Rapid Relaxation (also known as Applied Relaxation and Cue-Controlled Relaxation) is an evidence based CBT technique which was initially developed to help treat conditions such as Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and panic disorders. However, it has now become a more widely spread tool for helping people effectively manage everyday stress.

 

In Rapid Relaxation sessions you are taught how to shift your physiological state out of a stress response, and back into homeostasis. This is a natural function of your nervous system which helps you to stay calm, focussed and feel more confident in the face of challenges.

 

How can learning to relax on command be helpful in our lives?

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'Relaxation' sounds like a luxury. Like the type of thing you might experience when you’re blissed out on a beach somewhere or on the verge of sleep. In fact, we often think of being more ‘relaxed’ as meaning more sleepy, drowsy and maybe even lethargic.

But being ‘relaxed’ physiologically, means that your nervous system is in a state of homeostasis. So you’re calm, focussed and have access to all of the crucial creative centres in the brain - the ones which govern problem solving, reasoning, motivation and emotional regulation.

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Our alternative mode of operation is what’s called a ‘survival’ response. It’s your body and mind perceiving something that could be in any way threatening, and revving you up in order to protect yourself or to flee from the situation. Being in a survival response will feel familiar to you because it’s all the standard symptoms of stress - things like a raised heart rate, shortened breath, muscular tension, and erratic thinking.

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In these sessions we employ relaxation skills training to teach your body and mind how to enter into a state of calm, centred homeostasis. We then use a systematic combination of physical, verbal or visual cues, along with heightened focus and repetition to create a conditioned association in the brain between this physiological state of calm and a 'trigger'. This means that, where appropriate, you can shift yourself into this state of calm on command.

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This truly is a superpower. Because knowing that you can approach situations and events that would usually rattle you, in a calm, focused and mentally resourceful state can make for a very different life experience indeed.