Quick Overview: Relaxation techniques are practices intended to bring about the body’s relaxation response. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health identifies progressive relaxation, guided imagery, self-hypnosis, and breathing exercises as examples. You can recognize progressive relaxation by tensing muscles and releasing tension. Guided imagery uses calming objects, scenes, or events as a focus. Breathing exercises may focus on slow, deep breaths. The National Institute of Mental Health states that psychotherapy can include mindfulness and relaxation techniques, including meditation and breathing exercises. This general information does not establish what any particular therapy will include.
Relaxation techniques are a category of practices rather than a single activity. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health describes them as practices intended to bring about the body’s relaxation response. That response is characterized by slower breathing, lower blood pressure, and a reduced heart rate.
Recognizing the names and basic descriptions of these practices can help distinguish what a source is describing. It cannot determine whether a practice fits a particular person, situation, or therapy experience.
What Makes a Practice a Relaxation Technique?
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health uses “relaxation techniques” for practices intended to bring about the body’s relaxation response. Its examples include progressive relaxation, guided imagery, self-hypnosis, and breathing exercises.
The category also includes practices with different points of focus. Progressive relaxation focuses on muscle tension and release. Guided imagery focuses on objects, scenes, or events associated with relaxation or calmness. Breathing exercises may focus on slow, deep breaths, also called diaphragmatic breathing.
The National Institute of Mental Health lists mindfulness and relaxation techniques, such as meditation and breathing exercises, among elements that psychotherapy can include. This does not mean that every psychotherapy approach includes these practices or that a particular provider uses them.
Practice Note: Rooted Integrative Therapy lists individual therapy, couples therapy, group therapy, and therapy intensives. The available practice facts do not establish whether the practice offers relaxation techniques or whether any specific technique would be part of a service.
Types of Relaxation Techniques to Recognize
Progressive Relaxation Uses Muscle Tension and Release
Progressive relaxation is also called progressive muscle relaxation. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health describes it as a technique that involves tensing different muscles in the body and then releasing the tension.
This description distinguishes progressive relaxation from imagery-based or breathing-focused practices. Its defining feature is the sequence of tension followed by release in different muscles.
Guided Imagery Uses Objects, Scenes, or Events
Guided imagery is also called visualization. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health describes guided imagery as picturing objects, scenes, or events associated with relaxation or calmness and attempting to produce a similar feeling in the body.
Its defining focus is imagined content: an object, scene, or event. This differs from progressive relaxation’s focus on muscles and from breathing exercises’ focus on breath.
Breathing Exercises Focus on Slow, Deep Breaths
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health identifies breathing exercises as a type of relaxation technique. It states that breathing exercises may involve focusing on slow, deep breaths, also called diaphragmatic breathing.
The National Institute of Mental Health also includes breathing exercises among relaxation techniques that psychotherapy can include. These statements describe a possible element of psychotherapy, not a required part of psychotherapy.
Self-Hypnosis Uses a Prompt or Cue
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health identifies self-hypnosis as another example of a relaxation technique. In self-hypnosis programs, people learn to produce the relaxation response when prompted by a phrase or nonverbal cue, called a suggestion, of their own.
This definition separates self-hypnosis from the other examples by its use of a phrase or nonverbal cue. It does not establish what a particular program or provider offers.
A Question-Based Reflection Table
This table is for identifying the information a description provides. It is not a way to select a treatment or predict an outcome.
| Reflection question | What the available information can clarify |
|---|---|
| Does the description involve tensing muscles and then releasing tension? | Whether the description matches progressive relaxation. |
| Does it involve picturing an object, scene, or event associated with relaxation or calmness? | Whether the description matches guided imagery. |
| Does it focus on slow, deep breaths? | Whether the description matches a breathing exercise. |
| Does it mention a phrase or nonverbal cue used to produce the relaxation response? | Whether the description matches self-hypnosis. |
| Is the practice described as part of psychotherapy, or only as a relaxation technique? | Whether the description makes a claim about psychotherapy. |
Relaxation Techniques in Therapy: What the Sources Establish
The National Institute of Mental Health explains that psychotherapy, also called talk therapy, refers to a variety of treatments that aim to help a person identify and change troubling emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. It states that psychotherapy can include mindfulness and relaxation techniques, including meditation and breathing exercises.
That statement establishes that relaxation techniques can be included among elements of psychotherapy. It does not establish that relaxation techniques are part of every therapy approach, every therapy meeting, or every provider’s work.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health describes the relaxation response as the opposite of the stress response. It identifies characteristics of the response, but general descriptions of the response do not determine an individual result from a particular practice.
When reading about relaxation techniques in therapy, a clear boundary is important: source descriptions can define practices and identify examples, but they do not determine personal fit, outcomes, or what a specific service includes.
Questions to Bring to a Consultation
- What services does Rooted Integrative Therapy offer?
- How is a consultation call used to ask questions and consider fit?
- What information is helpful when requesting an appointment?
- Is individual therapy among the services currently available?
- Is care available in person near Orem and Provo or virtually across Utah?
FAQs
What are examples of relaxation techniques?
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health identifies progressive relaxation, guided imagery, self-hypnosis, and breathing exercises as examples of relaxation techniques.
What is progressive relaxation?
Progressive relaxation involves tensing different muscles and then releasing the tension. It is also called progressive muscle relaxation.
What is guided imagery?
Guided imagery, also called visualization, involves picturing objects, scenes, or events associated with relaxation or calmness and attempting to produce a similar feeling in the body.
Are breathing exercises relaxation techniques?
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health identifies breathing exercises as a relaxation technique. It describes them as possibly focusing on slow, deep breaths, also called diaphragmatic breathing.
Can psychotherapy include relaxation techniques?
The National Institute of Mental Health states that psychotherapy can include mindfulness and relaxation techniques, including meditation and breathing exercises. This does not establish what a particular therapy service includes.
Sources and Further Reading
Sources used for this article:
- National Institute of Mental Health: Psychotherapies
- nccih.nih.gov: Relaxation Techniques What You Need To Know
A Grounded Next Step
Rooted Integrative Therapy’s FAQs describe scheduling a consultation call as an initial step with an opportunity to ask questions and consider fit. The practice offers in-person therapy near Orem and Provo and virtual therapy across Utah. Alina Hovsoyan, LCSW, is listed by Rooted Integrative Therapy. To make an inquiry or request an appointment, visit the Connect page.
Please do not include urgent or highly sensitive clinical information in a general inquiry.
This article is for general education only. It is not a diagnosis, treatment plan, or substitute for individualized mental-health care. A qualified mental-health professional can help you consider what fits your circumstances.