Hello,
My name is Hillary LaFawn and I'm so grateful that you've joined me today to explore progressive muscle relaxation.
This technique is very useful to help manage stress and body tension.
It's most effective done right before bed,
So if you have a hard time falling asleep,
This is a great way to help prepare you for the evening.
Just a little bit of background,
The body responds to stress with muscle tension,
Which can cause pain and discomfort.
So the tense muscles relate to the body that it's stressed,
Which keeps the stress-muscle tension cycle going.
Progressive muscle relaxation helps break the cycle by reducing muscle tension and general mental anxiety.
So how do we do this?
You either choose a place you can lie down on your back and stretch out comfortably.
You can be on the floor,
You can be on a bed.
What we're going to do together is we're going to inhale and tense each muscle group.
We're going to do this,
We're going to tense our muscles not too hard to the point of cramping,
But for four to ten seconds we will tense up the muscles.
Then we're going to exhale and suddenly and completely relax the muscle group.
We're not going to relax it gradually,
We're going to release it.
And then we'll spend about ten to twenty seconds to relax.
So let's go ahead and begin.
I'll give you a moment to find yourself in a comfortable position,
The comfort and only you know how,
You know best for your body.
Lying down is best,
But again you can sit up,
Sitting in a chair.
And if you feel comfortable and ready,
Close your eyes.
If that's not right for you today,
Keep your eyes open,
Your gaze cast down,
Looking just a little bit in front of you.
And let's bring our awareness and our attention to our bodies,
To our breathing.
Letting our chest rise as we inhale,
And then exhale,
Fill the belly,
Soften the air,
Let go,
Moving out of our body.
Breathing in and out,
Taking deep full breaths.
Noticing if you're taking shallow breathing,
So you're only breathing in the top part of your chest,
If you're noticing this to be the case.
On your next breath,
Inhale and fill your chest rise,
But also use your stomach muscles,
Your spine muscles.
And expand your belly,
Pushing your belly out as you inhale.
And then as you exhale,
Letting it all go and having a noticeable dip in the stomach as you exhale.
Let's do a few more breaths,
Settling in,
Allowing ourselves to get ready for this progressive muscle relaxation activity.
This exercise can be done in five minutes,
All the way up to 30 minutes to an hour.
So we'll do a quick one today.
This kind of helps when you're in the moment,
Having stress,
Feeling a tense neck,
Shoulders,
Back.
Maybe you're at work.
Maybe you need a little release and relief right now.
So we'll go through a nice quick exercise.
All right,
Remembering we're going to tense the muscles,
Inhaling,
And then we're going to quickly and immediately let them go when I cue you.
So starting with the hands,
Go ahead and clench them,
Inhaling deeply,
Clenching a fist,
Inhale,
Inhale,
And then exhale.
Release those muscles.
Breathing out,
Allowing your hands to soften.
Next let's do the wrist and forearms.
Extend them and bend your hands back at the wrist,
Inhaling,
Breathing in.
Again,
Not too tense that you're causing muscle cramping,
But just to activate the muscle.
Inhale,
Inhaling,
Exhale,
Blow it out and release immediately.
Allow your wrists and forearms to soften.
Let's do the biceps and upper arms.
So we're going to clench your hands back into fists,
Bend your arms at the elbow,
And flex your biceps.
Inhaling,
Flexing,
Feeling your body.
Get energized with air,
And then releasing,
Blowing the air out,
And immediately untensing.
One quick motion,
Allowing for a moment just to feel your biceps and upper arms relax and soften.
Next,
Let's go to the shoulders.
So we're going to shrug them up by the ears,
Inhaling,
Inhaling,
Sipping the air in,
Exhaling completely,
Releasing the muscles.
Breathing normally,
Noticing how your shoulders feel.
Breathing,
Softening,
Relaxing.
We'll move our attention and our awareness to our face,
Starting with the forehead.
Wrinkle it into a deep frown as you inhale.
With a deep frown,
Wrinkle your eyebrows,
Your forehead,
Inhaling,
And then sighing it out,
Exhaling,
A noticeable wave of relaxation washing over your face,
Allowing those muscles to immediately soften.
Noticing any tension around the forehead,
The back of the head.
Breathing,
Softening,
Relaxing.
Move our awareness to around the eyes and the bridge of the nose.
So now we're going to close our eyes as tight as possible,
Unless you have contact lenses in,
Then please don't do this.
Next time,
Remove your contact lenses before doing this exercise.
But if you have no contacts,
Close your eyes as tight as possible,
Inhaling,
Squeezing those eyes,
Inhaling,
Inhaling,
And immediately releasing,
Letting your eyes be soft and gentle.
Noticing how you feel around the eyes and the bridge of the nose.
Bringing our awareness now to the cheeks and jaws.
As you inhale,
Smile as widely as you can.
Feel it from cheek to cheek,
Ear to ear,
Inhaling,
Inhaling,
Maybe even open your mouth and smile.
Exhaling,
Letting it go.
One quick movement.
Don't let the muscles relax slowly,
Let them relax immediately.
Onto the mouth.
Press your lips together tightly,
Purse your lips,
Checking your facial area for tension.
So inhale,
Purse your lips tightly together.
Exhaling,
Letting it all go.
As the muscles in your face soften and relax,
Just notice for a moment how your whole face feels.
Take a few deep breaths.
Recommit to this practice.
Take it off if you notice any tension creeping up.
Maybe move around in your bed if you're laying around.
Get yourself really comfortable as we move to our neck and our chest area.
Take one last deep inhale,
Expanding the chest,
Expanding the stomach.
And now exhale,
Let it all go.
Alrighty.
So if you're sitting in a chair,
We're going to do the back of the neck.
And place your hand in the back of the neck and push your neck into your hand.
If you're laying down,
Press your head back into the cushion or the pillow.
Again,
We're not trying to cause more tension,
So make this comfortable for yourself.
Inhaling,
Inhaling,
Pressing,
Having some tension on the back of the neck,
Either in your hand or in the pillow.
And then immediately breathing out and letting go.
Feeling the neck soften and relax.
Let's do the front of the neck.
So now we can touch our chin to our chest,
Dipping our head down to our chest,
Whether we're sitting or lying.
Inhaling,
Inhaling,
And then release quickly and immediately.
Taking note,
Remembering,
Reminding yourselves we're not here to cause more tension.
We're not here to hurt ourselves.
We're here to gently flex our muscles and release in a quick fashion.
Now onto our chest.
Take a deep breath.
Inhale,
Inhale,
Hold it,
Expand your chest.
Then exhale,
Blow it out and let it out completely.
Coming to the back body.
Inhaling,
Arching your back up and away from the floor or the chair.
Inhaling,
Exhaling,
Letting it go.
Allowing your back to soften.
Take some movements or twists if that feels right.
Being so gentle and so kind to your back.
Moving to our stomach area.
On our next inhale,
We're going to suck it into a tight knot.
Noticing any chest and stomach tension.
So inhaling,
Trying to relax the chest but tense the stomach.
Keep it in a tight knot as you inhale and then let it out.
This one should feel really good.
Let your stomach just hang and be loose.
Sit for a moment.
We've moved through the head area,
The chest and the back.
And now let's finish up with our legs.
Inhaling and exhaling.
Re-centering ourselves.
Continue the hips and the buttocks.
Press your buttocks together tightly,
Whether you're in a chair or lying in bed.
Inhaling as you squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze.
Exhaling,
Sighing it out,
Breathing it out,
Relaxing those muscles.
Going to our right leg next.
Point your toes towards your face as if trying to bring the toes up to touch your head.
Inhaling,
Inhaling as you're pointing your toes towards your face.
Exhaling,
Letting it go.
Now pointing your toes away from your face.
Curl them downward at the same time.
Inhale,
Inhale.
And quickly let it go.
Moving to the left leg.
Right legs pointed towards your face.
Inhaling deeply.
Exhaling,
Letting go.
Now point your toes away with your next inhale.
Curl them down.
Inhaling,
Inhaling.
And now relaxing and softening quickly.
Exhaling all your breath out.
Now check this area from your waist down for any tension.
We have now tensed and released the whole body.
Feel your body as a whole,
Noticing any shifts in tension.
Just noticing.
If this is the first time you did this exercise,
There may be things you want to modify next time.
Making it right for you.
Just for a moment,
Let's take five deep breaths in silence.
Noticing how your body feels and how your body is more relaxed.
If your mind has wandered,
Come back to the breath.
If you're ready for bed,
May you have sweet dreams.
If you're moving on to another task at work or another task for your day,
Then slowly open your eyes,
Bringing your awareness back to your body and your surroundings.
Take a moment before you get up.
Thank you for allowing me the precious gift of your time.
Until next time.
