Relaxing The Body To Reduce Stress & Tension

Thanks for joining me.

This practice will support you to release tension throughout your whole body,

Promoting relaxation and rest,

Calming the nervous system and letting go of any stress that's built up in your body.

You can do this practice sitting comfortably or lying down,

Perhaps even tucked up in bed,

Making sure that wherever you are you're well supported and your body can rest easily.

Everything in this practice is an invitation so join in with it as it feels okay for you.

You're always welcome to pause or adjust yourself.

I'm inviting you now to close your eyes if that feels okay.

Settling into the moment,

Slowing down,

See if you're able to feel your body being supported by the surface beneath you.

Can you feel any points of contact,

Perhaps even warmth?

As best you can giving yourself permission to rest for this time.

For this practice we'll spend a few moments focusing on the breath and then we're going to work our way from the feet upwards.

You'll be gently guided to tense and relax different areas.

Please do this mindfully and kindly,

No need to strain.

I'm inviting you now to bring your attention to the breath,

Noticing where you feel the sensations of the breath moment by moment.

You might notice the air coming in and out of your nose or mouth,

Perhaps slightly cooler as you inhale and warmer as you exhale.

You might feel the rise and fall of your chest or your stomach,

Noticing the breath and seeing if you're able now to start taking some slower and deeper breaths,

Not trying to force anything,

Trying to find a nice soothing inhale and exhale.

See if you're able to notice the pause at the top and bottom of the breath.

So as you reach the top of the inhale,

A pause for a few moments before you exhale and at the bottom of the exhale,

A pause before the inhale,

Trying to settle on a nice and comfortable rhythm of breath.

We're going to begin to work our way through the body now,

Starting with the feet.

Breathing in,

Curl up your toes and feel the muscles in the feet tense.

Hold for a few seconds at the top of the breath and as you exhale,

Release and soften.

Notice what it's like where the feet are relaxed,

Heavy.

And as you breathe in again,

Curl up the toes,

Tense the muscles in the feet,

Hold for a few moments.

And as you exhale,

Soften,

Allow every muscle in your feet to go soft,

Heavy,

Relaxed.

Moving to the calves now.

On your next inhale,

Flexing your feet,

Pulling your toes towards you to help activate the calf muscles.

You can feel this in the back of your legs,

Holding at the top of that inhale for a few seconds.

And then as you exhale,

Relaxing,

Letting go,

The calves soften and melt.

And on your next inhale again,

Flexing the feet,

Activating the muscles in the calves,

Holding and releasing as you exhale.

Notice the difference between softness and tension.

Moving your attention now to your thighs.

On your next inhale,

Gently pressing the thighs together or pushing them down towards the surface beneath you to tense the muscles.

Hold for a few moments and then release,

Let go,

Feel any tension melting away,

Melting down into the surface beneath you.

And on your next inhale,

Again activating the muscles in the thighs,

Bringing some tension to this area,

Holding for a few moments.

And as you exhale,

Releasing fully.

Your legs are heavy and relaxed.

Moving now to the hips and the glutes.

As you inhale,

Squeezing the muscles around your hips and glutes,

Bringing some tension to this area.

Hold for a few moments and then release and let go,

Soften.

And on your next inhale,

Again,

Squeezing the muscles around your hips and glutes,

Holding,

Releasing.

With an exhale,

Feeling any tension melting away,

Noticing the difference between softness and tension.

Noticing your stomach now.

On your next in-breath,

Drawing the belly in.

Imagine you're pulling the belly button towards your spine,

Tightening the muscles in your abdomen.

Holding at the top of that breath for a few seconds.

And on your exhale,

Softening completely,

Letting go of any holding,

Any tension in your stomach.

On your next inhale,

Drawing the belly button in towards the spine,

Feeling these muscles activate,

Holding for a few moments.

And as you exhale,

Softening completely,

Allowing the stomach to become fully relaxed.

Moving now to the low and the mid-back.

On your next inhale,

Arch your lower back just slightly.

See if you can feel a bit of tension and activation in the lower back,

Perhaps the mid-back and core.

Holding for a few moments with your own breath.

Exhaling,

Letting go,

Allowing the spine to return to a neutral position,

Allowing the muscles to relax fully in the back.

And as you breathe in again,

Arching the back slightly,

Bringing some tension into the back.

Holding for a few moments.

And then releasing and letting go fully.

Starting to feel the back of your body melt into the surface,

Supporting you.

Bringing the attention now to the upper back,

Shoulder blades.

On your next inhale,

Gently pulling your shoulder blades back towards one another,

Feeling the tension enter this area.

Holding for a moment or two.

And as you exhale,

Releasing,

Letting go,

Feeling tension melt away from the shoulders.

On the next inhale again,

Pulling the shoulder blades back,

Feeling the tension in this area as you do so.

And as you exhale,

Letting go,

Allowing the shoulders and the upper back to fully relax here.

Moving now to the chest.

Taking a good deep breath in.

And as you hold,

Notice the tension across your chest and rib cage.

Holding for a few moments.

And exhaling fully,

Allowing the chest to soften and relax.

On your next inhale again,

Breathing in,

Noticing tension across the chest and the rib cage.

Holding and releasing with your exhale.

Notice the difference between tension and softness.

We'll make our way now to the hands and the arms,

Starting with the hands.

On your next inhale,

Making gentle fists with both hands,

Feeling the tension enter this area.

Holding for a few seconds.

And as you exhale,

Releasing,

Relaxing your fingers,

Allowing them to find their natural curve.

All the tension in the hands melting away.

And as you inhale,

Again,

Making fists with both the hands.

Holding at the top of the breath.

And when you're ready,

Releasing as you exhale.

Hands become heavy and soft.

Noticing any sensations in the hands,

Perhaps tingling,

Perhaps warmth.

Moving to the forearms now.

So as you inhale here,

Pulling your wrists back towards your body,

Towards your forearms,

Feeling the tension spread through the forearm.

Holding for a few moments.

Exhaling and letting go.

Relaxing.

And on your next inhale again,

Pulling your wrists,

Your hands back towards the forearms,

Feeling tension spread through this area.

And as you exhale,

Release,

Feel all of the tension drain away as you let go.

Coming now to the upper arms.

On your next inhale,

You can either press your elbows gently towards your ribs or press the upper arms into the surface beneath you,

Feeling some tension into the upper arms.

And as you exhale,

Releasing.

Holding for a few seconds.

And releasing with an exhale,

Softening fully.

On your next inhale again,

Activating the arms.

Noticing the muscles,

The biceps and the triceps tense.

Holding for a few moments with your own exhale,

Letting go,

Releasing.

Feeling your arms and your hands heavy now.

All the tension is melting away.

Coming up to shoulders.

On your next inhale,

Gently lifting your shoulders up towards your ears,

Feeling tension come into this area.

Holding for a few moments.

At the top,

Perhaps gently squeezing here.

And as you exhale,

Allow the shoulders to drop and relax.

Softening.

On your next inhale,

Lifting your shoulders up.

Feeling the tension here.

And releasing.

And relaxing fully,

Giving your shoulders permission to let go.

Your shoulders feel heavy and soft.

Moving now to the neck.

As you inhale,

Gently tuck your chin down a little,

Feeling tension into the back of the neck.

Hold for a few seconds as feels okay for you.

And as you exhale,

Release.

Allow your head to soften into a neutral position.

Feeling every muscle in the neck relax.

On your next inhale,

Again,

Tucking the chin down a little.

Feeling that tension.

Holding for a few seconds.

And then releasing,

Head back to a neutral position.

Allowing any tension to melt away.

Moving to the face now.

As we move throughout our lives,

We often wear many masks.

And there's permission to let go of this effort now and invite some relaxation into the face.

Relaxation,

Some rest.

I'm starting with the jaw area.

As you inhale,

Clench the jaw,

Pressing the teeth and the lips together gently.

Notice tension enter the jaw.

Holding for a few seconds.

And releasing,

Allowing the jaw to fully relax the teeth and the lips part a little bit.

The tongue rests softly in the mouth.

On your next inhale,

Try opening the mouth wide as if you were yawning.

Feeling the jaw muscles here activate,

A slightly different type of tension.

Hold for a few seconds.

And release,

Bringing softness and heaviness to the jaw,

Letting go.

Coming now to the eyes.

On your next inhale,

Scrunching the eyes tightly shut.

Squeezing them gently,

Feeling tension around your eyes and your temples.

As you exhale,

Soften and let go fully.

On your next inhale again,

Scrunching the eyes shut.

Feeling tension come into this area.

As you exhale,

Softening,

Letting go.

Feeling the eyes rest easy in their sockets and the forehead and temples soft.

Coming up to the forehead now.

As you inhale,

Raising your eyebrows to tighten the forehead.

Noticing the tension in this area and holding.

When you're ready,

Exhaling,

Releasing and softening.

And on your next inhale,

Again,

Raising your eyebrows to tighten the forehead.

Raising the eyebrows,

Tightening the forehead.

Holding for a few moments.

And as you exhale,

Release,

Let go.

Feel the space between your eyebrows soften,

Your temples soften.

Feeling all the tiny muscles in your face,

Letting go.

The forehead smooth.

Eyebrows relaxed,

Eyelids softly closed.

Jaw loose.

Allowing the face to rest here.

Now that you've relaxed each area of your body,

Taking a moment to scan through your entire body from your head to your toe.

Notice the deep relaxation you've created.

Now bringing your attention to your whole body at once.

Feeling the heaviness,

The warmth.

Relaxation flowing through you.

With each breath out,

Feel yourself sink deeper into relaxation.

Each exhale takes you deeper.

Becoming more relaxed,

More peaceful.

Nowhere you need to be,

Nothing to do right now.

Taking the opportunity to rest here,

Noticing the heaviness of the whole body.

Each exhale,

Bringing more relaxation,

More rest,

To nourish your body.

And you can stay here for as long as you like,

And continue to rest.

Perhaps you even would like to have a sleep or a nap.

If you'd like to return,

Take a moment to thank yourself for taking the time to care for your body and mind.

And when you're ready,

You can feel back into the body supported on the surface.

And you might notice any points of contact with the surface beneath you.

And you're invited to bring some gentle movement,

Perhaps starting with the fingers and the toes.

Really gently and slowly waking the body,

If you choose to.

And taking your time,

And when you're ready,

Opening your eyes.

Taking this sense of ease and calm with you.

Thank you for practicing with me today.

Thank you.