Telling your body to relax rarely works. Telling it to work hard, and then stop, often does.
What's happening
Stress tension is muscles bracing without ever getting to finish the job. When you contract a muscle hard on purpose and then release it, the letting go is much easier to feel. That's the idea behind progressive muscle relaxation, developed by physician Edmund Jacobson almost a century ago.
The tool: push the wall
Stand an arm's length from a wall, palms flat against it at chest height.
Push as hard as you can for ten seconds. Keep breathing.
Let go completely and let your arms hang for ten seconds.
Repeat three times. Notice the warmth and heaviness in your arms and chest.
When to use it
When you feel keyed up with nowhere to put it: after a frustrating message, before a negotiation, or when you can't sit still.
Go easy if you have a shoulder or wrist injury.
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