Hi,
My name is Ashley and I'm a yoga teacher and a mindfulness and meditation teacher.
This is one of my students favorite activities.
It's called progressive muscle relaxation.
And it's a practice that helps us reduce stress and anxiety in our body by having us slowly tense and relax each muscle.
This can provide an immediate feeling of relaxation.
It can be done on its own,
Or it could be paired with one of my other practices called yoga nidra.
But it's best to practice frequently.
The more you experience it,
The more you become aware of when you're holding tension and stress in the body.
I know for me,
Before I learned all these practices,
I would walk around with my shoulders clenched,
My teeth clenched,
And I would hold my breath.
So think of this as sensitivity training for the body.
So let's begin.
I want you to find a comfortable position lying down,
Maybe on a yoga mat,
Maybe on your bed.
It can also be done sitting in your chair if you're listening to this at work.
It'll work any way you do it.
Okay,
Let's do it.
So lying back or sitting back in your comfortable position,
First just close the eyes or gaze down if you're comfortable doing so.
And begin by taking a deep breath.
And I want you to really fill your lungs with air.
And we're gonna hold the breath for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Slowly release the breath.
Let all tension leave your body.
Take in another deep breath and hold again for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Slowly release the air again.
Even slower now,
Let's take one more breath,
Filling up the lungs,
Holding the air.
Hold one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Slowly release the breath and imagine the feeling of tension leaving your body.
Now move your attention to your feet.
Begin to tense your feet by curling the toes and the arch of your foot,
Holding this tension and noticing what it feels like for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Slowly release the tension in your foot.
Notice this new feeling of relaxation.
Now begin to focus on the lower legs.
Tense the muscles in your calves,
Holding them tightly.
Pay attention to this feeling of tension as we hold one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Release the tension from your lower legs.
Again notice this new feeling of relaxation.
Remember to continue taking deep breaths.
Next let's tense the muscles of the upper legs and pelvis.
You can do this by tightly squeezing the thighs together,
Making sure you feel tenseness but not going to a point of strain.
Hold one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Release.
Feel the tension leaving your muscles.
Next begin to tense the stomach and chest.
You can do this by sucking the stomach in,
Squeezing harder,
Holding the tension a little longer.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Release the tension.
Just allow the body to go limp.
Let yourself notice this new feeling of relaxation.
Continue taking deep breaths.
Let's breathe in slowly,
Noticing the feeling of air filling your lungs and hold it.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Release the air slowly.
Notice the air leaving the lungs.
Next let's tense the muscles in your back by bringing your shoulders together behind you.
Hold them tightly.
Tense them as hard as you can but without straining.
Keep holding.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Release the tension from your back.
Feel the tension slowly leaving your body and this new feeling of relaxation.
Notice how different your body feels when you allow it to relax.
Next let's tense the arms all the way from your hands to your shoulders,
Making a fist,
Squeezing all the way up to your shoulders,
All the way up your arms.
Hold one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Release the tension from your arms and shoulders.
Notice again this new feeling of relaxation in the fingers,
The hands,
The arms,
The shoulders.
Notice how your arms feel limp and at ease.
Okay,
Next move up to your neck and your head.
Tense your face and your neck by distorting the muscles around your eyes and mouth,
Kind of making everything tense.
Hold one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Release this tension.
Notice the face relaxing.
Okay,
Finally we're going to tense the whole body.
Tense your feet,
Your legs,
Your stomach,
Your chest,
Your arms,
Your head,
Your neck.
Tense everything but no straining.
Hold one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Release.
Allow your whole body to relax.
Pay attention to this feeling.
Notice how different it is than how we feel when we hold tension in the body.
I want you to remember you can come back to this practice at any time.
You can do this in meetings.
You can do this before bed to relax the body and mind.
Thanks for joining.
