The Relaxation Response

When faced with stressful situations, our bodies release hormones—adrenaline and noradrenaline, or epinephrine and norepinephrine—to increase heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, metabolic rate and blood flow to the muscles, gearing our bodies either to do battle with an opponent or to flee.

Secular or nonreligious people were encouraged to focus on words, phrases, or sounds that were compelling to them, such as the words love, peace, or calm.

Regular elicitation of the Relaxation Response can prevent, and compensate for, the damage incurred by frequent nervous reactions that pulse through our hearts and bodies.

we discovered that only the middle two components—the mental device and the passive attitude—were required.

A mental device—a sound, word, phrase, or prayer repeated silently or aloud, or a fixed gaze at an object A passive attitude—not worrying about how well one is performing the technique and simply putting aside distracting thoughts to return to one’s focus