Welcome to this deep dissolve meditation of progressive muscle relaxation with me Abigail Poulton here at Insight Timer.
I wish you a blissful practice.
Find a position lying down and really be intentional about how you place your physical body so that you are comfortable and supported for this practice.
So once you've found that position of choice,
I invite you to take the deepest breaths that you have taken all day.
Draw the breath in through the nose,
Fill up the whole body with pure breath,
And then through the mouth slowly release.
It's like a deflating,
Releasing,
Releasing,
Dropping the body into time and space.
I'd like you to take two more of those breaths in through the nose,
You fill to your capacity,
And then the exhale is through the mouth and it's super slow,
Deflating.
Landing in the body,
Landing in time and space through the breath,
I invite you to seal off the lips gently and continue to breathe with intention through the nose.
Starting to smooth out any edginess to the breath,
Imagining a square turning into a circle through the breath.
And I do recommend that you start to incorporate the belly and the ribs in this breathing practice,
Noticing how it feels to breathe a little bit deeper into the body.
And whatever part of the body is meeting the support beneath you,
Just allow it to drop down a little bit more,
Feeling supported and held so you don't have to hold on to anything internally.
It can give your body to gravity.
And for the next few moments,
I invite you to get clear on your personal intention for this practice.
What drew you to this practice today?
What are you seeking?
And once you've found your intention,
Can you draw that into your one word?
Can you create an I am statement with that word?
For example,
I am calm.
And whatever statement you have,
Just repeating that two or three times internally as you breathe and allow it to be your truth.
Because whatever you are seeking is seeking you.
And this can be the place where you meet with it.
So we're going to work into the breath just a little bit more.
So whatever breath you've got in the body,
Let it go.
Nothing left.
And then inhale,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Continue for a few rounds,
Counting for yourself.
In for four and out for six.
You're doing really beautifully just being here.
You don't have to put too much pressure on this practice.
See if you can bring in a bit of curiosity,
A little bit of lightness as you move through.
And this progressive muscle relaxation that we're about to embark on is in a bid to create physical and mental release to let go.
So releasing any count that you have on the breath and just letting your natural breath now move in and out of the body.
Place your awareness on the surface of the breath.
Just witness the breath for the few moments ahead.
Nowhere else to be.
And I'm going to start this by inviting your awareness to the base of your body to the soles of your feet.
Soles of your feet.
And either doing this physically or making this a mental activity,
Squeeze the soles of your feet and your toes as tightly as you can for five,
For four,
For three,
For two,
For one,
And then release the toes,
The soles of the feet.
Let it go.
Notice the calm that comes after the increased energy here in the feet.
And as you move through different parts of the body,
See if you can keep everything else in the body soft and just focus on the area that we are drawing towards.
Moving up from the soles of the feet now into the calves,
The back of the lower legs,
The calf muscles.
And to engage this part of the body,
I invite you to flex your toes,
Bring your toes up towards your face,
Pressing the very base of your heel out from your body for five,
For four,
Give it everything,
For three,
For two,
For one.
Relax the lower legs,
Relax the feet,
Wash in the softness of the release.
And if the mind journeys elsewhere,
Gently bring it back to your breath at any given moment in this practice.
Simply noticing the breath can be very calming,
Very grounding.
And then inviting your awareness now to the upper thighs,
The upper legs.
And I want you to again energize the feet,
Bring the toes up toward the face and then hug the upper thighs toward each other.
Squeeze,
Squeeze for five,
For four,
For three,
Two,
And one.
Release the legs,
Release everything.
Nicely relaxed.
And it's in these moments between the activation that I invite you to really dissolve into the body,
Dissolve into the space around you,
Let everything relax and release.
You don't need to hold on.
And then drawing your attention to the hips and the glutes,
The back of the hips,
The back of the body.
You're gonna squeeze your glutes,
Squeeze your hips for five,
For four,
For three,
Two,
And one.
Let it all go,
The whole body just softens.
Relax the jaw,
The mouth.
And then drifting your attention into your stomach where the abdominals live.
I'd like you to engage your core,
Your vital home here for five,
Draw everything in,
Three,
Two,
And one.
Let it go,
Breathe softly and fully.
Realize how you are in the space between the activation and the release.
Where does the mind go?
Where does the body go?
And then moving your attention into your hands,
The left hand and the right hand.
Going to hug the fingers into the palm of the hand,
Squeeze,
Creating a fist for five,
For four,
Three,
Two,
And one.
Let it go,
Release the fingers,
Soften the hands toward the ground.
Relax the entire arms with that.
And then drifting your attention into the upper arms,
The biceps and the triceps,
Those two very beautiful muscles alongside the bone of the upper arm.
And then you're going to bend your elbow,
Fist your hands,
And then draw your hands up toward your shoulders for five,
For four,
Energize for three,
For two,
And one.
And then slowly let the arms move back toward the ground,
Let the arms completely soften and melt.
Nicely done.
Moving now into the space of the shoulders,
Left and right shoulder.
Hug the shoulders back and in toward themselves for five,
For four,
Three,
Two,
And one.
Release the entire space of the shoulders,
The collarbones,
The chest,
Softening,
Softening.
And then drifting your attention into the head,
Into the face.
I'd like you to draw all the features of the face into the central point by squeezing your face,
Squeezing your eyes,
Your lips for five,
For four,
Three,
Two,
And one.
Let the entire face soften and relax.
The forehead,
The jaw,
The mouth,
Everything just softens and drops.
Last little bit of engagement coming.
The whole body,
The whole entire body draws in toward itself.
Draw the hands in,
The feet up,
The legs,
The hips,
The shoulders for three,
For two,
Everything engages for one.
And then the most beautiful slow unfolding release into nothingness.
Let everything go.
This is the ultimate release.
Whole body softens toward the ground and we're not going to move it for a little while.
How does it feel to marinate in the softness,
The stillness?
And you're doing really beautifully just being here.
And the next part of our relaxation involves some numbers.
So bringing your awareness back to the breath,
You're going to start at the number 27 and you're going to work down to the number one,
But you use the inhale and the exhale.
So for example,
In my mind,
As I breathe in,
I repeat 27.
As I breathe out,
I repeat 27.
Breathing in,
26.
Breathing out,
26 and so on.
If you lose count,
Come back to 27.
If you get to one,
Come back to 27.
Breathing in,
26.
Breathing out,
26.
Breathing out,
27.
And wherever you are,
Whatever number you have landed on or the breath,
Just being here and letting go of any counting,
Any need to do anything for the final few moments of our practice.
Let go.
And to close this lying down meditation,
Bring to mind something you're willing to let go of.
Something that's getting in your way currently.
What are you willing to release?
And you might create the sentence internally.
I release and then fill in the blank.
For example,
I release the need to be perfect.
I release the need to please everyone else.
And then with the deepest breath you have taken all week,
Breathe in through the nose,
Fill up the entire body with beautiful fresh breath and then exhale through the mouth,
Slow release.
Starting to seal the lips once again and breathing a little bit deeper with the inhale to start to awaken the cells of the body.
Notice the sensation on the surface of your skin.
Notice the sounds in your space.
And then start to bring a bit of movement back into the mind body,
Moving fingers and toes.
And if you are lying down,
It might feel amazing to take a bit of a stretch out,
Reaching the hands up and overhead,
Stretching from toes to fingers,
Fingers to toes.
And you might choose to stay here for a little while longer.
And when you're ready start to blink the eyes open and come back into the room.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
