What is relaxation?

Life, and school life in particular, can be stressful for pupils. Stress can impair their academic progress and their relationships with adults and peers. According to Stokes and Whiteside (1987), ‘80% of learning difficulties are related to stress. Remove the stress and you remove the difficulties’. Skills that help pupils to manage emotions and reappraise events – to ‘look at things differently’ – can be crucial in coping with this stress. Most people develop a range of coping skills to help them to understand and reduce the feelings and symptoms of stress over the course of their life. Relaxation is just one coping skill that can be drawn upon.

Relaxation works on the mind and body, promoting an holistic harmony, and better concentration and awareness. The purpose of relaxation is to:

• reduce negative feelings
• release tension
• restore energy
• encourage calming thought processes.