Welcome.
For this meditation,
I'm going to guide you through a progressive muscle relaxation.
The purpose of this is to release tension from the body.
It's a great one to relax,
To de-stress,
And a good one to do if you have trouble falling asleep at night before going to bed.
Now,
Throughout the practice,
We're going to be lying down.
I'm going to assume that you're lying on the floor,
But you could be lying on a couch or a bed.
And I'll ask you to tense up an arm or leg or other muscle group and lift it,
If possible,
Slightly off the ground.
This is just a millimeter,
So it's just a light tension,
And then you'll release it.
Along with that,
I might ask you to pause your breath.
And as you pause your breath,
I'll have you tense the muscle,
And then you'll exhale,
Relax the muscles,
Let the arm,
Leg,
Whatever,
Drop.
And on the exhale,
In those cases,
We're going to inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
In between these places,
We will breathe normally in and out through our nose.
And I will guide you through this.
If at any time you feel pain or discomfort or have trouble breathing,
Stop immediately and allow your breathing to return to normal.
This should not be painful.
It should be a very light tension and then relaxation.
So at this time,
I'm going to invite you to get comfortable,
Preferably lying down.
And you're lying on your back.
And take a moment to stretch your arms overhead and imagine someone's pulling at your arms and pulling at your feet,
Stretching you in each direction.
And then relax your arms out at your sides,
Palm up.
Your hands are maybe just a few inches from your thighs on each side.
Allow your feet to fall open naturally.
Take a moment to make any subtle adjustments to get more comfortable.
And at this point,
I'll invite you to close your eyes.
We begin by simply noticing our breath,
Drawing our attention inward,
Gently inhaling and exhaling through the nose,
Not trying to control the breath in any way.
And I'd like you to draw your awareness to your left arm.
Make a fist with your left arm and lift the entire arm just a millimeter,
Just a hair off the floor,
Tightening all the way up through the shoulder.
Inhale,
Pause your breath.
Open your mouth,
Exhale,
Drop the arm to the ground.
Stretch the fingers wide and then relax the arms and fingers.
Let's do that one more time,
Making a fist with your left hand,
Lifting the arm a millimeter off the floor,
Tighten the muscles up through the bicep,
Up through the shoulder.
Inhale,
Pause your breath.
Then exhale through the mouth,
Drop the arm on the exhale,
Stretch the fingers wide and then relax them.
Allow your left arm to be heavy and weighted into the floor.
Now draw your awareness to your right arm.
Make a fist with your right hand,
Tighten all the way up through the shoulder,
Tighten the bicep,
Lift the right arm,
Just a hair off the floor.
Inhale and exhale through the mouth as you drop the arm to the ground.
Stretch the fingers wide and then relax them.
We're going to do that side one more time,
Making a fist with your right hand,
Lifting the arm a hair off the floor,
Tighten that arm,
Tighten all the muscles.
Inhale,
Pause your breath,
And on the exhale,
Release the arm,
Stretch the fingers wide and then relax the arm,
The fingertips.
Allow your right arm to be heavy and weighted into the floor.
Allow both your left and right arms to be heavy.
Now draw your awareness to your left leg.
I'd like you to scrunch up the toes of the left leg and if you are able to,
Lift the entire leg just a millimeter off the floor,
Tightening all the way up through the hip,
Tighten the muscles,
And inhale,
Pause your breath,
Exhale through the mouth and drop the leg to the floor.
Stretch the toes as well as you can and then relax the leg.
We're going to do that side one more time.
Inhale,
Tighten the toes up through the leg,
Lift the leg a millimeter off the floor if you can,
Tighten,
Tighten,
Tighten,
Inhale,
Pause your breath,
And as you exhale through your mouth,
Drop the leg,
And let it relax.
Stretch the toes and relax them.
Imagine that your left leg is very heavy and weighted into the floor.
Your left leg,
Your left arm,
And your right arm are heavy and weighted into the floor.
Now draw your awareness to your right leg,
Scrunching the toes,
Lifting the leg a millimeter off the floor,
Tighten all the way up through the hip,
And then exhale,
Release the arm,
All the way up the leg,
And exhale,
Release the right leg to the floor.
Stretch the toes wide and relax them.
One more time,
Tightening the toes on the right leg,
Lifting that leg a hair off the floor,
Tighten,
Tighten,
Tighten,
Inhale,
Pause your breath,
And as you exhale,
Release the leg to the floor,
Stretch the toes wide,
And then relax them.
Allow your right leg to be heavy and weighted into the floor.
Your legs and your arms are heavy.
With each exhale,
They relax a little more into the floor.
Now draw your awareness to your head.
Now you're not going to drop your head,
And if you have any neck issues,
You will not lift your head at all.
You'll keep it on the ground.
But if you're able,
I'd like you to gently lift your head just a millimeter off the floor.
Feel a little,
You might feel a little tension in the neck,
And then relax your head down and gently rock your head from side to side.
Come back to stillness.
I'd like you to scrunch up your facial muscles like you just ate something really sour.
Scrunch up your face as much as you can.
Inhale and exhale,
Relax your face.
We're going to do that one one more time.
Scrunch up the facial muscles,
Tighten,
Inhale and exhale,
Relax the face,
Relax your neck and shoulders.
Allow your shoulders to be heavy and weighted into the floor.
Allow your face to be soft,
Your jaw to feel soft and relaxed.
I'd like you to draw your awareness into your belly.
And on the inhale,
Imagine you're filling up a giant balloon.
Inhale,
Allow the belly to expand.
Pause at the top of the breath,
And then open your mouth as if someone popped the balloon and just sigh it.
Let's do that one more time.
Inhale through the nose,
Allow the belly to fill up.
Open your mouth and just sigh it out.
Consciously relax your hips and your low back,
And allow your breathing to return to normal.
You're breathing gently in and out through the nose.
With each exhale melting a little further into the floor,
Take a moment to scan your body from the top of your head down through your feet,
Breathing into any areas of leftover tension,
And exhale,
Allow that tension to release and break apart as if melting into the floor.
With each exhale sink a little deeper.
I'm going to be quiet for about a minute or two.
When you're ready,
Gently wiggle your fingers and toes,
Rock your head from side to side,
Bring yourself back into the moment.
You can open your eyes whenever you're ready.
Thank you for joining me.
