The Relaxation Response

The Relaxation Response
by Miriam Z. Klipper, Herbert Benson

The Relaxation Response
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Book Summary Information

Author: Herbert Benson, Miriam Z. Klipper
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-02-08
ISBN: 0380815958
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Product features:
  • ISBN13: 9780380815951
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
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Book Reviews of The Relaxation Response

Book Review: Woo Hoo!
Summary: 5 Stars

This is worth the money to own -- it's so, so worth it... I did another review once for a somewhat similar book -- "The Quiet Mind," by White Eagle. That is a more explicitly "spiritual" book than this one, full of little aphoristic sayings that often refer to God, or "the light"... I still like that book, but I wanted to speak up in favor of this approach to having a quiet mind, also. "The Relaxation Response" is really quite short and to-the-point, and has a fundamentally Western, rational, scientific feel to it. The end goal is very similar to White Eagle's book, however. Herbert Benson helps us to know the value of taking just ten or fifteen minutes each day to breathe, to say your private mantra over and over, and to simply Be... I think a lot of people out there have some pretty flaky mental associations with the word "mantra." People immediately think of the Beatles saying "heavy, man" and binging in a huge way on LSD-laced mandarin oranges, or some similar image. Benson shows that meditation need not be like this. A mantra could be basically any simple, calming phrase -- anything that doesn't provoke fitful spasms of hysterical laughter is probably fine.

One example of a poor choice of a mantra would be "get... get... get... out... out... out..." like hockey mask-wearing Jason in the "Friday the Thirteenth" movies. A better one might be something calming, such as "decaf for me, please... decaf for me, please... decaf for me, please..." or, better still, the name of a beloved childhood pet. That's what I use, the name of the dog we owned when I was a kid, and it works for me. You can use a pleasant-sounding nonsense word if you want, also. Furthermore, it isn't necessary to be given a mantra in a personalized, ritualistic fashion by a personal guru, like many TM practioners used to advocate in the 70s. It's okay to pick your own, whatever works for you, a lot of those gurus were just a bunch of frauds.

This book is worth owning, for the further calming effect of being able to view the author's helpfully compiled graphs, and his discussions of the experimental sessions that led to his understanding of the essence of meditation. What he is basically going to tell you to do, however, is simply to take a few minutes a day to sit comfortably, breathe in and out, chant quietly, and try to let your mind empty itself out. Emptying the mind of extraneous thoughts is not meant to feel like wringing water out of a wet washcloth, either -- it should feel like leaving the washcloth hanging loosely over a clothesline, and letting the water, the thoughts, drip to the ground below of their own, unhurried accord, for just fifteen tranquil minutes a day. I wish I had discovered this book years ago. Two mellow thumbs up -- check this one out.

Summary of The Relaxation Response

When Dr. Herbert Benson introduced this simple, effective, mind/body approach to relieve stress in The Relaxation Response twenty-five years ago, the book became an instant national bestseller. Since that time, millions of people have learned the secret of the relaxation response--without high-priced lectures, drugs, or prescription medicine. The tremendous success of this approach has turned The Relaxation Response into the classic reference recommended by most health care professionals and authorities to treat the harmful effects of stress.

This revitalizing, therapeutic approach, discovered by Dr. Benson and his colleagues in the laboratories of Harvard Medical School and its teaching hospitals, is now routinely recommended to treat patients suffering from heart conditions, high blood pressure, chronic pain, insomnia, and many other physical ailments. Requiring only minutes to learn, and just ten to twenty minutes of practice twice a day, the Relaxation Response has proven to be one of the most effective ways to relieve the tensions of modern-day living for a richer, healthier, more productive life.


When you look at the popularity of mind-body medicine today, it's hard to understand what a groundbreaking book this was when it was first published in 1975. Based on studies at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Herbert Benson showed that relaxation techniques such as meditation have immense physical benefits, from lowered blood pressure to a reduction in heart disease. The Relaxation Response demystifies the mantra meditation used in the transcendental meditation program, explaining how anyone can reap its advantages with or without the help of a guru. If you want to understand the beginnings of today's alternative medicine movement, or if you're simply looking to learn a simple meditation technique without a lot of metaphysical trappings, this is a good place to start. --Ben Kallen

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