Fractional relaxation

Fractional relaxation is a method of releasing muscular tension in one small part of the body at a time, such as relaxing one finger, then relaxing another, then adding another... Then the whole hand is relaxed, followed by the forearm, and then the upper arm...  The other arm is relaxed next, starting with a finger...  Then the legs (each starting with a toe)... and so on, including all body parts (including all the parts of the head) until the entire body is relaxed. The fractional relaxation approach is often used in preparation for trance induction and hypnosis, but is very useful as a relaxation technique by itself. The theory behind this tension release method is that it is easier to relax a fraction of the body than it is to relax the whole body all at once. Once mastered (which doesn't take long), fractional relaxation can be used to relax the entire body in seconds.