Relaxation Tip Increasing relaxation and decreasing stress can be managed by letting attention rest where the body makes contact with the world. As you are sitting there, see if you can identity the various points where your body makes contact: The pressure of your foot on the floor, butt on the chair, hands on your lap, back against the chair, etc. After you identify each o these individually, see if you can hold a general awareness of the way your body makes contact from those points, a somatic gestalt, so to speak. Notice that you have already let go of some of the stress you were holding. Notice that the contact brings you into a more grounded connection to your body. When you become aware of feeling stressed or tense, let your awareness gently rest in this exercise. Over time you will find that it becomes more natural and expansive. Just holding 10% of your awareness in your body has been shown to reduce the experience of stress by 60%.