Progressive Muscle Relaxation W/ Deep Breathing & Imagery

Exercise that involves tensing and releasing the muscles one by one, to produce full body relaxation. All while using deep, diaphragmatic breathing skills to turn off the sympathetic nervous system, fight or flight response. You will be instructed on guided imagery, a method of finding your "happy place" as a mental escape from stress and worry.

Transcript

This is progressive muscle relaxation,

Incorporating deep breathing and imagery.

With Dr.

Todd Giardina,

Let us begin.

Start by sitting comfortably in a chair,

Your 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.

Manage to be 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.

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,

And 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,

And 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,

And 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 taut up in your body.

You feel restful,

At ease.

Now that you find yourself in this calm state of physical relaxation,

I'd like you to take your mind to a place of emotional or psychological calm.

You may recall a pleasant memory of an actual experience.

You may begin to conjure up an image or fantasy of a place or an experience you'd like to be having right now.

Begin with the sights.

What do you see in this imagery,

In this escape?

Do you see people around you?

Where are you?

In someone's home?

At a vacation spot?

Are you interacting with the people or the environment?

Are there sounds of conversation?

Are there words exchanged?

Do you hear waves crashing or leaves rustling in the breeze?

Children's laughter?

Are there any noteworthy smells?

Do you smell fresh cut grass,

Perfume,

Freshly cooked food?

In this image,

What physical sensations do you picture yourself having?

Can you feel a loved one's hand resting on your own?

Do you feel your body reclining in a soft bed or lying on a beach towel?

Are there any taste sensations?

Perhaps you're eating,

Enjoying a fine meal,

Or you can taste the salt in your mouth as the waves crash in front of you.

Really flesh out this image or memory.

Put together all five senses in your mind in great detail and associate the pleasant emotions in this space in your mind with the pleasant lack of tension in your body right now.

Join the two,

And as you continue to breathe deeply,

Slowly into your stomach and abdomen,

Really explore this fantasy world,

This image.

Move around in it.

Soak it up.

Enjoy.

What you can do is at a later time,

At any point during the day when you need an escape from tension,

Stress,

General unpleasantness,

You can return in your mind to this image or memory,

Recalling all the sensations you've filled it with,

Recalling this current state of physical relaxation and calm,

Allowing it all to wash back over you and whisk you away from whatever unpleasantness you were experiencing at the time.

This could be your own little escape,

Your happy place,

Your place of respite.

Now that you have this image in your mind,

You've filled it out with sights and sounds and smells,

You've connected it to your physical sensation at this moment,

Into your slow,

Calm breathing,

I'd now like you to become slowly more aware of the sounds in the room where you are right now,

Become slowly more aware of your body in contact with the chair being supported,

And as you return to a state of consciousness,

Recognizing more the reality around you,

Like you while continue breathing deeply,

Slowly count backwards from five to one,

And when you reach one in your mind,

You may open your eyes and find yourself ready to live in a relaxed state of mind and body.