Tension Control: an in-depth look

The ability to relax under stress is an essential part of personal safety.

The main purpose of tension is to put us in a state of readiness to respond to danger, threat or risk. Our senses receive an alarm signal, which triggers a series of changes to the body. These reactions are generally unpleasant (e.g. racing of the heart, muscle tension, headache, sweating and nausea) but they are useful; they let us know it is time to take action to manage or control the tension before it becomes damaging.

Quick Action Release of Tension (QART)

Once our alarm buttons have been pressed, it is difficult to relax our internal organs and racing brain by will-power alone. One way in which we can break the vicious circle is by deliberately relaxing every muscle: this will help to send calming messages to the brain and sub-conscious, causing them to switch back to ‘relax’ mode. This is a useful technique if you find yourself in a situation that is threatening or if you find yourself tensing up. In cases of serious threat you could actually freeze, be unable to breathe or even pass out.

This quick relaxation technique will stop the tension from taking over and help you react in a positive way. It is achieved by first contracting and then relaxing each of the major muscle groups in turn. This is because muscles work in pairs – when one is tense the other is relaxed to allow movement to occur. QART allows you to feel the difference between contraction (tension) and relaxation. The idea is that in the end you will be able to relax your muscles at will, as you will know what the difference feels like. However this might take some time, therefore practice is essential.

The commands to each joint are:

• Tense and feel (hold each position for about 5 seconds before you stop)
• Relax
• Feel the result

Remember while you are doing this exercise to keep your breathing deep and slow.

Facial Muscles

• Lift your eyebrows as high as they will go as you try and tense your scalp muscles.
• Feel all the tension, and then relax. At this stage, stop concentrating on your breathing, and concentrate on how relaxed your head is feeling. Upper Body Muscles
• Pull your shoulders towards your feet. Feel the tension and stop pushing.

Upper Limbs

• Push your upper arms slightly away from your sides. Do not lift them. Feel the position. Stop moving. Now recognise the new feeling.
• Stretch your hands until your fingers rise at the tips. Now relax and feel the new position. Now turn your attention to your breathing. Check that you are breathing deeply and slowly. Stomach and Pelvic Muscles
• Pull your stomach in as tight as you can, pulling your navel in towards your spine. Relax.
• If sitting, push your body into the support. Now stop. Feel the support holding your weight.

Now concentrate on your breathing again.

Lower Limbs

• Tense your legs. Stop and feel
• Curl your toes up. Stop and feel.
• If in a sitting position, push your feet away from your face (slowly). Now stop. Feel the result of your feet dangling loosely.

Go back to your breathing.

By this time you will have learned the difference between tension and relaxation in many of your major muscle groups. Repeat the routine until you are sure to recognise the sensations of tension and relaxation.

This technique is also useful for diminishing some of the visual signals of tension which you might be showing to an aggressor. In this case you need to be aware of where the tension is in your body and just concentrate on this area until you have managed to relax the relevant muscles. This will not necessarily have the effect of reducing your anger or fear, but will make you look less aggressive or less like a victim and enable you to be more in control and make more effective use of your body to stay safe.

Memorising a relaxation technique may sound difficult but, once you are familiar with the routine, you will find yourself putting the technique into practice with little conscious effort.

How to practice

For best effect, this technique must be practiced.

As you slowly tense the muscle groups, visualise the tension being pushed out of your body from the top downwards and out of your feet.

Eventually you will get to the stage of being able to visualise yourself going through this process, feeling the benefits of the tension and relaxation.

After two or three weeks of practice you may be able to get yourself to this relaxed state just by visualising the light feeling going through your body and will no longer have to do the active contracting and relaxing.

BRT (Breathing to Release Tension)

Quite often in threatening situations, people tend to breathe in sharply or even hold their breath. The result affects our voice – it can sound weak and unconfident, the anger can sometimes be heard in the voice, or we could even be unable to make any sound at all. This is not very effective in a personal safety situation. We may want to shout an instruction such as “Get the police!”, or “Stop!” We would not necessarily be heard if our breathing, and therefore our voice, has been affected by the fear. We may also choose to defuse the situation, in which case we would need to sound confident, or to show empathy through the use of our voice. Again this is not necessarily possible if our voice has been affected by our breathing.

Proper breathing also ensures a regular supply of oxygen to the brain to allow you to think straight. There are two important things to note when you are doing breathing exercises. The first is that you must make your breathing slower, deeper and more regular than usual. The second is that you concentrate on the process. During your breathing exercises you will need to consciously push your diaphragm down. You should feel your stomach pushing out. When you breathe out, do the reverse. The key point here is the conscious breathing out motion.

1. Let your breath go
2. Slowly breathe in through your nose, expanding your lungs.
3. Hold your breath for about a short while.
4. Breathe out slowly through your mouth.

Repeat once or twice, each time taking slightly longer to complete the cycle and trying to keep the passage of air flowing at a steady, even rate.

THESE TECHNIQUES NEED TO BE PRACTISED TO BE ABLE TO IMPLEMENT THEM WHEN NECESSARY. THEY ALLOW US TO:

• THINK MORE CLEARLY ABOUT THE SITUATION
• MAKE APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENTS OF THE SITUATION
• MAKE APPROPRIATE DECISIONS ABOUT THE SITAUTION
• TAKE AN APPROPRIATE COURSE OF ACTION