There are two main approaches to relaxation training. (We have already briefly discussed them in Chapter 12 in connection with desensitization.) In both approaches you begin by reclining or lying down in a quiet room. Relaxation can then be achieved through tension and release or through suggestion. In the former, you tense a given muscle group, holding the tension for five to ten seconds, then release the tension and experience the relief from tension, or relaxation. In the latter, you consciously suggest to yourself that a group of muscles feels warm, heavy, very heavy, and relaxed, sinking into the recliner or bed or floor. Both approaches aim to achieve two things: to bring about deep, progressive muscular relaxation and to increase your sensitivity to the presence of tension in your body when it exists. Relaxation training is a learned skill. If you practice it regularly--that is, daily, for at least several weeks--you can gain increased control over your major muscle groups--those of the arms, legs, shoulders, back, abdomen, neck, and face. You gradually learn to recognize even low levels of tension in these muscles so that the tension can be eliminated consciously. Eventually, as you learn how to control physical relaxation, you are able to achieve deep relaxation in increasingly shorter periods of time. After regular practice over a period of months, many people, when they face a suddenly upsetting situation, can quickly offset their emotional and physical reactions to stress by inducing a calm and relaxed state in themselves. They are able to neutralize the stressor's potential for doing damage. If you can learn to do this, you have learned a skill in controlling your own life that is of great value. It is a survival skill that can help you protect yourself against being worn down by stressful events that otherwise eventually lead to learned habits of anxiety and tension. Once formed, these habits can be very difficult to get rid of.