Once a movement is familiar, drop the pattern. Let it curve and wander towards wherever your body seems to want it, rather than doing it correctly.

What the research says

A network meta-analysis of physical relaxation for work stress found that several very different approaches, yoga, massage, progressive muscle relaxation and stretching, all helped, with none clearly ahead of the rest. If no single form is the winner, there is little cost in letting the person choose their own. That review compared set programmes rather than free movement, so this is an extension of it rather than a finding.

Strength of evidence: long taught, never tested. Widely used and long taught. No trial has established that it works.