This is a progressive muscle relaxation.
It's a beautiful exercise that allows you to relax your mind and your body by progressively tensing and relaxing specific muscle groups throughout your entire body.
You can do this lying in bed or sitting up.
It's a chance to settle your body and regulate your nervous system.
We're going to tense each muscle group vigorously but without straining for around five seconds,
Which I will count for you,
And then I will ask you to very quickly release that tension and allow your muscle to relax.
If for any of the targeted muscle groups you feel any pain or discomfort,
Feel free to omit tensing the muscle and just visualize tensing it instead and allowing the relaxation to wash over your body.
It's important to always come back to your breath in between each muscle group and throughout this entire exercise.
So let's begin.
Start by finding a comfortable position where you can either lie down or sit in a place where you feel calm and safe,
Making sure there are no distractions around.
Allow your attention to focus on your body.
If your mind is buzzing around like a bumblebee,
That's normal,
It's what minds do.
Just see if you can catch yourself and bring yourself back to this relaxation and to my voice.
So take a deep breath in through your belly and hold for a few seconds and then exhale slowly.
And again as you breathe in,
Allow your belly to rise,
Your lungs filling with air and then exhale,
Imagining the tension in your body being released.
And again inhale and exhale.
Now as we go through each muscle group,
Remember to keep breathing using your body and my voice as an anchor to the present moment.
So tighten the muscles in your forehead by raising your eyebrows as high as you can,
Hold for five seconds and release,
Allowing the tension around your eyebrows to melt away.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Now smile widely,
As wide as you can,
Feeling your mouth and cheeks tense,
Hold for five seconds and release,
Allowing the softness to return to your face.
Breathing in and out.
Next we're going to tighten your eye muscles by squinting your eyelids tightly shut.
Again hold for five seconds and release,
Allowing your face to rest.
And returning to your breath in between each muscle group.
Now see if you can crunch up your entire face as tight as you can,
Hold for five seconds and release.
I'm just noticing the change in tension in your face.
Coming back to your breath,
Breathing in and out.
Now gently pull your head back as if you were to look at the ceiling,
Hold for five seconds and release.
Breathing in and out.
Now bring your chin forward towards your chest and hold this for five seconds and release.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Feeling the weight of your relaxed head and neck sink down.
We often hold a lot of tension in our heads and neck.
Now lift your shoulders up as if they were to touch your ears,
Hold for five seconds and then quickly release,
Noticing their heaviness.
Now tightly but without straining,
Clench your fists and hold this for five seconds and release.
Again,
Breathing in and out.
Now flex your biceps,
Allowing the tension to build up in your arms.
Hold for five seconds and then release.
Just noticing your arms feeling limp.
We're now going to tighten your triceps by extending your arms out in front of you,
Locking your elbows.
Hold for five seconds and release.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Now let's move down to your upper back by pulling your shoulders back as if to make your shoulder blades touch.
Hold for five seconds and release.
Again,
Coming back to your breath.
If you've noticed that you've become distracted,
That's okay,
That's normal.
Just use this time to come back to your body and to my voice.
We're now going to tighten your chest by taking a big deep breath in,
Holding for around five seconds and then slowly exhaling out.
Let's do that again and we might even use a sigh to exhale out any tension.
So breathing in for five seconds and exhaling out.
And then returning to your breath.
Now,
Tighten the muscles in your stomach by sucking in your belly for five seconds and release.
Breathing in and breathing out and just noticing any tension or stress that your upper body was holding on to.
If you'd like to repeat any of those upper body exercises now is your time.
Otherwise,
Just come back to focusing on your breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Now we'll move down to your lower body.
We're going to gently arch your lower back.
Hold that arch for around five seconds and release.
Now,
Tighten your buttocks,
Holding tight for five seconds and release.
Just imagining your hips falling loose and again coming back to your breath.
Now,
Let's tighten your thighs by pressing your knees together as if you were holding a coin between them.
Hold for around five seconds and release.
Breathing in and breathing out and let's move down to your calves.
Can you flex your feet,
Pulling your toes towards you?
Let's hold for around five seconds and release,
Allowing the weight of your legs to sink down.
Coming back to your breath.
Now,
Can you curl your toes under your feet?
Hold that for five seconds and release.
Again,
Noticing any tension or stress melting away.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And imagining a wave of relaxation slowly spreading through your body from the top of your head all the way down to your feet.
You might even like to imagine a golden light travelling through your body.
And again,
If you'd like to repeat any of the exercises now is your time.
Otherwise,
Just noticing what your body feels like right now.
Perhaps having dropped into the rest and digest state of your nervous system.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Enjoying this calm state.
Knowing that this feeling is accessible to you at any time simply by paying attention to your breath and your body no matter what is going on in your day.
