Thy Will Be Done

Okay. Now sit up. That's great. And close your eyes and relax all your muscles, starting with your feet, your calves, your thighs. Loosen up your belt. Shrug your shoulders around. Roll your head and neck around—just loosen up." Herbert Benson, M.D., the president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, spoke in a voice of implacable serenity, and I did what I was told.

Benson is the author of The Relaxation Response, which has sold some four million copies since it was published, in 1975, and he was demonstrating some of the techniques he uses to help people achieve a more beneficial state of mind. People pay considerable sums to attend seminars at which Benson introduces those techniques, and from my own experience I must admit that there is much to recommend them. However, I had come to Benson's consulting room to learn ...