Tense and release
Progressive muscle relaxation.
You tense one muscle group hard for a few seconds, then let it go completely, and the release lands lower than where you started. This paces you through eight of them, feet to face, in under three minutes.
Ready
Tense and release
Eight muscle groups, feet to face. Tense each one, then let it go.
Under three minutes. Free, no account, nothing saved.
You cannot think your way out of a clenched body.
If you want to keep going
From the Lab
Progressive muscle relaxation, paced for you
Almost everything written about progressive muscle relaxation is a script: a page of instructions telling you to hold for five seconds, release, and move on. Scripts have a practical problem, which is that following one means reading while you are supposed to have your eyes closed, or timing yourself while you are supposed to be letting go. This does the timing instead, so there is nothing to remember and nothing to read once you have started.
It is free, needs no account, plays no audio and stores nothing. Eight groups, five seconds of tension and fifteen of release each.
Where the technique comes from
It was developed by the American physician Edmund Jacobson in the 1920s and 1930s, on the premise that mental calm follows physical calm rather than the other way around. The reason it starts with tensing, which seems backwards, is that a muscle released from deliberate tension settles lower than one you simply asked to relax, and the contrast is also what teaches you to notice tension you had stopped feeling.
The eight groups, feet to face
feet (curl your toes down, hard), calves (pull your toes up towards your knees), thighs (press your knees together and squeeze), stomach (pull your stomach in tight), hands (make a fist. squeeze), arms (bend your elbows and tense your arms), shoulders (pull them up towards your ears), and face (screw your whole face up tight). Working upward is the order most published versions use, and it means the exercise finishes at your face and jaw, where a lot of people hold the most.
Common questions
Does progressive muscle relaxation actually work?
For everyday stress and for getting to sleep, it has reasonable support, and it is one of the better-studied relaxation techniques because the instructions are so specific. It is not a treatment for an anxiety disorder on its own. Expect it to lower physical tension in a few minutes, not to resolve what caused the tension.
Is progressive muscle relaxation good for anxiety?
It helps most with the bodily side of anxiety: the clenched jaw, the tight shoulders, the stomach you did not notice you were holding in. Because it gives your attention a concrete physical task, it also tends to interrupt a racing mind more reliably than being told to relax. If anxiety is constant rather than occasional, treat this as support and speak to a doctor.
Who should not do progressive muscle relaxation?
Skip any part of your body that is injured, sore or recovering, and do not tense into pain anywhere. If you have a muscle, joint or back problem, are pregnant, or have a condition affected by deliberate muscle tension, check with your doctor first. Tensing hard is the part of this technique that carries a real, if small, physical risk.
How long does progressive muscle relaxation take?
Full versions run 10 to 20 minutes and work through more groups in more detail. This one is a short version: eight groups, five seconds of tension and fifteen of release each, which comes to under three minutes in total. Short and actually done beats long and skipped.
When to use it
It suits the end of the day, and it suits lying in bed when your body is still braced from hours ago. If your mind is the louder problem, grounding or paced breathing will get there faster, and the sleep wind-down is built for the hour before bed.
Tense each muscle firmly but never into pain, and skip any part of you that is injured or sore. If you have a muscle, joint or back problem, are pregnant, or have a condition affected by muscle tension, check with your doctor before using this. This is a self-guided exercise for everyday stress, not treatment.