone is not a passive state, but an active process, physiologically representing a reflex to stretch a muscle, due to which, in fact, movement occurs. The system for regulating muscle tone is multi-level and controlled by the central nervous system. When relaxed, the flow of electrical impulses (sensory impulses) coming from the muscles to the cerebral cortex, and from the muscles to the activating system of the brain (reticular formation), which maintains the cerebral cortex in a wakeful state, decreases. . Thus, a decrease in muscle tone reduces the flow of information from the muscles to the brain. Such partial sensory deprivation reduces the level of wakefulness, which allows our brain to rest and “recharge” for further fruitful work. Against the background of the described decrease in the level of wakefulness, general protective (according to I.P. Pavlov) inhibition of the cerebral cortex, its “conscious” parts, then there are frontal lobes that “fall asleep” faster, which reduces their excessive activation. This is especially true for the frontal (anterior) cortex of the dominant, left hemisphere of the brain, which is initially in a more active and often “overexcited” state, which is often the cause of mental stress and neurotic disorders. Relative sensory deprivation also creates conditions for local activation of the cerebral cortex , redistributing the processes of voluntary attention to its individual areas associated with viscero-sensory sensitivity and controlling the functional state of internal organs. Thus, the “inward” focus of attention that occurs during deep relaxation helps the body deal with problem areas and improve health. Relaxation for men and women... There is a certain group of muscles that have a special stimulating effect on the brain - these are the facial and masticatory muscles. Therefore, it is impossible to completely relax without relaxing the muscles of the face, tongue and lower jaw. By learning to relax this muscle group, you can learn to quickly relieve tension even in cases where it is not possible to lie down or sit comfortably in a chair. In autogenic training, the “Relaxation Mask” is used for these purposes. The “Relaxation Mask” exercise is done as follows: 1. To relax the chewing muscles with your head upright, silently pronounce the sound “y” and let your jaw drop.2. Relax your tongue. This can be done using the silent syllable “te”. If you are sitting, the tongue should “loose” relaxed in the space of the lower jaw, gently resting against the back surface of the lower teeth. If you are lying down, the tip of the tongue rests slightly on the back surface of the upper teeth (the lower jaw moves slightly downward).3. Stay in this state for several minutes, observe how, with the relaxation of the masticatory muscles, a wave of relaxation passes throughout the body, how the facial muscles relax, the eyelids become heavier, and the gaze becomes blurred (this occurs due to the relaxation of the muscles that focus the lens).4. The exercise should be completed with an exit, as in auto-training classes (see No. 8 of the magazine “RiTM Psychology for Everyone”). If the exercise lasted less than 10 minutes and/or a deep autogenic state did not occur, it is enough to take several deep breaths and sharp exhalations, then stretch your whole body while inhaling and open your eyes as you exhale. For women, it will be useful to add facial massage to the “relaxation mask”. Such a psychological massage can become an indispensable rejuvenating cosmetic procedure. Participants in our relaxation trainings really like to do this procedure: it not only calms and improves mood, but also slightly tightens the circular muscles of the face and smoothes out small expression wrinkles. This occurs due to the fact that when chronic tension is relieved from the face and jaw, blood supply and oxygen increase