There's a simple body relaxation method that I like to use in conjunction with deep slow breathing.
The method is quite simple.
All you do is lay down,
Close your eyes,
And start off with a couple of slow deep breaths.
In through the nose,
Out through your mouth,
And make sure that you're breathing into your belly.
Once your breathing has slowed down,
I just want you to do a general body scan.
Just sort of quickly and mentally look over all the different parts of your body,
From your feet,
To your legs,
To your back,
To your belly,
To your neck,
To your shoulders,
To your arms,
To your hands,
To your head,
To your face.
And you probably would do it that quickly.
And what you're looking for is points of tension,
Points of resting stress,
Places in which you're physically tensing your body.
And you might find them,
You might not.
And if you don't find them,
That's okay.
Just continue focusing on your breath and practicing the slow breathing.
But eventually you'll notice that there's some physical tension.
Perhaps you've engaged your thigh muscles,
Or perhaps you notice that your back's a little bit hunched,
Or your neck's tense,
Or there's some sort of just physical discomfort somewhere.
Once you've identified that,
I want you to continue your slow and deep calm breathing,
But actively,
Actively send relaxation energy,
So to speak,
Or a relaxation intention,
To that area.
So let's say you recognize that your shoulders are hunched and up.
You'll say to yourself,
Okay,
I recognize that my shoulders are up and hunched,
I'm just going to relax them.
And you're sort of pushing or visualizing or sending these relaxation energies to that spot.
Now,
I'm not suggesting this is a metaphysical or spiritual sort of healing session.
I use the visualization as a guide to sort of picture what I'm hoping to occur,
Because the mind is a powerful thing.
When I practice this,
I will notice that a particular part of my body is on,
And tense,
And filling in pain.
And the first step is to just recognize it,
And just try and let go physically.
If that doesn't work,
I sort of invest in the mind,
And look at it.
What does the tension feel like?
What does it look like?
How strong is it?
What is the borders of the tension?
Then I sort of actively try and relax.
I'll even say to myself,
Relax,
Let go,
It's okay.
From there,
I'll move into a suggestion of safety.
All the time,
Our bodies hold tension.
They hold pressure.
They hold this sort of resting tension that is a byproduct of keeping us safe.
And when we're relaxed and doing this practice,
We are safe.
So it's sort of like I'm trying to tell my body,
Just,
It's okay.
You can let go.
You don't need to be on right now.
I thank you for protecting me.
Let's let go.
Let's release.
Sort of talking to my body and sort of,
As almost if it's a distressed animal that I need to calm down and hug and love,
Or maybe a child that's stubbed their toe.
It's okay.
And from there,
If it's still not relaxed,
If it's still not tense,
Then I'll move into visualizations.
And it could be a true biological,
Physiological visualization.
So imagining the muscles and the tension,
Or it could be more esoteric and spiritual.
For example,
Imagining colors and light and energy healing me.
And what I find happens is that at some stage,
Those muscles will relax and let go.
And there's a little bit of like an emotional release,
A tension drop,
And things just feel good.
And then from there,
I continue the practice.
I do the body scan again and find another place of tension and repeat the process.
And then I'll move into the next step.
I'll find another place of tension and repeat the process.
This is an amazing practice that works as a lead into meditation,
But primarily I use it as a way to calm down from panic attacks,
But also as a lead into sleep.
So I encourage you,
Lie down,
Close your eyes,
And do a quick body scan and find any places of tension that may be bothering you.
And slowly and gently let go of them.
