Is stress causing you uncomfortable muscle tension? Here’s a coping strategy to help!

People with anxiety difficulties are often so tense throughout the day that they don’t even recognize what being relaxed feels like. Through practice you can learn to distinguish between the feelings of a tensed muscle and a completely relaxed muscle. Then, you can begin to “cue” this relaxed state at the first sign of the muscle tension that accompanies your feelings of anxiety. By tensing and releasing, you learn what relaxation feels like and how to recognize when you are starting to get tense during the day.