Progressive Muscle Relaxation

This is a self-guided progressive muscle relaxation practice, designed to invite relaxation throughout the whole body. In these 15 minutes, we'll move through a simple but powerful method for creating deep, full-body ease. By intentionally creating tension and then releasing it, one body part at a time, we can begin to soften stuck patterns subconsciously held in the body. Traditionally, it's practiced lying down to support deeper relaxation. But there's real value in trying it seated, standing, or even in an athletic position like a squat— training your body to find ease anywhere.

Transcript

Welcome. This is a self-guided progressive muscle relaxation practice designed to invite relaxation throughout the whole body. Over the next 15 minutes, We'll move through a simple but powerful method for creating deep, Full-body ease. By intentionally creating tension and then releasing it one body part at a time. We can begin to soften stuck patterns subconsciously held in the body. You're welcome to do this practice in whatever position feels right for you today. Traditionally, It's practiced lying down to support deeper relaxation. But there's real value in trying it seated, Standing, Or even in an athletic position like a squat, Training your body to find ease anywhere. Here's how we'll move through it. I'll name a body part, And you'll gently create as much tension there as feels available to you, Holding for eight seconds as you inhale. If it helps, You can add a small contraction, Like making a fist for the hand. Then I'll invite you to release and exhale, Letting go for 15 seconds, Paying close attention to how that area feels now. I'll be timing quietly in the background so there's nothing for you to track. The breath is secondary here. It's designed to enhance tension and relaxation. Specifically, If you feel the urge to inhale before the 15 seconds of relaxation passes, That's completely fine. We don't want to effort when the goal is to relax. Take a moment to settle into a position that feels good for you. And when you're ready, Let's begin. To begin, Let's take a moment and just scan through our body. Noticing how it feels before the practice. Are there areas of the body that are feeling particularly tense? Is one. Part of the body heavier than the other? Are we noticing stuck energy anywhere? Or maybe you're already quite relaxed and feeling easy. What does that feel like? Just taking a moment to turn on the awareness. Before we get specific with our practice. We're going to start with the right foot. And I'm going to invite you to start to inhale as you squeeze the right foot, Maybe curling the toes into flexion. Keep inhaling and squeezing for the eight seconds, Which is now, And then stop, Relax, And exhale. We can slow the exhalation, Seeing if we can extend it to the 15 seconds, But not worrying too much about it. Just noticing what it feels like as the tension leaves the foot. And then we're going to shift our awareness to the right lower leg, The calf area. Start your inhale and squeeze the calf, Maybe pointing the foot, Maybe adding the toe curl back in, And then exhale and let that go. Relaxing the calf. Feeling the circulation coming back in. Slowly exhaling for as long as feels comfortable. Noticing how that's feeling. And then we're going to shift our awareness to the right thigh. Go ahead and inhale. Squeeze the hamstring and the quad, Putting as much tension into that thigh as possible. As you inhale, One more second, Let it go. Relax. Exhale. Breathing out the tension. Letting the relaxation in. Noticing what that feels like. That's the 15 seconds there. We're going to pause for a moment. And I just want you to compare. Your right leg to your left leg. After just that little bit of work, Can you sense a difference in the two limbs? Don't worry, The left leg gets its turn. So we're gonna bring our awareness to the left foot. Go ahead and inhale, Squeeze that left foot, Curling the toes, Creating as much tension as possible, All the way to the eight seconds, Which is now. Relax, Exhale, Let it all go. Slowly exhaling. Releasing any leftover tension. We're gonna bring our awareness to the left lower leg, The calf. Go ahead, Inhale, Squeeze the calf, Maybe point the foot. You can add the toe curl back in if you want, But inhaling and squeezing and squeezing, And then let it go. Exhale, Relax. Let that tension just melt away. Either draining through the foot to the earth or draining down into the earth directly. We're going to bring our awareness now to the left thigh. Go ahead and inhale. Squeeze the hamstring. Tense the quads. Put as much tension in there as you can, Inhaling as fully as you can, And then exhale and relax. Let it go. Exhaling, Releasing. Noticing. Good. Rest there for a moment. And check back in with the right and left leg. See if they feel a bit more balanced now. We're going to join those two legs together now by focusing on the pelvis. To do this, We're going to think about tightening the pelvic floor. So go ahead, Take an inhale, Squeeze that pelvic floor. Squeeze the glutes. Bring as much tension into that pelvic region as you can. One more second, And then exhale, Relax. Let it go. Perhaps feeling that pelvic floor opening as it relaxes, The glutes releasing the tension. Now we're going to bring our awareness to our right hand. So inhale and squeeze that right hand. Make a fist if that's helpful. And then let that go, Relax, Exhale. Let those fingers unfurl. The tension leave as the breath leaves. Feeling that. Then we're going to bring our attention up to the right forearm. To do this, We can make a tight fist with the forearm tension. Go ahead and inhale and squeeze that forearm, Maybe adding a little bit of wrist flexion if that helps. Squeeze and then let it go. Exhale and release. Maybe feeling the tension drip down through the hand. And then we'll shift our awareness up further into the right arm. So go ahead and inhale, Maybe squeeze the bicep. Put as much tension in there, Add some tension to the tricep if you can. Squeeze, Inhale, Let it go. Exhale. Let that tension just go. Letting that air go. Being with the shifts and changes as they happen. And then again, As we did with the legs, I'm gonna have us pause for a moment and feel the difference between the right arm and the left arm at this point. Is there a difference? If so, What is it? And then we'll shift our awareness over to the left hand. We're going to inhale now, Squeezing that left hand or creating tension in the left hand. Squeeze, Tense, Inhale. Let it go. Exhale. Release. Let that hand rest. And then we'll bring our awareness up into the forearm. Inhale and squeeze, Maybe flexing through that left wrist, Trying to bring the palm towards the elbow if that's helpful. Squeezing, Squeezing, Squeezing. Inhale, And then exhale, Let it go. Letting that air go. Letting the arm rest. And then we'll move up into the upper arm. Inhale, Squeeze the bicep, Squeeze the tricep, Put as much tension into that upper arm as you can. So you're holding something heavy, Carrying something heavy, And then exhale, Let it go. Exhale long as you feel comfortable. Allowing the tension to move out with the breath. We're then going to shift over to the shoulders and pull those two arms together. So for this, We're going to shrug the shoulders. Go ahead, Inhale, And shrug those shoulders up to your ears, Squeezing, Putting as much tension into those shoulders as you can. Inhale one more time, And exhale, Let those shoulders drop. Relax. Let that all go. Breathing. Out. We're going to come down to the belly. This one's a little bit funny because we're going to try and tighten the full abdominal cylinder against the inhalation. It's very juicy tensioning sequence. So go ahead, Keep the belly pulled in, Sucked in as you inhale into the belly. So we're creating that internal resistance. Keep inhaling as you suck in the belly at the same time and then exhale, Let it go. Breathing fully out now, Slow. Letting that cylinder collapse back in. Relaxing. We're going to move to the chest. Go ahead, Take a big inhale now and try and pull those pecs in. Inhaling into the chest, Creating as much tension in the ribs as you can with your breath, And then exhale, Let it go. Slow exhales to the degree that feels good for you, And then just enjoy easy movement in the chest. We're going to come to the neck. For this one, You can either just create the isometric tension, Or if you want to move into neck extension, That can be helpful if that feels safe for you. Inhaling, Squeezing that neck. Thinking about bringing, If you are going to extension, Bringing the back of the skull in towards the base of the neck. One more inhale, Exhale, Let it go. Releasing. The neck so often carries our tension there, Letting that go. And then we're going to go to the jaw. You can either choose to do this with your mouth open or biting down, But please be careful not to hurt your teeth. So we're going to go ahead, Inhale, And create as much tension in the jaw as possible. Inhale one more time, Squeeze that jaw, Exhale, Relax. Let it go. Bring the tongue to the roof of the mouth. As you exhale through your nose. Letting it go. Letting the jaw go. We're now going to do the whole face. So we're going to inhale and scrunch the face up nice and tight, Make a frowny face, Squeeze the eyes. Inhale for one more second and then exhale, Let that go. Letting the tension in the face just disappear. And then we're going to do one full body squeeze for eight seconds. So we're gonna start our inhale, Squeeze the feet, Squeeze the calves, Squeeze the thighs, Squeeze the hips and glutes, Squeeze the belly, Squeeze the shoulders, Arms, Face, Neck, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Exhale. Let it all go. Hmm. And again. Coming back to our full, More general awareness, Scanning the body. Noticing where it has shifted. How would you describe this new? Relaxed experience in the body. Many people find it almost energized. That the tension feels like a stuckness or a deadness, A heaviness, And that relaxation, Although still, Is vibrant. Electric, Even. Take another moment just to be with this. And then when you're ready, We can end our practice. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you for taking the time to be with your body. Your body is the instrument through which you impact the world around you. And the time you've given to this today is a gift, Not just for yourself, But for the people in your life and for the world in general. Thank you for sharing your gifts and being a part of this journey. Be well.

Reviews

Great practice. 8/15 is perfect ratio for inhale and exhale

Lovely practice to ready for sleep! What a soothing voice

This was so helpful! I even had our boys practice with us. Thank you!