This is progressive muscle relaxation incorporating deep breathing with Dr.
Todd Giardina.
Let's begin.
Sit comfortably in a chair.
The arms on the armrest.
Supported fully.
Sitting up straight.
Remove your glasses if you're wearing them.
Any watches or jewelry should be taken off if they're distracting or restricting.
Preferably you be in a room with little distraction.
Soft lighting.
Few sounds.
Now that you're in this position to begin to relax.
Focus on your breathing.
With your eyes closed or picking a distant spot on the wall to look at.
Begin to notice your breathing in and out.
Place one hand on your chest and one on your stomach.
And breathing normally begin to notice which hand rises more than the other.
The goal here is for you to feel your stomach rising more than your chest.
Indicating that you're taking deep breaths all the way down into your diaphragm.
Down into your stomach.
For the next few breaths,
Try to focus on taking the air all the way into your diaphragm.
Making your stomach rise greater than your chest.
Breathe slowly and deeply.
See if you can't exaggerate pushing the stomach muscles out as you inhale.
Letting it fill up with air.
As you exhale,
Pulling the stomach muscles in.
Pressing all that air out.
Try to breathe in through your nose.
Out through your mouth.
Now that you feel the natural rhythm of your breathing.
Place your hands back on the armrests of the chair.
Now I want you to pay attention to the muscles in your forehead and your brow.
Tense up those muscles.
Like you're feeling upset.
Tense the muscles in your forehead and hold them.
Hold them tight.
Hold them and release.
Notice that feeling of relaxation.
Now tense the muscles in your cheeks.
By squinting your eyes.
Pulling your cheeks upward.
Almost smiling as you do it.
Hold those muscles tense.
Tense the face.
Tense and release.
Now take your shoulders and lift them up to your ears.
Try to touch your ears with your shoulders and hold that tension.
Hold those muscles taut.
Hold it and release.
You can feel now the relaxation starting to spread.
The muscle tension flowing away.
Now take your hands and flex them up to touch your shoulders.
Tensing up your biceps.
Tense those muscles.
Pull your arms in tight up to your shoulders.
Hold it.
Hold it and release.
Now resting your hands on the armrests of the chair again.
Tense up your fists.
Hold the fists tight.
Tight.
Tight.
Hold them.
Tension and then release.
Continue breathing all the while that we're tensing these muscle groups.
Continue to notice those long deep breaths into your stomach and diaphragm.
Now with your arms still on the armrest of the chair.
Pull them back towards the back of the chair.
Trying to make your elbows touch the back of the chair.
Tensing up the back of your arms,
Your shoulders,
Back.
Hold that tension.
Pull those elbows back.
Tense and release.
Now you can begin to feel this relaxation spreading.
We've now begun with the head and face.
Moving down the neck and shoulders.
Into your arms and back.
Feeling the tension slip away.
Now tense the muscles in your lower back and buttocks.
Hold them tense.
Tighten.
Hold it.
And release.
Now take your heels.
While seated,
Pull those heels up towards the underside of the chair.
Try to make your heels pull up to touch the bottom of the chair.
Or if you're seated in a lounge chair,
Pull the heels back towards the footrest.
Tensing the muscles in the back of your thighs.
The muscles that are in the front of your lower legs.
Pull those muscles back,
Taut,
Tense.
Hold it.
Release again.
Now extend your legs straight out in front of you.
Pointing your toes and holding your legs up in the air in front of you while seated in the chair.
Tensing the muscles in the front of your thighs.
Your calves,
The back of your lower legs.
Tense those muscles.
Hold the legs out straight.
Hold it.
And release.
Now let the ground support the weight of your legs.
Let your feet rest softly on the ground.
Continue to breathe slowly and deeply into your abdomen.
And notice now the relaxation.
The calm,
Releasing feeling in your head,
Face.
Lack of tension around your jaw,
Neck,
Down to your shoulders.
Feel your arms heavy and loose,
Supported by the armrests of the chair.
Your fingers dangling gently.
Feel the tension gone from your back,
From your lower limbs.
Your legs heavy,
Resting on the ground.
Sit comfortably in this position.
Just enjoy the general sense of relaxation you're feeling right now.
Continue breathing,
Letting your stomach rise and fall.
Gently giving in to this calm,
Relaxing feeling.
Your eyelids will feel heavy.
If your eyes are shut,
You may start to feel near sleep.
There's so little tension,
So little anxiety taught up in your body.
You feel restful,
At ease.
Now picture or imagine sound or image,
Something pleasant.
Perhaps something in your day-to-day life,
A common experience.
That can be a reminder of this current feeling you have of calm and relaxation.
You might picture waking up in the morning,
The sun coming through the curtains into your bedroom.
You might picture a loved one or imagine a particular sound,
Something that you want to be a cue,
A reminder in your daily life to feel calm,
To breathe deeply,
To be relaxed and without tension.
What you can do is in your waking moments,
Going about your daily routine,
Let your mind float back to this image,
This sound,
This place or notice the cue,
The person or the experience in your day-to-day life.
Allow your mind to come right back to this feeling you have right now of calm and relaxation.
Fix this in your mind.
Associate the way you feel right now physically,
The calm you feel mentally,
The gentle deep breathing.
Allow this to be something you can come back to throughout the day.
Now I ask you to become more aware of your body being supported by the chair.
Become more aware of the sounds and sensations around you.
Noticing the room you're in,
Coming back to a wakeful,
Engaged state.
Count backwards in your mind from five to one slowly.
When you reach one,
Open your eyes and find yourself relaxed in mind and body.
