The Relaxation Response
Original price was: $17.99.$12.74Current price is: $12.74.
Price: $17.99 - $12.74
(as of Aug 09, 2025 07:35:09 UTC – Details)
In this time of quarantine and global uncertainty, it can be difficult to deal with the increased stress and anxiety. Using ancient self-care techniques rediscovered by Herbert Benson, M.D., a pioneer in mind/body medicine for health and wellness, you can relieve your stress, anxiety, and depression at home with just ten minutes a day.
Herbert Benson, M.D., first wrote about a simple, effective mind/body approach to lowering blood pressure in The Relaxation Response. When Dr. Benson introduced this approach to relieving stress over forty years ago, his book became an instant national bestseller, which has sold over six million copies. Since that time, millions of people have learned the secret—without high-priced lectures or prescription medicines. The Relaxation Response has become the classic reference recommended by most health care professionals and authorities to treat the harmful effects of stress, anxiety, depression, and high blood pressure.
Rediscovered by Dr. Benson and his colleagues in the laboratories of Harvard Medical School and its teaching hospitals, this revitalizing, therapeutic tack is now routinely recommended to treat patients suffering from stress and anxiety, including heart conditions, high blood pressure, chronic pain, insomnia, and many other physical and psychological ailments. It requires only minutes to learn, and just ten minutes of practice a day.
Publisher : William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication date : February 8, 2000
Edition : Expanded,Updated
Language : English
Print length : 240 pages
ISBN-10 : 0380815958
ISBN-13 : 978-0380815951
Item Weight : 6.2 ounces
Dimensions : 5.25 x 0.54 x 8 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #45,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #157 in Healing #174 in Stress Management Self-Help #244 in Meditation (Books)
Customer Reviews: 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,145 ratings var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });
Customers say
Customers find this book to be a great foundational resource for meditation, with well-researched scientific data and a simple technique that can be done by anyone. They appreciate its effectiveness in helping with relaxation and blood pressure control, and consider it worth every penny. The book receives mixed feedback about its era, with some describing it as an “oldie but goodie” while others find it somewhat dated. The page length is also mixed, with several customers noting it’s brief.
11 reviews for The Relaxation Response
Add a review
Related Products
Original price was: $17.99.$12.74Current price is: $12.74.
Sam Reed –
Meditation
Great book
David Witt –
A classic that demystifies Transcendental Meditation
I first read this book in the mid-80s as a part of a sports psychology program I was participating in. It was designed to help you relax in pressure situations. You learned how to center, relax, and focus on your breathing. It worked great and I used it to improve my performance.I rediscovered the book from a completely different angle recently while exploring Zen meditation resources. It came up with a number of other books while searching here on Amazon. It was so well rated, that I bought another copy and was reintroduced to the concepts as a much different person 40-years older!The concepts still ring true and work great. If you’d like to explore a Western take on an Eastern philosophy–take a look at The Relaxation Response.
Brian –
Underrated and effective
“The Relaxation Response” might be the holy grail of self-actualization: A simple method, backed by science, without any jargon. Although Benson’s method of relaxation comes from studying Transcendental Meditation (TM), the process laid out in the book is secular and can be done by anyone, regardless of religious affiliation or lackthereof. The only problem is that the Relxation Response is so simple, that most of the book doesn’t feel necessary.Before we get into it, you should be aware that the entire Relaxation Response method is available online, for free. Benson himself explains it, step by step, in multiple YouTube videos and online articles; the book doesn’t offer any “secret techniques” or addons to the relaxation response. It seems to me that the author wants the world to know about the Relaxation Response, with how easily available the technique is.The ease and accessiblity of the Relaxation Response, which consits of entering a “neutral” state of mind and silently repeating a word or phrase for fifteen or twenty minutes, is a double-edged sword. The method is described twice, in the intro and in a later chapter, and even the longform explanation takes about five pages. The rest of the book is a breakdown of stress, a discussion of how the Relaxation Response was studied, and a comparison of world religions and how they all, in one way or another, use the Relaxation Response. Even with all the padding, the book is barely 200 pages. In other words — the method is great, but the book itself isn’t very important.One wishes there were more books like The Relaxation Response. It’s refreshing to read a “self-help” book that gives you an easy, actionable method, and does it without any mysticism or jargon. The book is realistic, and doesn’t try to sell you a pie-in-the-sky. The book itself, however, doesn’t feel necessary in the 2020s, considering the Relaxation Response method is available online, for free. If you’ve already learned the Relaxation Response, the book doesn’t give you anything new.
Amazon Customer –
It works! And the method is a tool that I keep using for life!
This method really works for relaxing, improving focus. It’s a method not based in religion, it is purely logical.I practiced it for 4 months while I was studying for a very difficult exam, and I passed in the exam. During the exam day, it seemed that the answers came to my mind easier, instead of the blanks that I used to have in this kind of exams. I guess the blanks were based on anxiety, and the relaxation method helped me get less anxious during the exam.Also, after practicing this method for a few months, I can get the relaxation response easier now. I don’t practice daily anymore, but sometimes when I find myself in bed with difficulty to sleep, I start doing the method, and after a few minutes I forget about the difficulty and I sleep.The method is really simple. But the book is good as you understand the fundamentals of it, what it was based on.Thank you dr. Herbert Benson for your studies and for writing this book! It helped me for sure!
Dennis Muzza –
Great information, but it is there anything new here?
The message of this book could be summarized as “Relaxation is good for your health. You can relax by 1)Finding a quiet place 2) Sitting in a comfortable position/posture that will keep you alert but won’t lead you to sleep 3) choosing a mental device that will let you concentrate 4) maintaining a passive attitude during this period”. The rest of this book goes into the health dangers of stress (as understood in 1975),the health benefits of relaxation and how it differs from sleep, different ways to evoke the relaxation response, and how the relaxation response has been evoked throughout history in the context of various cultures and religions. I think this book is of great historical interest because it was one of the first attempts to expose the dangers of stress in a clear way (I found his discussion on how high blood pressure leads to heart disease particularly illustrating) and gave scientific validity to age-old ways of treating it without involving the methods traditionally sanctioned by Western medicine such as surgery and high-priced pills. His findings are based on research he performed with Transcendental Meditation followers, so he spends much effort on qualifying his conclusions, adding disclaimers, and otherwise protecting himself from possible attacks because of his work with such a fringe group. I think this limits the practical usefulness of the book and makes it somewhat dated, particularly since no one today questions that stress is bad and relaxation good. I think a more appropriate revision of this book should include not just a new introduction by the author, but also references to current research on which meditation techniques or approaches bring the most tangible health benefits and how they differ from placebos. A new assesment on the advantages of modern medicine vs. alternative therapies for preventing heart disease would also be in place. By being properly updated, a book of this nature would be very influential in setting a balance between the new age crowd that has little regard for science in medicine, and the medical establishment that has a vested interest in the status quo and thus rejects alternative medicine as a whole.
Tinaalt51 –
Helps relieve stress
Very helpful a must buy
John Herman –
I read this book back in the 70’s and it has stayed with me all these years. What this book does is show how to teach yourself how to mediate to bring a new power of conceptions and relaxation. This is not against any religion or beliefs as some may think. no, it just shows how to master peace of mind under any stressful situation. You will learn how to teach yourself how to calm yourself at a doctors appointments, job interviews, dentist appointments, and just plain stress relief.I know the above is true because I have used Dr. Benson’s technics for the past 36 years and if I could, I would thank him for writing this book. It is powerful and will change your life believe me. Those that have used other writters books to compare to Dr. Benson writings or have used other methods may find fault with this book. I don’t know why but I guess you can’t please everyone.I have just ordered some of his new books but still recommend Relaxation Response because of the simple methods explained in obtaining results immediatlely. This is the reason I believe that it was a best seller world wide. If you use this method to handle just about anything you may incounter in your life, you will be very glad you purchased this book. For the price, what have you got to lose?
Maria Rosalia Poblaciones –
Muy claro y útil para iniciar la práctica de meditación.
JOHN C FRASER –
Simple idea but great explanation. Highly recommend this book to control excess anxiety and tension. But you have to do it – not just read about it!
zengios –
I like the honesty of this book and the fact that it clearly sets out the case for a simple method of relaxation that can be practised by anyone. If youâre thinking of paying a lot of money to learn Transcendental Meditation, think again. Buy or borrow this book instead and find a way that the author has tested scientifically and has found to be equally effective. He has newer books that take the method further.
Jens –
Good guide to experience the benefits of meditation/relaxation yourself…Herbert Benson is a bit too passive in promoting the general benefits of meditation in my view…. but i can understand this is the result of years of fighting against the medical establishment