By relaxation technique, we mean something that can provide a more effective form of relaxation than that which can be achieved by taking a stroll or sleeping. Through the use of a relaxation technique, you learn to achieve a state of rest that is deeper than that of sleep, while you remain conscious and experience what is happening. You become familiar with the relaxed state . The advantage seems to come from the physiology of relaxation rather than by mere suggestion . Through meditation and awareness training you will also be able to see when the fight or flight response is about to be triggered, and thereby become better at choosing how to react.
Current research is interested in more than that though.
They want to see if there are permanent and deep physiological effects. It contained more than 27,000 reports on relaxation, yoga and meditation published over the last twenty years. I realised, as I went through the reports, that some of the researchers regard meditation as an unalterable quantity. Therefore they cannot understand why there is a discrepancy in their research. The fact is that the results largely depend on which meditation technique is used.