Welcome to today's practice where we will work on bringing peace to our body through progressive muscle relaxation.
First I invite you to find a comfortable seat where you have access to your entire body being able to tighten and release.
So whatever that seat looks like for you.
And just to advise as we move through today's practice if you have any injuries or any areas of soreness feel free to skip over those parts of your body and maybe go back to a previous part of your body as we move through the tense and release exercise.
Once you have found your comfortable seat let's start by tuning into your breath.
Without trying to change it just take notice.
Observe how your chest rises and falls with each inhale and exhale.
Notice if your breath catches at any point.
Notice if your breaths feel shallow or if they feel deep and full.
Feel the coolness of the air on the tip of your nose as you breathe in and feel the warmth of the air as you breathe out.
And next we will do just a quick body scan.
Notice where you might be experiencing any tension,
Tightness,
Pain.
And try to breathe a space into those parts of your body.
We're going to be working from the ground up starting with our toes.
In just a moment start to curl your toes inward feel the tension.
Tighten your toes underneath.
Tense,
Tense,
Tense.
And on your next exhale release.
Uncurling your toes,
Feeling your feet flat against the ground.
And observe the difference between what it feels like to have your toes and the muscles in your feet tense compared to when they feel more relaxed.
Next we're going to work on the front of the shins by lifting your toes upward.
Lift,
Tense that muscle,
Tense that shin.
Tense,
Tense,
Tense.
And release.
Letting your feet fall back onto the floor,
Feeling the easiness of your muscles along your shin.
Noticing the difference between that tightness and feeling relaxed.
Now we will move on to our thighs by clenching the thigh muscles,
Raising the kneecaps,
Tensing that muscle,
Tightening,
Holding,
Holding,
And release.
Feeling those thigh muscles relax.
Feeling that difference between tension and ease.
Taking notice of how your legs,
The muscles in your lower body are starting to become heavier,
More relaxed overall,
Before we move to the abdomen.
With your next inhale work on rounding the back slightly and tensing those abdomen muscles.
Drawing your ribs inward,
Tensing,
Tensing,
Holding,
And release.
Letting your breath fall from your lungs.
Letting your tummy area loosen.
We hold a lot in our abdomen,
In our stomach when it comes to stress,
Anxiety,
Depression,
Body image,
Shame.
And this is a really beautiful opportunity to show that area of your body some love.
Understanding the difference of what it means to feel tension compared to relaxation.
And now we will move on to our hands,
Our hands that do so much for us,
That hold the ones we love.
When we shake hands,
Meeting new people,
Building connections.
And on your next inhale,
We will ball our fingers into fists,
Tensing,
Tensing,
Holding on,
Feeling all of the little muscles in our fingers,
Our palms,
Our hands,
Tensing,
And release.
Feeling all of that start to melt away.
Showing love to our hands and all of the wonderful things that they do for us.
Observing what it feels like to have them be relaxed.
And now let's move upward to our shoulders,
Our trapezius area,
Where so many of us hold a lot of our anxiety,
Nervousness,
Stress.
And on your next inhale,
Raise your shoulders,
Bringing them up towards your ears,
Towards the back of your jaw.
Feeling the muscles in your back work in your shoulders,
Tensing,
Shortening the gap between your shoulders and your ears,
Holding,
Holding.
One more and release.
Tuning into our breath,
Tuning into our body and what it feels like,
Noticing those nuances,
Those subtle differences that only you will be able to attend to within your body,
Within your temple.
Take a moment to cherish your breath,
To observe without judgment,
Without placing a label of good or bad,
Of just being.
And now we will move on to the last portion of our face where we show expression and love and emotion through smiles and kind words.
And as you inhale,
Work on scrunching your nose,
Bringing your eyebrows inward,
Working on that funny,
Scowling face,
Scrunching,
Tightening,
Creating tension and all of those beautiful muscles in our face.
And then relax,
Loosening your breath,
Letting those muscles relax.
Once again,
Noticing that difference,
Observing the tension compared to ease.
And as you start to close out your practice for today,
Take one final observation of how your body,
How your mind,
Your breath,
All of it feels now compared to the beginning of this work.
Noticing any heaviness,
Any ease,
Or maybe still finding some areas of tightness where you can let go,
Where you can loosen.
And feel welcome to come back to this practice time and again when you need that body reset.
Namaste.
