History

The first Relaxation for Living was started in 1972 by Amber Lloyd, whose husband had had a heart attack and had been told to learn how to relax. Spurred on by his illness and eventual death, Amber and a few of her National Childbirth Trust colleagues began to train a group in the art of teaching men, women and children how to relax and develop effective strategies to prevent and overcome the negative effects of stress in their everyday lives.

The training programme was based on the work of Jane Madders, Laura Mitchell and Dr Claire Weekes.

By 1993 Relaxation for Living was a highly successful charity with a network of fully trained teachers running classes for thousands of people all over the country. Advice on relaxation and coping with stress and anxiety appeared every day in national newspapers and magazines, on radio and television.

In 1998 the charity's name was changed to The Stress Management Training Institute and it moved to the Isle of Wight, where residential training courses were run.

Eventually the charity was wound up and in 2005 the new Relaxation for Living Institute was created under the control of Relaxation for Living Limited.

The Institute now has a new series of products and training courses to cope with the ever-increasing demands that stress and anxiety are making on us all.