Breathing and relaxation exercises are great allies to combat different types of disorders, in addition, they are also useful in the day to day of many people who use these tools daily, the gains are immense, but the difficulties of relaxation exercises and there are also obstacles that prevent their execution.
Because of them, many do not achieve their goal: to reduce psychophysiological activation. When someone practices Jacobson’s Progressive Muscle Relaxation or Schultz Autogenic Training, some of these issues can arise which we will discuss below.
- Progressive muscle relaxation is a technique developed by Jacobson.
- Whose background is found in Eastern philosophies.
- Meditation and yoga.
Its main objective is to reduce activation allowing general relaxation. By treating the body as a whole, this technique deduces that by releasing the different muscles, the body sends signals to our brain that lead it to promote total relaxation.
The nervous system has two distinct areas: the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, the sympathetic is related to activation, while the parasympathetic is related to relaxation.
These two areas cannot be activated at the same time, as it is impossible to be tense and relaxed at the same time.
Therefore, the goal of progressive muscle relaxation is to disable the sympathetic system to activate the parasympathetic system. The most important effects caused by relaxation are decreased muscle tone and slower breathing.
For progressive muscle relaxation to work, frequent training is required (it is to achieve automation).
Training consists of exercises in which the muscles relax and tighten, one by one, for several seconds, following a chain of muscle groups. First, relax your arms, then your face, neck, belly, and legs.
The ultimate goal is that, in order to relax, the person no longer needs to perform stress-tension exercises. When you feel tension in your muscles because you are nervous or anxious, your muscles can automatically relax when you learn to train.
In this training, however, problems can arise that hinder learning or make the person think the exercises are useless and stop training.
Many times, both during training and in day to day, it is convenient for the person to relax to satisfactorily perform their daily tasks and achieve their goals, in view of this scenario, we list below the main difficulties related to relaxation exercises .
It is important to keep them in mind to correct them, and also to avoid being overcome by obstacles. There are reactions in the body that, although strange, become normal when undergoing these relaxation exercises.
Here are some of the difficulties of the practice itself
Here are some difficulties in the form of subjective sensations that practice can generate:
Many times these difficulties will hinder the day’s training. They can even scare those who feel the unwanted consequences of this relaxation.
No problem if you can’t overcome a difficulty at some point if you keep working on it.
Finally, when it comes to strange sensations, they should be considered normal, because as the body gets used to relaxation exercises, they disappear.
They should not be grounds for discouragement or inspiration for thoughts that indicate that we are doing everything wrong.
At no time, even if it is complicated, should a person leave training, it is recommended to continue until they have control of their muscles and can relax pleasantly.