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I’ve found Meditative Relaxation to be especially helpful for my arthritic patients. I have them spend extra time relaxing their painful and/or swollen joints. A person with arthritis in the knuckles and fingers of the right hand, for example, adds this to the second part x»f the Meditative Relaxation: eyes closed, breathing slowly through your nose, picture your right hand with your mind’s eye. Focus on the five knuckles … and the thumb and fingers … of your right hand. Now, with your mind’s eye, see your right little finger. See your little finger and little-finger knuckle. Concentrate on your little finger and knuckle as the feeling of relaxation enters the knuckle … spreads up through your finger … from your knuckle … through your little finger … front, back and sides … to the tip of your little finger. Now, with your mind’s eye, see your right ring finger and ring-finger knuckle. Concentrate on your ring finger and knuckle as the soothing feeling of relaxation enters your ring-finger knuckle. From the knuckle the relaxation moves up to your ring finger … all the way up your ring finger … front, back and sides … to the tip. Now, with your mind’s eye, see your right middle finger and middle-finger knuckle. Concentrate on your middle finger and middle-finger knuckle. Concentrate as you feel the cooling, soothing relaxation enter your middle-finger knuckle. From the knuckle the relaxation moves slowly up your middle finger … from your knuckle … through your middle finger .. . front, back and sides … all the way to the tip of your finger. Next is your index finger and index-finger knuckle. See your index finger and index-finger knuckle with your mind’s eye. Concentrate on your index finger and knuckle as the great feeling of relaxation and loosening enters the knuckle. From the knuckle it slowly spreads to your index finger … up your finger . .. front, back and sides … all the way up your finger to the tip. Now concentrate on your right thumb and thumb knuckle. Focus on your right thumb and thumb knuckle. Feel the relief as the relaxation moves into the knuckle … from your knuckle into your thumb … up the thumb … front, back and sides … all the way up your thumb to the tip.

See your entire right hand with your mind’s eyes. Hold that picture in your mind. Feel how relaxed your fingers and knuckles are. Keep your mind focused on that great feeling. Silently tell yourself that the fingers and knuckles on your right hand are relaxed.

Meditative Relaxation can be adapted to suit your specific needs. Do the complete session for the entire body, then adapt Part Two, as I’ve just done, to cover your special problem areas. You can focus in on muscles, joints or any part of your body you desire. One of my patients, an office worker, spends extra time relaxing her neck, shoulders, upper and lower back. These are the muscles that tighten up and hurt when she becomes stressed at work.

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