Bring your body into a comfortable position in which you can relax,
Loosen tight clothing,
Lie or sit down with all parts of your body uncrossed and no body parts supporting any others.
For each of the body areas we're going to go through,
You're going to gather tension by tightening the muscles,
Focus on that sensation of tightness in and around that area and then hold that tension as you inhale for five or six seconds and then release and breathe out.
As you release,
Say in your mind very slowly,
I'm safe.
Observe the changes in sensations as you relax for about 10 to 15 seconds and then move on to the next muscle.
So breathing in,
You're going to tighten your hands and wrists,
Make fists with both hands and pull those fists up onto the wrists.
Tighten,
Tighten,
Squeeze,
Tighten those wrists,
Pulling them up on,
Pulling those fists right up onto your wrists and squeezing and squeezing as hard as you can and letting go and thinking,
I'm safe.
Breathe.
I'm just letting yourself feel the releasing of the muscles in your hands and fists,
The softening of them.
And now with your upper and lower arms,
You're going to make fists with both those hands again and bend those arms up to touch your shoulders and squeeze and squeeze so your hands are touching your shoulders with little fists and the muscles are tight and you're squeezing and squeezing and inhaling and squeezing and squeezing and release.
Relax your body and saying to yourself,
I'm safe.
Just letting your arms be floppy by your sides so they're not doing any work.
Nothing to do,
Nowhere to go arms,
Just easy and relaxed.
I'm safe.
Now breathing in,
You're going to scrunch your shoulders up to your ears,
Both of your shoulders pulled up as tight as you can,
Squeezing tight,
Tight,
Tight,
Holding that breath,
Squeezing up,
Squeezing up,
Squeezing up,
Squeezing,
Squeezing and release.
Let go,
Exhale,
Thinking I'm safe and relaxing the body,
Letting the shoulders be soft and floppy.
If you need to roll your neck around a little bit just to make sure you're really letting go,
Go ahead and do that.
Now your forehead,
Pull your eyebrows close together,
Wrinkling the forehead,
Scrunch that forehead up,
Wrinkling the forehead tight,
Tight,
Tight so that upper part of your face is so tense,
Squishing those eyebrows together and exhale and release.
Let it go,
Softening the forehead,
Softening the eyebrows.
If you need to rub it a little with your fingers just to make sure you really let go,
Then just go ahead and do that and really let go and relax and think to yourself,
I'm safe.
Now shut your eyes tightly,
Really tightly,
Squeeze those eyes together.
You're probably going to be pulling up the top of your cheeks just a little bit.
That's right and close those eyes,
Scrunch them,
Scrunch them really,
Really tight,
So much tension and then release.
Exhale,
I'm safe and relaxing the eyes,
Softening the eyes,
Letting go of any tension that's there in the eyes.
Now breathing in,
Your nose and upper cheeks,
Scrunch up the nose,
Bring the upper lips and cheeks towards the eyes,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze.
Oh,
It's very uncomfortable and exhale and let go.
I'm safe,
I'm safe and relaxing the face,
Letting the muscles of the face just be slack and loose and breathing.
Now we're going to do the lips and lower face.
Press those lips together and then bring the edges of the lips back towards your ears like you're making a super creepy smile that's super tense.
Sides of the lips back towards your ears,
Scrunching,
Squeezing,
Squeezing,
Pulling,
Pulling so tight,
So tense.
It's very uncomfortable and release.
I'm safe and let all that tension go,
Just letting it go.
Exhale and breathe.
Now this one's a little crazy.
We're going to do the tongue and the mouth.
So you're going to clench your jaws,
Squeeze your teeth together,
Tongue pushing on the upper mouth,
Very tense,
Very unpleasant,
Squeezing,
Clenching the jaw,
Squeezing,
Pushing that tongue up.
Oh,
It's very unpleasant.
Inhaling,
Holding that breath and exhale and release.
Release that jaw,
Relax the tongue.
Let that jaw go,
Rub the jaw if you need to,
Just to make sure you get that last little bit of tension out of there.
Let it go.
Yawn if that yawn is contagious for you.
All right,
Now you're going to take a deep breath and hold it.
We're tightening the chest.
Tighten the chest,
Pull that chest up and tight and squeeze and hold that breath and hold it and hold it and hold it and hold it and exhale and relax the chest.
All right.
In the back,
Let's try arching the back,
Bringing the shoulder blades together,
Tensing all the muscles in the back,
Squeezing them,
Making them work so hard.
It's so unpleasant.
Squeeze the shoulders,
Squeeze,
Arch the back,
Tight,
Tight,
Tight,
Tight.
As you inhaled and now you're going to exhale and release.
Oh,
I'm safe.
I'm safe.
Relaxing,
Really paying mindful attention to that softening of the back and shoulders and breathing into the stomach.
Exhale,
Release.
I'm safe.
Now tighten the stomach.
Hold the stomach in tightly.
Pull that belly button towards the spine like you're doing Pilates.
Tighten,
Squeeze it,
Squeeze it,
Squeeze it.
It's so tight.
Your tummy probably hurts from squeezing so much as you've been inhaling and now you're going to exhale and release.
Oh,
I'm safe.
Let that tummy be loose and floppy like a bowl of jello.
We hold so much tension in the belly.
I'm just going to let it go and let that belly do no work for a little while.
Breathing.
I'm safe.
On the buttocks,
You're going to squeeze those glutes together.
Clench them,
Clench them,
Clench them tight as you breathe in.
You're breathing in and breathing in and squeezing your glutes and let it go.
Exhale.
I'm safe.
It's okay to make noise when you breathe out.
I'm safe.
I'm safe.
That side is so nice.
Now you're going to point your legs out and tense your upper legs and thighs.
The legs are pointing out and the thighs are tense.
You're squeezing all the way around that thigh,
Squeezing tight,
Tight,
Tight as you breathe in,
Sucking in that air,
Squeezing the thighs and exhale and release.
Oh,
Let it go.
Let the legs just drop and be floppy.
Not having to do any work,
These legs have nothing to do and nowhere to go.
Just let them be loose and relaxed.
I'm safe.
I'm safe.
Now we're going to stick the legs back out and tighten those calves.
Point your toes down and squeeze those calves.
Just don't give yourself a charley horse.
Squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and exhale and release.
Relax.
I'm safe.
I'm safe.
Now the ankles and the feet,
Legs out,
Point the toes towards each other,
Heels out,
Toes curled under.
Oh,
It's very uncomfortable.
Squeezing that whole foot,
Squeezing as you breathe in,
Squeezing,
Squeezing,
Inhale,
Inhale and exhale and release and relax.
I'm safe.
I'm safe.
Now you're going to do one last squeeze of the entire body,
Inhaling and squeezing every little muscle in the entire body,
Squeezing,
Squeezing,
Squeezing,
Squeezing and exhale and release.
I'm safe.
And now,
Like you're in yoga class,
We do Shavasana,
That's the dead man's pose,
Where you just let whatever you're sitting on or laying on completely support you and you don't do any work at all and you just breathe gently,
Like the breath of sleep,
Softly into the belly,
Very relaxed.
I'm safe.
And then checking in with your head and your neck and your shoulders and your arms,
Your chest,
Your back,
Just checking that all of those places are loose and relaxed and not doing any work.
Your hips,
Your glutes,
Your pelvis,
Your legs,
Your feet,
All completely relaxed and not doing anything.
And just continue to breathe until you're ready to get up.
