Tense & Release - A Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Hi friend and welcome to this guided tense and release practice.

To help you release any tension you may be feeling in the body or mind.

This can be done any time of day when you feel you need to let go of what might be accumulating and contributing to a sense of unease and resistance within.

When we are disconnected from our bodies it can be hard to hear the subtleties of tension building and it's not until our body starts to shout that we finally realise it's in need of support.

It's hard to relax the mind and switch off at the end of the day when our body is holding onto a lot.

So begin by settling into your space.

Whether you are sitting or lying down.

Are you as comfortable as you can allow yourself to be in this moment?

And honour any adjustments that will accommodate your body.

And take this moment to arrive.

Nothing to do.

Nowhere to be.

I recommend closing down the eyes if you haven't already.

This can help you go inward more easily and allow you to let go of any distractions going on around you.

And maybe you're coming into this practice already noticing areas of the body that are calling for your attention.

And acknowledging what might be here.

But for now can you focus your attention on the parts of the body that are supported by the surface beneath you.

Can you feel the weight of your body being held?

Can you notice the points of contact between your body and the support?

As you do this perhaps you can create some permission for these parts of the body to let go more deeply into that support.

Allowing yourself to be held in this moment.

It's safe for me to let go even if it's only by 2%.

I can let go just a little.

Moving your attention to any parts of the body that are maybe experiencing tension with a gentle curiosity and compassion.

Just noticing the sensations.

In a moment I'm going to guide you to bring awareness to a part of the body.

And you'll tense this area.

Whilst taking a deep breath.

And you'll be guided to let go of the breath and the tension at the same time.

In doing this we are communicating to the body.

I am safe.

I am safe to let go.

And this can support us in coming back to a sense of steadiness and spaciousness.

And as you let go of the tension and the breath see if you can really tune in to the sense of release and relief that you maybe feel from it.

Begin by bringing your awareness first of all to your hands.

Feeling it into all 10 fingers.

The palms.

The back of the hands.

The wrists.

Now bring your hands into a fist.

And start to gently squeeze.

As if you were holding onto something.

Maybe even gripping.

And being careful not to over exert yourself.

We don't want to cause any injury or hurt.

But just tensing those hands into fists.

And squeezing.

Now take a slow deep breath in through the nose.

Hold at the top for a moment as you squeeze those hands into a fist.

And exhale the breath and let go of the gripping,

Relaxing the muscles of the hands.

And just notice how it feels to let go.

Bring your awareness to your shoulders now.

Noticing the front.

And tops of the shoulders.

Gently start to tense the shoulders by bringing them up closer to the ears as if you were shrugging.

And holding them here.

Tensing and holding.

Take a slow deep breath in through the nose.

Hold the breath for a moment and tense the shoulders.

Exhale the breath with a sigh and dropping those shoulders down away from the ears.

Releasing,

Letting go.

Maybe seeing if you can drop them just a little bit more.

Noticing how it feels to release.

Let's do that one more time as our shoulders tend to hold quite a bit of tension.

So once again shrugging and tensing those shoulders up towards the ears.

Taking a slow intentional deep breath in.

Hold and tense.

Exhale the breath and let those shoulders fall and melt away from the ears.

This time we will tense from the hands all the way up the length of the arms to the shoulders.

So begin by tensing those hands into a tight fist.

Tensing the entire length of the arm.

Shrugging those shoulders.

Tensing and squeezing.

Take a slow deep breath in.

Hold for a moment.

Exhale with a sigh and release the tension in the arms,

Drop the shoulders and relax the hands.

Noticing how the arms and shoulders feel now.

So let's move our awareness to the feet.

Awareness of all ten toes.

The soles of the feet and ankles.

And start to tense those toes.

Curling them as if you were trying to grip onto something with them.

And contracting the muscles of the feet.

Take a slow deep breath in through the nose.

Holding and tensing.

Exhale with a sigh and release the tension.

Letting all the muscles in the feet soften.

This time we will incorporate all the muscles in both legs.

So bringing our awareness to the calves,

The knees,

The thighs,

The glutes.

And start to tense beginning with the toes,

The feet,

The calves,

The front and backs of the thighs and the glutes.

Tensing every muscle in both legs without straining too hard.

Take a slow deep breath in through the nose.

Hold and tense.

And now exhale with a sigh releasing every muscle that you were holding.

And really embracing that sensation of letting go.

Now bringing your awareness to the stomach.

And start to tense the muscles in the abdomen.

Contracting them as you would if you were doing a sit up.

Take a slow deep breath in.

Hold and tense here.

Now exhale with a sigh and let the belly soften.

Bringing awareness now to the face.

Where we can tend to hold a lot of tension in the facial muscles.

Beginning with the jaw.

And just lightly start to tense the jaw.

Clenching the teeth together.

Gently squeezing and tensing.

Taking a slow deep breath in through the nose as you do this.

And exhale release the breath out through the mouth and let the jaw relax letting it soften.

Moving your awareness to the forehead.

And just start to frown the eyebrows as if you were giving somebody a disapproving look.

Bringing those eyebrows closer together at the centre.

Tensing the forehead.

Taking a slow breath in through the nose.

Tense and hold.

And now exhale the breath out.

Soften that forehead.

And this time we will tense all the muscles in the face.

So begin by clenching the jaw.

Maybe bringing those brows into a frown.

Scrunching up the nose.

Tensing the muscles in the face.

Taking a slow deep breath in.

Hold and tense.

And now exhale with a sigh and let all the muscles in the face soften and let go.

Just noticing how it feels to let go.

To soften.

Now this time we are going to tense the whole body.

Again making sure not to strain or hurt yourself.

But begin at the feet.

Tensing the feet.

All the way up the legs.

The abdomen.

The hands and arms.

Tensing the shoulders.

The neck.

The face.

Tensing and squeezing.

And as you do this take a nice slow deep breath in through the nose.

Hold and tense.

Now exhale and let it all go.

Let the body sink into the support that is holding you.

Notice how it feels in the body to let go.

I am safe to let go.

Let go of the gripping.

The holding.

The resisting.

So let's do another full body tense.

Tensing all the way from the tips of the toes.

Up the legs.

The body.

The arms.

Into the face and head.

And as you contract all the muscles in the body.

Taking a slow deep breath in through the nose.

Hold and tense.

I am ready to let go.

In 3,

2,

1.

Exhale with a sigh and let every muscle go soft.

Taking a brief scan of the body.

Observing and noticing what sensations are here.

Or perhaps what might be absent.

Now we'll shift attention to our breath.

By doing a few rounds of sigh breathing.

So you'll be taking a slow full deep breath in through the nose.

Then an extra sip of air in through the nose.

And take a long extended exhale out through pursed lips.

As if you were blowing out a candle.

So it should sound like this.

My invitation to you is to really experiment with how long you can make that exhale.

As if you were like a balloon deflating slowly.

Bringing that belly towards the spine as you breathe out.

I will be breathing along with you.

But you are more than welcome to honour your own pace.

And if you need to breathe a little slower than what I am guiding.

That is perfectly ok.

So begin by taking a breath in through the nose.

Releasing that breath.

Emptying those lungs.

And let's begin.

Deep breath in.

Little sip in.

And exhale.

Deep breath in.

Little sip in.

And exhale.

Creating space with those inhales.

And releasing tension through the exhale.

Breathing in spaciousness.

Breathing out tension.

Breathing in.

I am creating space.

Breathing out.

I am letting go.

Breathing in.

I am making room.

Breathing out.

I am releasing.

Breathing in.

Exhale and sinking deeper into that support beneath you.

Let's do two more breaths like this.

Breathing in spaciousness.

Breathing out.

Letting go.

Last one.

Deep breath in.

Little sip in.

And let it all go.

Returning back to your natural way of breathing.

And once again dropping in.

And noticing the body in this moment.

Noticing the presence of anything.

Or perhaps the absence of anything.

Or any shifts that you may feel.

Since first beginning this practice.

Allowing your experience to be exactly what it is.

Zooming out and having awareness of your entire body.

Full body awareness in this moment.

Awareness of the weight of the body.

Being held by that support beneath you.

Awareness of how much space your body takes up.

In the space that you are in.

And you are welcome to take as much time as you need.

Resting in this awareness.

You can pause the recording or spend as much time as you need resting after it is finished.

But if you are ready to come back to wakefulness.

I invite you to bring some mindful movement.

Very gently back into your body.

Be wriggling the fingers,

The toes.

Maybe taking a very gentle stretch.

Taking deep conscious breath in.

Sighing it out.

Starting to move that awareness beyond the edges of your body into your space.

Becoming aware of any sounds.

The temperature of the air.

And in your own time.

Gently opening the eyes.

Taking in your surroundings.

Coming back to the here and now.

Thank you for joining me for this practice today.