Hello,
Welcome to this guided relaxation exercise called progressive muscle relaxation.
We'll start by finding a place where we can either sit or lie down,
Doesn't matter which,
Where you feel comfortable and can comfortably sit or lie down for a couple minutes.
Begin by taking a few deep breaths together,
Closing our eyes,
Breathing in through your nose,
Filling your lungs up with air and releasing that breath through the mouth.
Again,
Filling your lungs up with air,
Deep breath through the nose and out through the mouth.
Here in our comfortable position with our eyes closed,
We'll begin by focusing our attention on the area of our feet.
Starting with our feet,
We'll start with tensing up all the muscles in our feet,
Curling the toes,
Tightening those muscles just in the feet,
Holding for a moment here and relax.
And moving up to the calves,
Tightening those muscles,
Holding here for a couple seconds and release them.
Moving up to the area of the thighs,
Flexing,
Tightening those muscles just in the thigh area,
Breathing normally here and release.
Now we'll move up to the area of the stomach.
As we go through this,
Just noticing if your mind wanders,
If your thoughts go elsewhere,
If they do,
That's okay,
That's just what the mind does.
Just noticing and bringing it back to the area of the body we're on together.
Now on the stomach,
We'll tighten all those muscles in the area of the stomach,
Trying to keep breathing normally here as we tighten and release.
Now moving on to our hands,
Clenching your hands up into a fist,
Really tightening everything in the area of the hands,
Holding here and release.
Now moving up to our shoulders,
Tightening your shoulders,
Tensing them so maybe your shoulders come up closer to your ears,
Tightening all those muscles in your shoulders,
Your upper back,
Holding them here tight and release,
Letting them drop,
Maybe letting them drop even a little lower than they were before.
And now moving on to the area of our face,
Scrunching up all those face muscles,
Your forehead,
Nose,
Maybe even letting your jaw tighten,
Your teeth come together,
Tightening and clenching all those muscles to hold here for a few seconds and release.
And now before we open our eyes,
Just checking out real quick how your body feels right now after this exercise.
Do you notice any differences in how you're feeling,
How your body feels,
Any loosening,
Anything feel heavier or more relaxed?
Just practicing tuning in.
And then when you're ready,
Go ahead and open your eyes and go on about your day.
Thanks for joining me.
Take care.
