Deep Muscle Relaxation

Deep muscle relaxation exercise with Helen Hansen.

Find a place where you can experience this exercise without being disturbed.

Some notes and tips before we begin.

It's most beneficial to practice this exercise daily because you do start to increase the relaxation response within the body the more that the body gets used to it because you are creating a new muscle memory within the muscle fibers.

The best time to practice this is when you are feeling calm.

So we will start with a breathing exercise.

Once you have practiced this a few times then when you are feeling anxious it will be easier for the muscles to remember this exercise and how to get into the different calming postures.

Be sure not to hurt yourself when tensing your muscles.

If you feel any sharpshooting pain that's a sign to stop and if you do have any broken bones,

Medical issues,

Pulled muscles at the moment,

Rather refrain from doing this exercise in those areas.

You can do it in other muscle group areas that are not affected at all.

So to begin let's start with a calming breathing exercise.

Seat yourself in a position where your spine is erect or lie flat down.

Your spine can be completely flat on the floor or on the bed.

Your neck should also be flat so not on a raised cushion.

Legs straight or knees bent.

Just take a moment now to notice how you are breathing and just bring your awareness inwards.

Now you're going to expand the breath and as you do so feel your ribcage spread out to the sides and then just let your breath go.

Expand your breath again,

This time a little bit deeper and let it go.

This time breathe in deeply through your nose and sigh out through your mouth and again once more.

We're going to do a cycle now of four five six which is four in breaths,

Five for hold and six for out.

If you can close your eyes,

Do so or otherwise commit to just looking at one spot in front of you.

Prepare yourself to begin and let's go.

Deep breath in two three four and hold two three four five.

Exhale two three four five six.

Inhale expand the ribcage,

Relax as you expand some more.

Now hold and keep that relaxation,

Keep that ease in the body and hold and hold.

Now slowly release,

Slowly let go as you continue to feel completely relaxed.

Do one more round on your own and then bring your breathing back to a normal gentle rhythm.

So the concept of this exercise is first to apply muscle tension to a specific group of muscles in a specific part of the body.

So as you take a slow deep inhalation,

You're going to be squeezing the muscles in that area as hard as you can for a few seconds.

It's very important that you feel the tension in the muscles even if you start to shake.

Just be careful,

Avoid pain and then slowly exhale very gradually releasing the muscles and feeling that tension completely released.

The reason that we do this is to remind the muscles what it feels like to really relax.

Many times we think we are relaxed but when we create tension and then release the tension and then feel that relaxation,

That's the relaxation you want to go to when you are looking for it and when you are telling your body or specific areas in your body to be calm and to relax.

So we'll begin with our feet.

You can stay in your position as you are or move into a more comfortable one.

Just make sure your body is supported.

Take a nice long deep breath in through your nose and hold your breath for a few seconds.

Breathe out and then as you take another deep breath in through your nose,

Pay attention to your body,

Put attention on your feet,

Squeeze all the muscles into your feet as you continue to inhale.

Curl your toes as tight as you can,

Hold it.

Now hold the breath,

Hold that tension and then exhale and feel all the muscles relax.

Feel your feet go limp and notice the difference between the tension and the relaxation.

We're going to repeat this now with the legs.

So focusing on the shins and the calves,

Prepare yourself to begin.

Take a deep breath in through your nose,

Hold your breath for a few seconds.

Now breathe out and as you take another deep breath in,

Pay attention to your body and squeeze your shins,

Squeeze your calves,

Feel all the muscles around those areas tighten up.

Now hold the breath,

Hold that tension and release.

Feel it all simply melt away as your muscles become smooth and flowing like water.

We're going to move now to the thighs,

The hips and the buttocks.

So prepare yourself to begin.

Take a deep breath in through your nose,

Hold it for a few seconds,

Exhale and then another deep breath in through your nose.

Put your attention on your thighs,

Your hips,

Your buttocks and start to squeeze all those muscles in that area,

Really pulling them tight,

Tight,

Tight,

Tight,

Tight.

Now hold it there,

Hold the breath,

Hold that tension and exhale.

Slowly feel the tension release and all those muscles completely so smooth and supple,

Completely relaxed.

We're moving now to the stomach area,

So all the internal organs.

You're going to work and suck in as much as you can in this next process.

Prepare yourself to begin,

Take a deep breath in through your nose,

Hold your breath for a few moments and exhale.

Take another deep breath in,

Place your attention on your internal organs area,

Notice what's going on there and start to squeeze,

Suck your stomach in,

Pull all the internal organs inwards,

Tight,

Tight,

Tight,

Tight,

Tight.

Hold it now,

Hold the breath,

Hold that tightness in that area and then exhale and let the internal organs and your stomach slowly open up again.

Relax,

Release and notice the difference between the tension and the relaxation.

Moving to the neck and the shoulders,

Prepare yourself to begin,

Take a deep breath in,

Hold it for a few moments and then exhale.

Now take another deep breath in through your nose and put attention onto your neck and shoulders and now start to squeeze them,

Pull the shoulders up,

Pull all the muscles around the neck tight as you can without any pain,

Squeeze them,

Squeeze them.

Now hold that tension there,

Hold the breath and relax,

Release those muscles,

Slowly exhale and let all of the muscle fibers just unfold and lengthen.

Just feel that tension completely flow out of your shoulders,

Flow down and out your neck and just let that rest for a moment.

And we're going to end with the head and the face.

Prepare yourself to begin with a deep breath in,

Holding it for a few moments and then exhaling.

Now take another long deep inhalation through your nose,

Put attention onto your face and your head,

Notice how it feels and then slowly as you continue to inhale,

Squeeze all the muscles in your face,

Squeeze your eyelids shut tightly,

Tighten your eyes tightly,

Stretch your mouth out,

Squeeze all the muscles around your cheekbone,

Squeeze the muscles in your forehead,

Hold them,

Squeeze them even tighter and then exhale,

Exhale,

Relax the muscles,

Release them completely,

Just feel everything open up,

Everything so smooth,

Everything expand and relax.

Just spend a few moments noticing the relaxation now in all those muscles in the facial area and take another long slow deep inhalation through the nose and again slowly out through the nose.

One more deep inhale through the nose and then out through the nose.

And if there are any other places right now that you are feeling tension with after this exercise,

Go there and repeat this exercise a few times.

Before you do that,

I want to ask you just to choose one of those areas where you're feeling tension,

Stress,

Pain,

Discomfort and if you're not feeling anything at all in the body,

Just place your attention on the heart area.

So wherever your attention is now,

What emotion do you connect with the feeling in that area of your physical body?

What is the feeling,

The emotion that is communicating with your pain,

With your tension that is triggering your discomfort?

And if you're connecting with your heart,

What is the feeling that you are experiencing in your heart right now?

And as you become aware of that emotion that is connected with that particular area of your body,

Just silently congratulate yourself for making a mind-body connection.

Breathe into that area that you are focusing on in your body and if it's an emotion that you need to release,

Just exhale and breathe it out.

If it's an emotion that you're wanting to hold on to,

As you exhale you can just feel it flow throughout the rest of your body.

So breathe in and exhale that emotion wherever it needs to go.

One more deep breath in and let that emotion flow exactly where it needs to.

Give gratitude for your body at this time,

For your brain,

Your amazing mind and for your ability to create this connection that you have done with these different areas in your body.

And if you need to continue the exercise now,

Please do so on your own or repeat this experience from the beginning.