Release The Panic: Paired Muscle Relaxation

This guided paired muscle relaxation practice is designed to help reduce panic, anxiety, stress and emotional overwhelm by working directly with the nervous system.
Using a DBT distress tolerance technique of deliberately tensing and releasing muscles, you’ll practise letting go of physical tension and calming your nervous system.
Use it during a panic attack, intense anxiety, emotional dysregulation, or anytime you need a quick grounding and relaxation exercise.

Transcript

Hi there. If you're experiencing panic or intense anxiety right now, I'm going to guide you through a simple exercise using your muscles. This exercise will help change your body chemistry and settle that panic and anxiety down just a little. You don't need to think your way out of what you're feeling. For the next few minutes, We're going to give your body something very specific to do. My name's Alex, I'm a mental health social worker and DBT therapist, And I'm going to guide you through this. We're going to deliberately tense a pair of muscles. Then we're going to hold that tension and then completely let it go. And when I say let go in this practice, I want you to say the word silently in your mind, Release or let go. And we're gonna repeat this cycle four times. Now I'm going to encourage you to use your fists to tense up first if you can. But if you'd like to choose another pair of muscles that feels better for you, That's totally fine as well. So you could tighten both sets of your glutes, You could brace your abdominal muscles, You could curl and tense your toes, Or choose another pair of muscles on both sides of your body that you can comfortably tense and release. Don't use an area that's injured or painful. Choose something that feels strong but safe. Let's begin. Bring your attention to your hands. On my cue, You're going to make two very tight fists. Really squeeze. And we're going to hold that tension for 20 seconds. Ready? And tense. Squeezing your fists. Holding. Keep squeezing, Feeling the tension through your hands, Fingers, Up your arms, Into your biceps and shoulders. Staying with that tension and completely let go, Release. Great job. Allow your fingers to uncurl, Shake out your hands. And we're going to go again. See if you can make that contrast between tension and release even clearer. Ready and tense. Holding, Squeezing. We're holding for a full 20 seconds. I'll tell you when. We're halfway. Squeezing nice and tight, Continue to breathe. Three, Two, One, Release. Full release. Shake out those hands or those muscles if you need to. Hands loose, Fingers soft. That's true. We have two more. Ready? Let's tense again, Holding, Tensing, Noticing all the muscle involvement, Tensing as hard as you comfortably can. We're up to about 15 seconds, Three, Two, One, Release. Feel that full release and shake it out. If you notice your mind is racing, Just allow those thoughts to be in the background. We're going to do one final round, Really paying attention. Ready? And tense those muscles, Squeezing, Strong tension. Keep holding, Stay with me. Keeping that tension, We're over halfway. That's it, We're up to 15. Three, Two, One, Full release. Allow a big sigh as you let go. Letting everything soften. And just noticing the sensations that are there now. Maybe warmth, Heaviness, Tingling, Softness, Or maybe just less tension. Take a moment to notice the rest of your body. We're not demanding your body become completely calm. We're just giving it this opportunity to shift out of that intense anxiety state and settle again. So you can use this skill anytime you notice yourself becoming highly activated, Anxious or panicking. Choose a pair of muscles, Tense for 20 and then completely let go. And you can do this for several rounds like we've just done together. And anytime you need guidance with it, You can come back to this video and practice with me. Thank you for taking the time.