Hello there,
My name is Amanda Houston and welcome to this short breathing practice to help ease tension from the body.
When we feel stressed,
Our bodies can feel really out of sorts.
You may notice the chest feels tight,
Perhaps you become jittery or maybe there is just this nagging,
Pent up feeling in the body that just won't go away.
But as we become more mindful,
We start to recognise where tension goes in stressful situations,
So hopefully this technique will allow you to nurture areas within yourself that need it most.
When you're ready,
Get yourself comfortable.
You can do this either by lying down or sitting upright on a chair.
Just do whatever feels right for you today.
And then settle in.
Take a nice deep inhale through the nose and a slow exhale out of the mouth.
And again inhale,
Filling the chest and the lungs and a long nourishing exhale.
One more time,
Breathing in fully and then exhale letting everything soften.
Now we will take our breath and awareness to certain parts of the body where we will invite a little tension on the inhale and a slow release of that tension on the exhale.
As you breathe in this time,
Lightly squeeze the muscles on your face,
Scrunching the forehead,
The eyes,
Lips as tight as you can and then hold.
Now slowly release on the exhale,
Just feeling the tension leaving your face.
So let's do that again.
Inhale,
Squeeze the face together and then let all the muscles relax on the exhale.
Now let's come to the shoulders.
Squeeze the shoulders towards your ears,
Hold and feel into whatever you're carrying right now and then release everything on the exhale.
And again,
Inhale,
Squeeze the shoulders,
Hold and release and soften on the exhale.
Now draw your awareness to your fingers.
Squeeze the fingers into palms like a tight ball and hold and exhale.
Then relax slowly letting them open.
One more time,
Inhale as you squeeze the fingers as tight as you can and then exhale,
Release.
Now let's move to the belly.
As you inhale,
Let the belly expand like a big balloon.
Hold,
Hold,
Hold.
And now on the exhale,
Imagine the balloon is deflating slowly,
Effortlessly.
And again,
Inhale,
Belly expands and now let it soften on the exhale.
Now squeeze legs together.
Squeeze the thighs and the lower legs,
Even the butt cheeks.
Hold tight and then slowly let them relax on the exhale.
And again,
As you inhale,
Squeeze the legs as tight as you can and then let them soften and flop on the exhale.
Inhale as you flex the feet,
Squeeze the toes as tight as you can,
Hold and then exhale,
Just enjoying that feeling of release.
Inhale,
Squeeze the toes as tight as you can,
Exhale,
Let them go.
Now we'll try and squeeze the whole body.
Squeeze the face and the hands,
The shoulders,
The fingers,
Legs and the toes.
See how long you can hold for.
Holding for as long as you can and then when you feel ready,
Very,
Very softly and slowly let the whole body relax on the exhale.
One more time,
Squeeze the face,
The hands,
Shoulders,
Legs and toes.
Really feel into that tension and then when you feel ready,
Slowly just allowing every muscle to relax and the body to soften.
Now take a moment,
Just breathe in naturally and effortlessly,
Feeling calm and relaxed,
Calm and relaxed and when you feel ready you can gently start to prepare to go back to your day.
Thank you so much for joining me.
