10-Minute Tension Release

It’s remarkable how quickly the body can drop some of its surface stress. This Embodied Meditation is a 10-minute seated practice that helps you squeeze, wring out, and release physical tension from head to toe. As a bonus, you might find your mind following right along, getting clearer and calmer as you go.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Paige.

It's remarkable how quickly our bodies can drop some of their surface stress.

Today's embodied meditation is a short practice that helps you squeeze,

Wring out,

And release physical tension from your head all the way down to your toes.

As a bonus,

You might find your mind following right along,

Getting clearer and calmer as you go.

Just start sitting.

So you could be sitting on the floor,

Maybe with a cushion or a stack of blankets underneath your hips.

You could be sitting in a chair,

Perhaps at your desk,

Any place that's comfortable and easy to get to.

Take a moment to settle into the space that you've carved out for yourself.

And we'll start at the top.

Scrunch your face up like you've just tasted something sour.

So you might squeeze around your eyes,

You might crinkle your nose,

You might tighten your lips and your jaw,

Maybe even wrinkle the skin on the scalp of your head.

And then reverse that.

Stretch your face open wide,

Widen through your eyes,

Through the skin and the muscles of your face,

Widen through your mouth and your throat.

You might even extend your tongue out.

And then we'll move back and forth,

Adding the breath if you would like.

You could inhale and scrunch up your face again,

Crinkling,

Wrinkling,

Squeezing everything.

And then as you exhale,

It might even be an audible sigh,

Widening your face,

Opening everything wide,

Stretching all the way up to the crown of your head.

A couple more like that.

Inhale,

Scrunch your face up,

Squeeze everything,

Open your mouth,

Extend your exhale,

Maybe extend your tongue,

Widen and stretch.

One more like that.

Inhale,

Scrunch up your face.

Really take your time giving everything a wrinkle,

A crinkle and a squeeze.

And then open your mouth,

Sigh,

Stretch and spread and release everything wide.

And then as you're ready,

Let your face come back to something that feels neutral.

Drop your chin toward your chest,

Let it feel heavy.

And then with a little bit of that heaviness,

Roll your right ear over toward your right shoulder.

And as you do that,

You could tip your chin up toward the sky.

You could even rock your jaw a little bit and drop your chin all the way back to your chest.

And then left ear,

Left shoulder,

You could tip your chin up,

You could rock your jaw.

Let yourself move back and forth in these little half neck rolls another couple of times each side.

And as you slowly,

Easily let your head roll,

Let your head also just be heavy and relaxed.

You could even let your brain feel heavy as if it's releasing through this gentle movement one more time,

Half circles through your neck,

Head like a pendulum,

Brain releasing.

And you could drop your chin all the way back to your chest.

Let your face come back up.

Your chin is parallel with the earth again.

Shrug your shoulders way up to your ears.

Exaggerate that.

Give them a squeeze so they really move up and you really feel that compression,

That squeezing of tension right along the tops of your shoulders and the sides of your neck.

And when you're ready to exhale next,

Release your shoulders,

Let them drop down and release your breath with a ha sound,

Ha,

Dropping your shoulders down.

We'll do that twice more.

Inhale,

Squeezing your shoulders up,

Exaggerating that,

Giving everything a little bit of an extra squeeze,

Ha sound as you drop your shoulders and relax them back down.

One more like that.

Inhale,

Shrugging your shoulders up to your ears,

Little extra squeeze,

Pausing,

Big ha sound as you drop your shoulders and let everything release.

Let's move into the sometimes tight,

Sticky space in the middle back.

So let yourself gently twist to the right.

You could cross your left arm over as a little bit of an anchor,

Just ringing around your spine.

Take an inhale that feels as if it stretches all the way up the length of your spine.

And as you exhale,

You might gently wrap yourself to the right a little bit more.

You might even take your gaze right.

Let yourself draw in another inhale here.

And as you exhale,

Unwind all the way back through center and maybe feel your mid back flush and release a little bit.

And over to the left,

Let yourself twist your way to the left.

You could cross your right arm over,

Draw in an inhale that winds its way all the way up your spine.

And as you exhale,

You might twist a little bit more to the left.

You might even swivel your gaze to the left.

Take another inhale,

Let it fill you up.

And as you exhale,

Unwind yourself back through center.

Allow your mid back especially to release.

If you're sitting on the floor,

You could uncross your legs and put your feet flat on the floor.

If you're sitting in a chair,

Just let your feet touch the floor.

You can rest your hands if you're in a chair on your thighs.

If you're sitting on the floor with your knees bent,

You could just hold on to the fronts of your knees or your shins.

And we'll move into some seated cow and cat movement,

Beginning to center some energy down in our bellies.

So when you're ready to inhale,

Gently lengthen and perhaps even arch your spine.

And when you're ready to exhale,

Slowly round your way in,

Kind of rounding in,

Letting your belly draw back toward your spine,

Maybe even letting your head drop down.

And as you inhale again,

Feeling some opening and release,

Especially way down into your belly.

And as you exhale,

Squeezing,

Hugging,

Drawing in,

Folding in toward yourself.

A couple more of these,

Inhaling,

Arching through your spine,

Maybe spreading through your belly,

Almost like we're massaging all the way down into the abdomen.

As you exhale and round your way in.

Do that two more times,

Inhaling,

Opening,

Maybe arching.

And as you exhale and round in,

Now letting some of the energy and awareness drop all the way down into your hips and your pelvis.

So as you move through this once more,

Inhaling,

You're rocking your hips forward,

Beginning to release all the way down into your hips and as you exhale,

Rocking them back,

Spreading through your low back,

Releasing in toward yourself.

And then you can come all the way back through upright.

You can stretch your legs out if you're sitting on the floor,

You can just lengthen them forward if you're sitting in a chair and maybe give your legs a gentle bounce,

Just kind of moving energy,

Tapping them out.

And then as your legs move back towards stillness,

See how it feels to begin to swirl your ankles around.

Just easy at your own pace in any way that feels natural to you,

Swirling your ankles around.

And it might feel nice to extend your arms forward and add your wrists.

So we're getting way down into the extremities of the body,

Swirling your ankles,

Swirling your wrists.

You could spread through your toes and your fingers,

Maybe swirl everything around the other direction a couple of times.

And then give everything a little bit of a shake,

Your feet,

Your hands,

Your legs,

Your arms,

And then just release all of that movement,

Let anything that you've stirred up that's ready to move on out,

Evaporate as you come back to a still,

Easy seat.

Let's finish by settling into the breath.

You can keep your legs extended,

You could recross your legs,

Steady and at ease in your seat.

As you're ready to inhale,

Perhaps feel your breath as if it could move from your feet all the way up to the crown of your head.

And when you're ready to exhale,

As if you're gently exhaling through a straw,

You could softly purse your lips and slowly release your exhale.

Twice more when you're ready to inhale,

As if you're drawing your inhale in,

Maybe from the soles of your feet all the way to the crown of your head.

And as you're ready to exhale,

Softly purse your lips,

Release your exhale,

Slowing it down,

Calming it down.

One more,

Just like that,

Inhale from your feet to your crown,

Slow exhale like you're gently blowing through a straw,

Relaxing your breath out.

And your breath settles back into an easy and natural rhythm.

And I hope you can allow this physical release to extend into all the layers of who you are and out into whatever's next.

Thank you so much.

I look forward to being with you again soon.

Reviews

This was a lovely way to move from my day into my evening, releasing some of the tension in my body. Your instructions were very clear and we'll-paced, with a lovely soothing, calm voice. A perfect length to easily fit in at a busy time of the day. My body and mind both felt the benefit of this practice, thank you 🙏

Fantastic visualization and whole body relaxation. Thanks Paige!

My body was filled with tension this morning. This practice was really helpful for releasing some of that tesion so that I can start my day. Thank you.

Just marvelous! Thank you. 🙏

🌟Thank you so much!!!! Your embodied meditations are a blessing for body AND mind 🌟

Gorgeous and so helpful! Thank you as always Paige! ❤️🌟🙏

Good brief wake up for my body. I was feeling really tired and am more alert now.

Perfect lunchtime loosener after spending the morning at my desk.

Love the physicality of this. Thank you,