History
The history of mindbody relaxation goes back two and a half thousand years to the origins of yoga. But the modern history of mindbody relaxation begins with Dr. Edmund Jacobson of the University of Chicago. In the 1920s he developed a technique called progressive relaxation, in which patients were taught to progressively relax their muscles. Dr. Jacobson explicitly stated that by relaxing the muscles of the body an individual would feel more relaxed in general.
In the 1960s Dr. Hans Selye, an endocrinologist at the University of Montreal, was the first to document the physical consequences of stress on the immune system. Dr. Selye coined the word stressor, which has become part of the vocabulary.
Also in the 1960s Dr. Herbert Benson, a cardiologist at Harvard, began to study the medical benefits of relaxation. Dr. Benson conclusively proved the mindbody connection by showing that simple relaxation techniques could lower people's blood pressure, slow their heart rate, and calm their brain waves. He called that effect "the relaxation response". In 1975 Dr. Benson wrote a popular book called The Relaxation Response.
Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, a molecular biologist at the University of Massachusetts, took these ideas and is largely responsible for the adoption of meditation by hospitals and health care.
Read more about this topic: Mindbody Relaxation
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Systematic philosophical and practical anti-intellectualism such as we are witnessing appears to be something truly novel in the history of human culture.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps the underground aquifers flowing; it is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all.”
—Ben C. Bradlee (b. 1921)