Stress Management and Relaxation Techniques

Although the sheer size of this dense workbook might cause initial hyperventilation–280 full-size sheets of text–take heart (and a deep breath!): the many self-assessment tools and calming techniques presented in this fifth edition can help overcome anxiety and promote physical and emotional well-being. First introduced in 1980, the book received praise for presenting a comprehensive look at stress, its physical manifestations, and the multiple ways it can be managed. Twenty years later, its well-organized chapters on breathing, relaxation, meditation, thought stopping, and body awareness still guide the reader through copious self-help techniques to try and, eventually, master. Other chapters, including job stress management, goal setting and time management, and assertiveness training, focus on daily scenarios people often find distressing. Lessons in identifying key elements that trigger unpleasant responses and in reacting differently to these elements are designed to defuse perceived conflicts.

Brew yourself a cup of your favorite herbal tea and curl up in a quiet corner because you’re in for a treat. This book is exactly what the title says it is – a workbook for relaxation and stress reduction – and its user-friendly style enables the reader to dip into any chapter at will and derive something useful and informative from it. The book’s orientation is very much a holistic approach and the authors’ emphasis on mental coping methods dovetails nicely with the chapters on reducing physical stress symptoms. I found the progressive relaxation guidance (including instructions for creating your own tape) particulary well done and helpful. As the authors make so clear, many of us are unaware of how and where we store our tension and how our breathing impacts our ability to move from a stress response to relaxation. Methods such as progressive relaxation – systematically tensing and relaxing all the large muscle groups in the body – aid in gaining awareness of what we are experiencing physically both during stress and in relaxation. The book also discusses goals, time management, nutrition and exercise, with copious worksheets for the reader to dissect which area(s) he or she most needs to focus on to achieve more individual balance, and therefore less stress. The end of each chapter includes suggestions for further reading, providing the reader a jumping off point for deeper work in a particular area, if needed. Each chapter is a module for bringing about psyche/soma homeostasis. The book’s one drawback in my view is the length of the personal stress analysis worksheets. One is of course free to skip over them or complete only a portion of each one. Overall though, the book provides a palatable plethora of nurturing and nourishing ideas and methods for bringing mind, body and spirit to a place of respite and repose, whatever one’s outer circumstances may be.

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