Tense And Release Relaxation Technique

A guided body and breath exercise for deep relaxation. Re-energize for your day or a great tool before bed to drift off into a deep sleep. Using a tensing and relaxing technique, make your way through the body progressively releasing tension and settling into a calm relaxed meditation.

Transcript

Welcome to this meditation.

I'm Gabby Macra.

And today we'll be working with the breath combined with a tense and release technique to both build awareness in our bodies,

Connection with the mind and body,

As well as to relax,

To release,

Let go of some tension.

So for this meditation you can be seated and if you want to walk away with a bit more energy from the meditation,

Seated is a good place,

But it can also be used to really let go and relax,

And especially before sleep.

It's a very good meditation to do laying down,

Preparing yourself to drift off.

So finding the best position for you,

Whether that's sitting down or laying down today,

Just begin to get comfortable in whichever position you're in,

Making sure the spine is nice and long.

If you're sitting,

The hands resting gently on your thighs.

If you're laying down,

Arms out of the sides,

Palms facing up,

Legs slightly apart if you're laying down,

The feet just fall open.

And if you're sitting,

Feet firmly planted on the ground.

We begin with a few nice deep breaths just to release whatever we've come into the space with.

So starting together,

Take a nice deep inhale,

Fill up the lungs to the sides,

The corners,

The edges.

When you're ready,

Open the mouth and just release,

Sigh it out.

A couple more like this,

Deep inhale in through the nose,

Sides,

Edges filling up front and back.

Pause at the top,

Open the mouth,

Exhale,

Release,

Sigh it out.

One more deep breath like this,

Deep inhale through the nose,

Fill up the lungs,

Corners,

Edges,

Front,

Back,

Sides.

Slight pause at the top and exhale,

Sigh it out.

Just allow your breath to come back to its natural rhythm.

Feeling the support underneath your body,

At different points the body is in contact with the support around you,

Underneath you.

The breath we're going to work with today is a nice deep inhale just like we just did.

Work with a pause at the top and during this pause we're going to bring our awareness to different parts of the body.

We're going to tense them up,

Scrunch them up really really tight as we pause with the breath.

When we're ready we'll exhale,

Sigh it out just like we did and release,

Relax into those parts of the body.

When you're ready,

Begin to draw your awareness,

Your attention all the way down to your feet,

The soles of the feet,

The tops,

The toes,

The heels,

The ankles.

Let's take a nice deep inhale.

As you inhale start to gently tense the feet.

At the top of the inhale pause,

Really scrunch the feet,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze.

And exhale,

Release,

Relax the feet,

Release the breath.

A little more deep inhale,

Gently tensing the feet as you go.

At the top pause,

Really scrunch,

Scrunch those feet,

The ankles,

Hold,

Exhale,

Release.

Just let the natural rhythm of your breath come back in between the different places we're going to visit.

Drawing your awareness,

Your attention up around the calves,

The shins,

The whole lower part of your leg.

When you're ready,

Inhaling,

Start to feel a little bit of contraction as you inhale.

And then at the top pausing,

Really squeeze the calves,

See if you can squeeze just the calves.

And exhale,

Sigh,

Release.

One more deep breath at the calves,

Inhale.

Pause at the top,

Squeeze,

Really squeeze,

Hold,

Exhale,

Release.

And then back to the natural rhythm.

And then drawing the awareness,

The attention up to the thighs,

Large muscles,

The quads,

The hamstrings.

When you're ready,

As you start to inhale,

Gently start to tense,

You get to the top,

Pause,

Squeeze the thighs,

Hold,

Squeeze,

Exhale,

Release.

One more,

Inhale,

Start to tense just that little bit as you come up,

Pause at the top,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze.

And exhale,

Release.

Come back to the breath,

Relaxing the whole leg all the way through the thighs,

The calves,

The feet.

And then drawing the awareness,

The attention up around the hips,

The glutes,

The buttocks,

Pelvic floor,

Lower,

Lower belly,

Just in between the bowl of the hips.

When you're ready,

Inhaling,

Start to gently tense,

And then at the top,

Pausing,

Really squeeze,

Hold and squeeze,

Exhale,

Release.

One more here,

Inhaling deeply,

Pause at the top and squeeze,

Really squeeze.

Exhale,

Release.

The natural rhythm return.

Moving up around the belly,

The lower back,

The waist,

Lower half of the torso,

Draw the awareness,

The attention.

The next inhale,

Draw the breath in,

Start to tense gently as you come up,

And at the top pausing,

Squeezing,

Really squeeze your belly in,

Little corset wrapping around,

And exhale,

Release.

One more deep inhale,

Start to tense as the air comes in,

Pause at the top,

Squeezing,

Squeezing,

Exhale,

Release.

The natural rhythm return.

Awareness of the attention draws up further around the chest,

The upper back,

Shoulder blades,

Shoulders and the collarbones.

Just feel the breath there for a moment,

The expansion,

The contraction.

When you're ready,

Inhale,

Gently starting to tense a bit on the way up.

Pause at the top,

Squeezing the chest,

The upper back,

The shoulders,

Really squeeze just there.

Exhale,

Release.

One more time here,

Inhale deeply,

Fill it up.

Pause at the top,

Squeezing the chest,

The back,

The shoulders,

Squeeze a little bit more.

Exhale,

Release.

Natural breath,

Rhythm returns.

Bringing the awareness to the arms and the shoulders,

Then the upper half,

The lower half,

So we do the wrists,

The hands,

Fists,

The palms,

The fingers.

Ready,

Deep inhale,

Start to gently tense from the hands to the shoulders,

At the top,

Squeezing everything,

Making fists,

Squeezing the arms,

Clenching the biceps.

And exhale,

Release.

One more time,

Deep inhale,

Start to gently tense on the way up.

The top pausing,

Really squeezing,

Fists,

Forearms,

Biceps,

Triceps,

And exhale,

Release.

Back to the natural rhythm,

Let the arms rest heavily,

Gently.

Bringing the awareness all the way up,

Around the neck,

The face,

The head,

The ears,

All around.

And as you begin to inhale,

Gently tensing at the top,

Pause,

Squeeze,

Scrunch the whole face,

The neck,

Squeeze all around the head,

And exhale,

Release.

One more deep inhale.

The arms at the top,

Squeezing everything,

Squeeze,

Scrunch the face,

And exhale,

Release.

Return to the natural breath,

The natural rhythm.

And then one time,

We're going to squeeze all the way from the toes to the fingers to the top of the head,

The whole body.

One more deep inhale,

Breathing in,

Start to tense along the way.

At the top,

Pause,

Squeezing fists,

Squeeze the feet,

Scrunch the face,

Whole body,

Torso,

Legs,

Calves,

Everything.

And exhale,

Release.

Just allow the natural rhythm of the breath to come back nice and gently.

And just simply settling in to any sensations in the body,

Anywhere from the tips of the toes to the top of the head.

Just resting in that awareness.

With every exhale,

Lengthening slightly and releasing just a little bit more into the support beneath you,

Around you.

And if you're lying down,

Waiting for sleep,

Then just begin to allow yourself to gently drift into a nice quiet space.

Just floating off into somewhere very peaceful and quiet just for you.

And if you're sitting up and moving on with your day,

I invite you to take the right palm and place it over your chest at your heart center.

Take the left,

Place it over the right.

Just take a moment to connect with and tap into the ability to sit down with yourself,

To relax,

To release as and when you need it.

Just remind yourself that you can always come back to that at any point in the day.

Thank you.

Namaste.

Reviews

THANK YOU! I really like this! Great way to relax the body for the the day!, the benefit comes after the meditation! 🙏☮️

A perfect way to relax at the end of a working day. Thanks Gabi.

Soothing voice! Thank you !