The Relaxation Solution is a guidebook to discovering how the modern world has taught us to make ourselves tense, and how we can stop it, let it all go, and truly relax. Our environment today is dominated by stressful situations. Family life, financial trouble, illness and job demands are all significant sources of stress. People learn to respond to stress by tensing up. Originally a valuable self-protection mechanism, this habitual response is now making them anxious and ill. The Relaxation Solution provides a new approach to mindfulness, a set of exercises and meditations that gently and effortlessly guide the reader to experiencing freedom from tension. When practiced, these exercises reverse the habitual, unconscious tension response and instill a new habit of relaxation. Includes exclusive online access to 35 minutes of guided meditation audios. Editorial Reviews "If you want temporary relief from worldly tension, take a hot bath. If you want permanent mindful relief, read this book, do the exercises and thank Stephen Diamond." -Rolland Smith, poet, correspondent, and 11-time Emmy Award-winning television journalist "This is my favorite mindfulness book. It's written with a light touch, and we can feel Steve's generosity and good cheer shine from every page." -Greg Goode, author of Standing As Awareness, The Direct Path, After Awareness "The Relaxation Solution is written from the standpoint of a caring friend." -Terry Stevens, author, singer, stroke survivor, multi-exhibited fine artist From the Author For me it's personal. I've known that stress, disease, and death are closely related ever since I watched my mother die of cancer at the age of 52. Three years earlier she'd received bad news that dealt a blow to her self-image and caused her to doubt her life's purpose. She was never the same. Within 18 months after the news, she was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent major surgery to remove much of her large intestine and install a colostomy bag. A year later the cancer had spread to her liver. She died slowly and painfully, ravaged by disease, chemotherapy, and radiation. Nobody knows whether excessive stress triggers cancer directly, but many doctors and medical researchers suspect that it can. What is known is that unmitigated stress can weaken the body's ability to fight disease and can cause cellular changes associated with earlier death. I've listed and linked some of the scientific research about this in the back of my book. I'm determined that no one else should suffer and die unnecessarily because they don't know how to handle the stress in their lives. That's why I've used insights from my lifelong study of meditation and self-realization to develop The Relaxation Solution, a ground-breaking program for genuine stress relief. It's my earnest hope that it saves others from suffering the fate my mother suffered.