Benson and Wallace’s work was actually following on from Dr Edmund Jacobson (1888-1983 - like Einstein another contemporary of Lekhraj but whose work, service & legacy stand in complete contrast).
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To know more about someone who should be known by more people today, see
Dr. Edmund Jacobson Dead; Specialist In Tension Control and
The man who invented relaxation.
What is not stated in these articles is that Jacobson largely developed his techniques in response to treating what we would today call PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) or shell-shock for veterans of WWI, in which he fought. In WW2, he applied his techniques to fighter pilots who had to be returned to fly more missions ASAP.
And, in the Vietnam War, where, for veterans and war victims, EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing) was used, a form of therapy based on the connection between eye movements and post-traumatic anxiety symptoms.
Another anecdote not in those articles is how he was only 10 years old when people’s reactions to a nearby building fire inspired his curiosity into why humans react to different stimuli the way they do.
The word ”relaxation” actually took on its current meaning of a mental state of mind after Jacobson’s and Benson’s work in psychosomatics, ”relaxation" back then being the buzzword the way ”mindfulness” is today's current buzzword.
Jacobson’s method is very similar to the Buddhist Yoga idea of Kaya Vipasana, or ”clearly seeing body” - noting where you are ‘holding on’, i.e. where the muscle tensions are and consciously doing what is needed to allow them let go. It is based on a principle that mental stress and muscle tension create a kind of feedback loop (Jacobson was a bio-feedback pioneer too BTW). You might say his methods were the diametric opposite to ”soul consciousness” as a way to relieve stress, which you could argue is really only a kind of diversionary, affirmation therapy.
Ironically, at least one of their methods was incorporated into popular Yoga practices, particularly the "corpse” pose or ”shavasana” where full relaxation is attained by using breathing in conjunction with individual muscle tensing and relaxing in series, a technique Suzanne Newcombe (historian of Yoga at Inform, based at the London School of Economics) says is not part of medieval Yoga texts but is not out of keeping with other recorded traditional methods.
In 1929, after twenty years of research, Jacobson began to publish his results in the book "Progressive Relaxation: A Physiological & Clinical Investigation of Muscular States & Their Significance in Psychology & Medical Practice ".
His major work, "You Must Relax", addressing the general public, came out in 1934.