Restoring Our Capacity to Love and Serve
Supported Deep Relaxation™
(SDR) is a gentle, non-clinical practice designed to create a quiet environment in which the body can settle, muscular tension can soften, and the mind can become less occupied with the demands of the moment.
Through comfortable positioning, intentional stillness, and gentle supportive touch, SDR offers something many people rarely receive: permission to simply rest.
There is nothing to perform, accomplish, or figure out.
You are simply allowed to relax and recieve.
What Is Supported Deep Relaxation?
During an SDR session, the participant remains fully clothed and rests comfortably, typically lying down or seated, depending on individual needs.
Pillows, bolsters, blankets, and other supports may be used to help the body rest comfortably.
With the participant’s permission, gentle non-massage touch may be offered at appropriate areas of the body to provide physical support and encourage relaxation. Touch is always optional and is adjusted according to the participant’s preferences and comfort.
SDR does not involve manipulation of muscles, massage techniques, energy healing, diagnosis, psychotherapy, or medical treatment.
It is simply a structured opportunity for deep, restorative rest and relaxation.
Why Deep Relaxation Matters
Modern life asks a great deal of us.
Many people spend their days caring for children, aging parents, spouses, patients, customers, congregations, coworkers, or entire communities. Even when the body stops moving, the mind may continue carrying responsibilities.
Intentional periods of quiet rest can provide an opportunity to step temporarily out of that constant state of doing.
Supported Deep Relaxation creates an environment where a person can become still, notice their breathing, release unnecessary muscular effort, and experience a period of uninterrupted rest.
For people whose lives involve serving others, learning to receive care can itself be meaningful.
The goal is not rest for its own sake. It is restoration — creating space for the body and mind to recover so that we can return more fully to the people, responsibilities, and vocations entrusted to us.
What Happens During a Session?
Every session is simple and participant-centered.
At the beginning of the session, we briefly discuss comfort, positioning, and preferences regarding supportive touch.
You will then be positioned comfortably using appropriate supports. Once you are settled, the session becomes intentionally quiet.
Depending upon the setting and your preferences, the session may include:
- comfortable supported positioning
- blankets, pillows, or bolsters
- slow, quiet breathing
- periods of silence
- gentle supportive touch with permission
- simple relaxation cues
- optional quiet prayer or sacred reflection when offered within a ministry setting
There is no expectation that you talk during the session.
There is also no particular experience you are supposed to have. Some people may feel deeply relaxed. Others may simply appreciate having uninterrupted time to be still.
Both are appropriate.
Gentle Touch and Consent
Consent is central to Supported Deep Relaxation.
Before any touch is used, the participant’s preferences are discussed. Touch may be modified, declined, or stopped at any point.
Participants may also choose a completely touch-free SDR session. A touch-free session provides guided breathwork and a progressive relaxation technique to systematically relax each muscle group, head to toe. After learning these techniques, one can practice them on their own in their daily life for sustaining benefit.
The purpose of touch within SDR is not treatment or manipulation. It is simply supportive presence and guidance offered within clearly defined professional boundaries.
Your comfort and personal boundaries remain primary throughout the session.
SDR Is Not Massage or Medical Treatment
Supported Deep Relaxation is a wellness and ministry practice rather than a healthcare service.
SDR does not diagnose or treat medical or psychological conditions and is intended to complement and not replace care from physicians, physical therapists, mental-health professionals, massage therapists, or other licensed healthcare providers.
If you have a medical condition that affects your ability to lie, sit, move, breathe comfortably, or safely receive touch, you should consult the appropriate healthcare professional before participating.
Helping the Helpers
One of the particular purposes of SDR within Fiat & Flame is supporting people whose lives involve caring for others.
Caregivers, ministry volunteers, healthcare workers, first responders, teachers, parents, and people quietly carrying responsibilities within their families and communities often become accustomed to being the person who helps.
SDR provides an opportunity to reverse that pattern to allow restoration to occur.
For a little while, nothing is required of you. You do not have to organize, solve, carry, teach, fix, or respond, you may simply receive support and rest.
That rest can help restore our capacity to return to others with greater presence, patience, and strength.
Deep rest and relaxation has been shown to support nervous system regulation and overall health and wellness, however, no claims are made that SDR cures illness or produces specific medical outcomes.
What SDR is Not
Supported Deep Relaxation is not Reiki, energy healing, massage therapy, psychotherapy, physical therapy, or medical treatment.
There is no attempt to manipulate or direct spiritual or invisible energies.
When prayer is included if desired, it is simply Christian prayer offered within the ordinary life of faith. SDR is not the “laying on of hands” or spiritual healing.
Individual and Group Opportunities
Supported Deep Relaxation may eventually be offered in both individual and small-group settings.
Possible applications include caregiver support events, parish wellness programs, retreats, volunteer appreciation programs, ministry gatherings, and other environments where intentional rest can serve people who routinely serve others.
Additional information regarding session formats, locations, scheduling, and availability will be announced as the program develops.
SDR is offered on a donation-supported basis, allowing individuals to contribute according to their means and helping make this ministry accessible to all.
About the Practitioner
Veronica Ford is the Founder of Fiat and Flame and a Whole Health Professional. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Health and Wellness and 20 years of experience in the field.
Veronica is passionate about caring for the body as a gift from God—not as an end in itself, but as a means of developing the strength, mobility, resilience, and well-being that can help us more fully love God, serve our neighbor, and live our vocation with joy!
Reach her personally at info@fiatandflame.org
Fiat & Flame Ministries
Devotion. Formation. Charity.
fiatandflame.org
Medical and Scientific References
Guidi, J., Lucente, M., Sonino, N., & Fava, G. A. (2021). Allostatic load and its impact on health: A systematic review. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 90(1), 11–27. doi:10.1159/000510696
Kidd, T., Devine, S. L., & Walker, S. C. (2023). Affective touch and regulation of stress responses. Health Psychology Review, 17(1), 60–77. doi:10.1080/17437199.2022.2143854
Laborde, S., Allen, M. S., Borges, U., et al. (2022). Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: A systematic review and a meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 138, 104711. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104711
Lamotte, G., Shouman, K., & Benarroch, E. E. (2021). Stress and central autonomic network. Autonomic Neuroscience, 235, 102870. doi:10.1016/j.autneu.2021.102870
