Progressive Muscle Relaxation For Sleep

Relax when you need to during the day or before bed. Relieve tension with progressive muscle relaxation. Also, scan the body and be aware of the breath and how it makes you feel. This meditation is great to relax before getting ready for a better sleep or clear your mind before other activities in the day.

Transcript

Welcome to today's meditation. I invite you to join me in relaxing your body and your mind. This can be sometime throughout the day or before bed, Helping you drift into sleep. First of all, If there's anything that's on your mind right now or any activities you remembered you have to do, Pause now and get that done. Now let your body and mind relax as you pick a position to meditate in. I recommend lying down on your back with your legs slightly apart about hip distance and your palms facing up just slightly away from your body and place your head on a pillow or a soft surface allowing your head to lay straight in line with the rest of your body. It's also an option to be seated. Just get comfortable. Take a deep breath in, Hold it and then let it release. Take a gentle scan through your body from head to toe, Noticing if there's any particular muscles that are tense, Clenched. Take another breath in and as you breathe out let any tension go. Let your body relax. First we're going to go into progressive muscle relaxation. We're going to squeeze different parts of the body and different muscles and then we're going to let it relax. Take another breath in, Let it go. We're going to start with the head. Squeeze each and every muscle in the head as you can. Your jaw, Your teeth, Maybe even trying to squeeze your eyes closer together. Take a breath and let it go as you let all those muscles relax. Open your jaw. Let your head sink closer to the floor. Next we're going to squeeze the chest, The shoulders and the neck close together into the center of your body. Squeezing. Take a breath in and breathe out as you relax and release those muscles. Next we're going to focus on the arms. We're going to squeeze your arms and your palms go together, Squeezing tight, Making a fist. Squeeze every muscle you can. Breathe in, Breathe out and release. Relax. Let your palms open up. Next we're going to focus on the stomach muscles. We're going to squeeze our abs. Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze. Breathe in. Relax and breathe out. Let it go. Next we're going to focus on the bum and the pelvis as we squeeze in everything you can. Breathe in and let it all go. Breathing out. Next we're going to travel down our legs and if you feel those quads we're going to squeeze them. Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze. Breathe in, Breathe out and release. Feel those muscles relax. Next travel down to your calves. You can tighten those calves by bringing your toes back towards you. Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze. Breathe in, Breathe out and relax and release. Next we're going to notice our whole foot. We're going to just squeeze our toes up. We're going to focus on every single muscle in our toes and in our arches of our feet. Just have that whole thing pointed up and squeezing. Breathing in, Breathing out, Releasing and relaxing. Notice how your body is feeling right now. Next we're going to squeeze our whole body at one time. Getting ready. Squeeze every muscle that you have tight together. Breathe in, Breathe out, Relax and release. Feel your body sinking closer to the floor. Maybe feeling heavy because your muscles are more relaxed. Get in tune with how your body and your mind is feeling right now. Allow your body to breathe in. Notice where the breath goes and breathe out. Next we're going to focus on breathing in directly to the chest, Opening it up. Breathe in and release. Next we're going to let the chest expand with the ribs. Noticing the ribs on kind of the sides of your chest. Let it all expand as you breathe in and breathe out. Relaxes and comes back down. This time we'll move our breath all the way to opening our stomach. Breathe in, Opening up. Breathe out, Slowly releasing. Now we're going to breathe in through the chest, Through the ribs and through the stomach at the same time. Breathing in, Breathing out. Go back to your natural breath. Again, Check in with your body and how it's feeling. Next we're going to scan the body from the feet all the way up to the head and relax. I'm going to start with the toes. Noticing each individual toe from the big toe to the second toe, The third toe, The fourth toe, And the pinky toes. Next, Scanning down the bottom part of your foot. Noticing the balls of your feet, The arches and the heels. Scanning back, Noticing the smoothness of the foot from the toes, Going up to meet the ankles. Take a breath in and out. Notice your ankles. Scan the calves. Notice the shins. Go all the way up to your knees. Notice your quads and your thighs. Traveling up the body to your hips. Noticing your low back. Traveling up to the mid-back. Going up to the upper back, Just below the shoulders. Noticing those shoulder blades. Scanning back down the back. Turning your attention in your stomach. Notice the movement as you breathe. Travel up and notice the movement in your chest. Going up to the tops of the shoulders. Breathing in and breathing out. Scanning down your arms. Noticing the biceps. Noticing your elbows. Scanning down the second half of your arms, All the way to the wrists. Noticing the palms, The thumbs, The pointer fingers, The middle fingers, The ring fingers, The pinkies. Now noticing the outside of your whole hands. Noticing your wrists. Up on the outside layer. The elbows and the outside of that upper half of the arms. Back to the shoulders. Scanning all the way to the collarbone. Take a breath in and a breath out. Scanning up your neck. Noticing the jaw and letting it relax. Scanning to the cheekbones. Relaxing the eyes. Noticing the eyebrows. Up to the forehead. Let each and every muscle relax. Noticing the line of hair that surrounds your face. Scanning back through the scalp. Coming to the crown of your head. Around that area where you had a high ponytail in. Right at the top and back. Breathe into that area and breathe out. Gently scanning down the body from your head, Neck, Shoulders, Arms, Chest, Stomach, Hips, Quads, Calves, And feet. All the way down to the tips of your toes. Breathe into the whole body. Breathe out. Let your body sink closer into the earth. Again, Breathing in, Breathing out, And letting go. If there's any busy thoughts that remain, Notice them as you breathe in and let them go as you breathe out. Continue to breathe in and out at your own rhythm, Paying attention to the movements in your body as you breathe. Continue to relax for as long as you need or if you'd like to carry on with your day and start to wiggle your fingers and your toes. Maybe squeezing a few muscles. Breathing in and letting the breath go. At a moment, If you're laying on your back and roll over to one side, Start to press yourself up to seated. Again, Take a stretch and a breath in. Take a breath and a stretch anywhere you need it. We'll end our practice here. Enjoy the rest of your day. Enjoy your night.