Behind the Relaxation Response

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In a mass-media world, we find ourselves bombarded with information of all kinds.  And among the pieces of information sold to us are all manner of life-changing meditations and techniques, all of which promise undying happiness, and fulfillment, but many of which, users find, turn out to be bogus.

But not everything on the Internet or in the mass media is bogus: in fact, a surprising amount of it turns out to be actually effective for reducing stress and bettering an individual’s life.  What we all need, then, is a way of sorting out the bogus techniques from the authentic ones.  What we all need is the informational equivalent of a miner’s sifting pan: the useless information falls through the cracks, leaving only the gold on top to be collected.

Luckily, we have such a sifting pan.  It’s called the scientific method.  By testing the claims we hear or read against practical experience, or by seeing how those claims fit into the domain of proven scientific research, we can determine which promised life-changing techniques can really change a life and which we should just let slip through the cracks.  We can see just how and why a given technique works.  In particular, we can see why the relaxation response is worthy of our belief.

The fact that the relaxation response follows from tenets of Eastern medicine is certainly no argument against it, but can fail to convince certain types of people.  A certain mental process occurs when you read a claim like “It never rains in Lithuania”: since you don’t know from experience whether it rains in Lithuania or not, you’re more likely to either accept or reject the claim based on prejudices than on your own experience.  Similarly, when you read a claim like “Eastern Buddhists have worked with relaxation techniques for hundreds of years”, your feelings toward the subject matter are more likely to influence your belief in it than whether you actually know anything about what Eastern Buddhists have or haven’t worked with.  The fact that Eastern Buddhists really have worked with relaxation techniques for hundreds of years is often beside the point: Eastern medicine, to some fairly close-minded people, seems immediately suspect and won’t convince.

What sets the relaxation response apart from some of the murkier life-changing philosophies, then, is its firm grounding in well-documented and scientifically-minded Western medicine.  Western science knows that the mind learns by means of a process known as long-term potentiation.  What this means is that when two brain cells fire in sequence (for example, if you think of “2+2” and then think “4”), connections develop between the cells that make them more likely to fire in that sequence in the future.  This is the same brain mechanism used by Pavlov in conditioning his dogs: the sound of the bell and the idea of food became connected in the dogs’ minds, to the point that the sound of the bell caused immediate salivation in the dogs whether food was brought or not.

The relaxation response and Benson’s faith factor are equally founded on long-term potentiation.  Firm belief in a religious doctrine, philosophy, or even emotions toward a specific person often leads to feelings of confidence, comfort, and relaxation, and results in a reduction in anxiety and stress.  Benson uses the example of a child whose wounds are kissed better by a parent: to the child, a parent means love and comfort, and even though a kiss doesn’t actually repair damaged blood vessels or skin cells, the feelings of comfort associated with the parent’s kiss wipes out the stress and anguish created by the injury.

The “faith factor” in Benson’s relaxation response comes in with his instructions to think exclusively about a simple phrase from a system of ideas or associations in which an individual feels a great amount of positive belief.  Mantras, to some, seem hokey; in the case of the relaxation response, they’re grounded in proven science–the process of long-term potentiation.  Like the child with the parent’s kiss, when we couple our relaxation with affirmations of strong belief, we activate those parts of the brain associated with that strong belief.  This leads to a rush of confidence, to a loss of anxiety, and to the relief of bodily pain and stress: in short, exactly what Benson promises for his technique.  And it’s not hokum: its science.

Don’t believe it?  Try it for yourself, or take a look at published relaxation research in Benson’s book or online: all of the references and studies are there for you to look at.  In fact, checking on the truth of claims is a skill that everyone should use as frequently as possible.  Another tenet of Eastern Buddhism runs as follows: if you see the Buddha, knock him down; find out for yourself what you will and won’t believe.  Many times, you’ll find that there was nothing to believe in at all.  But a look at the science behind the relaxation response proves that it’s well worth believing in.

The 4th R is a resource and training center for learning how to relax based in South West London. It was founded by Charles Moore, whose health flourished under his own innovative application of relaxation techniques based upon the MythoSelf® Process.

For more articles or information visit
www.the4thr.co.uk
info@the4thr.co.uk

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