Hey,
It's Dr.
Adam Bledsoe,
And we're joining each other for a brief anxiety and stress relieving progressive muscle relaxation exercise.
So here's the thing,
The opposite of a contraction is relaxation.
And if we use a contraction,
We can cause our body and our mind to release the tension once we go into the relaxation.
So what we're going to do in this meditation together is we're going to contract and relax large muscle groups all together to create a lot of exertion and activation.
And then the opposite of that is a relaxation.
Okay,
So to get ready for this,
I would suggest you stand up because this meditation is best when we want to kind of dissipate some anxiety to move forward with our day,
Or when we need to really break an anxious moment so that we can move into the next steps we need to take for calming our nervous system down.
So what I'd like you to do is stand somewhere comfortably.
And what we'll start with is we're going to start with the lower body.
What I'd like you to do is contract your hip muscles,
Squeeze your glutes,
Straighten out your thighs so your knees are right straight,
And you might even pull your toes up towards your knees.
So you're contracting the lower part of your body as tightly as you possibly can.
Hold it,
Hold it,
Take a breath in.
And then as you breathe out,
Let go of that muscle tension.
That's right.
Let it all go.
And now take one easy breath in and out.
And as you do,
Just feel the lower body and notice and let the tension go.
That's right.
So let's do it again.
Start building the tension in your thighs again,
In your hips and in your lower calves,
Your legs,
Build up that tension.
You can even go up on your tippy toes if you're holding the wall or something and squeeze as tightly as you comfortably can.
And then take a breath in and then exhale,
Let it go.
And then spend the next easy breath noticing the relaxation and the calming that are coming into your muscles of your lower body.
Let's do this one more time.
Contract the hips,
Start tightening up the thighs,
Build tension in the lower leg,
Squeeze it,
Tighter,
Tighter,
Tighter,
Breath in,
Let it go.
Spend a moment there feeling the life,
The energy come back in to your lower body.
Now we're going to move towards the arms.
What I'd like you to do is start slowly balling up your fists.
Then you might curl your wrists and then straighten your elbows and squeeze the muscles.
And you could even pull your arms into your sides and squeeze it all very tightly together.
Squeeze a little tighter.
Now breathe in,
Exhale and let it go.
Allow the relaxation and the energy to come back into your body.
Start to feel,
Feel the floor below you.
And then let's do it again.
You can ball your fists up again.
You can even push your wrist the other direction.
You can curl your elbows this time if you want or straighten them like you did last time.
Clench your arms close to your body and pull them in tightly to activate the big core muscles.
Tighter,
Tighter,
Tighter,
Breath in.
Let it all go and relax.
Give yourself a wiggle if you want.
You can feel the freedom come back into your limbs.
Your lower body is getting even more relaxed.
And now we go into the third repetition.
Open those hands or clench the fists,
Whatever you want to activate this time.
Really get those arms activated.
Squeeze the muscles as you bring your arms close to your body.
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze so tightly.
One more ounce of tightness.
Now breathing in,
Breathing out,
Maybe with a sigh and letting that tension go.
Wonderful.
There we go.
Now this time you're going to take a big breath in.
And as you exhale,
I want you to exhale everything and squeeze your midsection tightly.
Pull your belly button tightly into your spine.
Put your,
Clasp your hands together in front of your chest and push your hands into one another,
Activating your chest muscles,
Holding the abdominal muscles.
So tightly.
Hold it.
Now breathe in.
Let it all go.
Feel the warmth coming into your body as the blood starts to flow again.
We're telling our nervous system that we are safe after we activate.
We're telling the nervous system we have fought or fleed from that foe and the body then naturally relaxes.
So again,
Clasping the hands in front of our chest,
Taking a big breath in,
Exhaling all of that breath,
Every bit of it.
As you pull your belly button in tight,
You cinch your waist tightly,
Squeezing your core,
Squeeze your chest muscles tight,
A little tighter again.
One more step tighter and breathe it in.
As you exhale,
Let it go and shake it out.
Good.
One more,
Just like that.
Breathing in,
Squeeze the chest muscles,
Pull the belly button in tight,
Squeeze it tighter,
Tighter,
Tighter.
Now breath in,
Let it go,
Sigh it out.
That body should be feeling a little bit warm,
A little bit more activated,
Maybe a little bit more grounded and present as you're coming back into your body.
And we're going to do the last or second to last step.
What I'd like you to do now is squeeze your eyes closed,
Clench your jaw,
Furrow your brow,
Pull your chin into your chest,
Squeeze it all so tightly you might feel your head shaking,
Your neck moving,
Breathing in,
Exhaling,
Letting it go.
Feel your face relax.
We carry so much tension in our face.
As we do allow your jaw to widen,
Allow your ears to lower,
Let your scalp relax.
All those spots we hold extra tension and we do it again.
When you're ready,
Clench your jaw,
Scrunch up your nose,
Close your eyes,
Furrow your brow,
Pull your head into your shoulders,
Squeeze it as tightly as you comfortably can.
Go ahead and push a little harder and harder,
Breath in,
Sigh it out,
Relax the muscles.
Feel it all,
Let go.
That's right.
You've got this and you're going to be okay.
Last time for the head.
Clench that jaw,
Squeeze those eyes shut,
Scrunch that nose,
Furrow that brow,
Pull that head down tight,
Squeeze it hard,
A little harder still.
Can you go a little further?
Breathe in,
Exhale,
Let it go.
Find yourself coming back into your body,
Getting that little bit of reprieve that comes after the big burst of energy as you release that stress you've accumulated through the day that was causing anxiety and tension.
Let's do three more repetitions with our whole body,
Beginning at the floor.
Maybe you curl your toes,
Maybe you straighten your knees firmly,
Squeeze your glutes,
Clench your fists,
Bend your elbows,
Pull everything in tight,
Scrunch your face like you did a moment ago,
Squeeze your shoulders up,
Squeeze it all together at once.
Create a lot of energy and heat.
Breathe it in,
Let it all go on that exhale.
Take your body around,
Allow the relaxation to find you and to follow that contraction two more times.
Start over at the feet.
Clench those toes,
Straighten those knees out,
Make the quad muscles tight,
Make the hip muscles tight,
Squeeze your abdominals,
Squeeze your chest,
Push everything together,
Bend your elbows,
Make it all tight,
Squeeze your shoulder blades up,
Clench your face,
Hold it,
Hold it,
Hold it,
Inhaling,
Exhaling all the tension as you relax.
Feel yourself almost there,
Coming back into this space,
Your mind clearing,
Getting ready to move into the next part of your day after this last round.
Go ahead now,
Clench the toes,
Squeeze the quads,
The thighs,
The legs,
Straighten them out,
Get those hips tight,
Abdominals tight,
Lower back tight,
Squeeze your arms into your body and then straighten or bend your elbows in any way you want to contract them,
Making fists.
Clench the shoulders tightly together,
Squeeze the whole face,
Three,
Two,
One,
Inhale,
Exhale,
Let it all out with a sigh,
Rock your body back and forth.
Bring your mind and your awareness into your body and I'd like you to feel a place where it feels more refreshed,
More enlivened,
More relaxed.
What do you notice?
What sensation is coming up for you right now in your body?
How do you feel?
What emotion are you experiencing right now?
A little bit of,
A little bit more than before and then it's time now to move into the rest of your day.
I hope that feels a lot better.
Thanks so much for joining me.
My name is Dr.
Adam Bledsoe and I hope to meditate with you again.
