The Tension Release Practice

Your muscles have been keeping score.
Every difficult conversation, every high-stakes decision, every moment you held it together - it's stored in your body as tension.
This practice moves it out systematically, working through the body from hands to face to full contraction and release.
You'll feel the difference before it's finished.

These practices are entry points into a deeper body of work.

Transcript

Tension exercise. Stand tall or lie down with your spine straight and stretch your arms forward with your hands relaxed and take a slow deep breath in for four seconds and tensing all the muscles in your hands and fingers as you breathe in. By the end of the inhale your muscles should be fully contracted and might even start to vibrate and hold this tension for five to ten seconds, Noticing the sensations, Vibration, Energy or warmth and slowly exhale while gently relaxing your muscles, Feeling the energy flowing into your hands and lift your arms out to the sides at a 90 degree angle and repeat the tensing. So breathing in four seconds and tensing all the muscles in your sides and your hands and holding your breath for five to ten seconds. Noticing all the sensations of the vibrations and energy and tingling. Slowly exhale while gently relaxing your muscles and feel the energy flowing into your hands. While lying or sitting in a half squat, Tense your legs and grip the floor with your toes so taking a breath in for four seconds and gradually tensing all the muscles in your legs and feet and pelvic area and holding that for five to ten seconds while you hold your breath in that area and your whole focus is on your legs and feet and pelvis. And as you do this, You're allowing the stored trauma to release with your breath and exhaling, Gently relaxing all your muscles and now sitting or standing, Curl your shoulders inward, Contracting your chest and stomach muscles so taking a breath in for four seconds and holding it and tensing all the muscles in your shoulders and your chest and your stomach. Allowing all the oxygen to energize your shoulders and chest and stomach and exhaling, Releasing all the tension in those muscles and all the trauma is releasing out of you. And now we move to the face and the forehead and the neck. So you're going to scrunch up your face and forehead and may look a little ridiculous, So take a breath in for four seconds and squeezing every muscle in your face and forehead and your neck, Bringing new oxygen into all of those nerves and into your brain to clear out any brain frog and tension and releasing all the tension from your body and your face and taking a long slow deep breath. And now we're going to tense every muscle in your body, Your shoulders, Your face, Your arms, Your legs and everything. As you curl down slightly, Gripping the floor with your feet, Making fists with your hands and holding this contraction for about 10 seconds. Take a breath in and tense all your muscles in your entire body and exhaling all the tension and feeling the energy move through your body with your eyes closed and your hands by your side and you're all relaxed, Feeling it flow through your body and into the earth. And when you do this practice on your own you can start small and gradually build to two or three cycles per area.