What is the Relaxation Response?
The counterpart to the fight-or-flight response, the relaxation response, occurs when the body is no longer in perceived danger, and the autonomic nervous system functioning returns to normal. As a form of meditation, the relaxation response tends to be well received by those with busy minds.
Physician Herbert Benson was a pioneer in studying the physiological changes that occurred during meditation techniques. Benson can be largely credited for demystifying meditation and helping to bring it into the mainstream, by renaming meditation the “Relaxation Response.”
