Welcome.
My name is Abby.
I'm so happy to be with you.
For this session,
We're going to explore how our body can support us when we're having big emotions like frustration or stress.
Emotions like frustration can feel very unpleasant and make us do things we might feel bad about later,
Like yelling at someone or throwing something or even breaking something.
The problem is that none of those things usually help us feel better,
And sometimes they even make us feel worse.
Our body communicates to us when we're feeling frustrated.
We might notice that our fists are clenched,
Or maybe our face feels hot,
Or our shoulders and our jaw tense up,
Or maybe our breathing changes and it becomes faster and more shallow.
These sensations are our body telling us,
Hey,
Pay attention.
Let's pause.
When we notice any of these sensations happening in our body,
We can pause and decide what we want to do next.
Do we want to continue getting frustrated?
Do we want to take a break and do something else for a bit?
Do we want to take care of ourselves and our emotions to help feel better?
In this session,
We will explore one way that we can take care of ourselves when we're noticing feeling frustrated.
There's many different ways to care for ourselves,
And this is just one to experiment with.
When we notice we're feeling frustrated,
We can start by saying out loud or inside our head,
I feel frustrated.
Or if you're feeling a little anger or stressed or sadness,
You can label those emotions too.
You can say,
I notice feeling sad.
I notice feeling stressed.
I notice feeling angry.
When we can name our emotion,
We have more control over it.
Once we have control over it,
We can choose how to care for ourselves in the moment.
There are many ways to care for ourselves when we feel big emotion.
So today we will be practicing squeezing and relaxing the muscles in our body.
This practice is called progressive muscle relaxation,
Or some people call it tense and relax or squeeze and release.
This is a relaxation technique that helps with dealing with big emotions and stress.
And so in this practice,
What we'll do is we're going to tense and squeeze our muscles and then we relax them.
Now it's very important to remember that when you are squeezing,
It isn't supposed to hurt.
So if your body is saying,
Ow,
Ow,
That means you're squeezing too much and then don't tense as much.
So you can begin by sitting up tall,
Closing your eyes or looking down in front of you.
Notice how your body feels right now.
Do you notice having a lot of energy or a little energy?
Does your body feel tense or relaxed right now?
And we'll begin by squeezing your hands into fists,
Tensing up your hands,
Tensing up your arms and even your shoulders.
Feel those muscles working.
And now relax those muscles and notice how your body feels.
So clench your toes and your feet.
Feel those muscles squeezing.
Feel them working.
And then release.
Let your muscles relax.
Tense up your legs.
Squeeze them.
Feel those muscles tensing.
Now relax.
Squeeze your torso,
Your belly,
Your chest,
And your back.
Feel all of those muscles working,
All of those muscles tensing.
And now relax.
You can squeeze your hands into fists,
Squeeze your arms and your shoulders.
And now relax those muscles.
Then you can tense your face and your jaw and your cheeks and your eyebrows and your head and your scalp.
Feel all of those muscles in your face and your head working and squeezing.
And now let them relax.
And last,
Tense all of the muscles in your body.
Your toes,
Your feet,
Your legs,
Your torso,
Your hands,
Your arms,
Your shoulders,
Your face.
Feel all of those muscles working,
Tensing,
Squeezing.
And now relax.
Relax your toes,
Your feet,
Your legs,
Your torso,
Your hands,
Arms,
Shoulders,
And your face.
Let all of those muscles relax.
And notice how your body feels right now.
Some people feel relaxed from this practice.
Some feel energized.
Some feel peaceful.
And some don't really like this practice.
So it's important for you to know how it feels for you so you can use it to support you when you need it.
Challenging situations arise daily,
But we have the power to pause and care for ourselves when you're having a hard time.
So think about when this practice could support you.
I know for me,
I practice tensing and relaxing my muscles when I'm learning something new and feeling frustrated.
And I also practice this at night when I'm having a hard time falling asleep.
For me,
This practice feels calming.
So when you know how this practice feels for you,
Then you can apply it to different challenges in your life.
Thank you for practicing with me.
