This is a postural relaxation exercise.
And we'll begin with your feet on the floor,
Resting against the chair or couch or wherever you may be with your eyes closed,
With your hands in your lap and your elbows bent slightly.
And first,
Just focus in on the space in between your eyebrows,
Right in the middle of your forehead.
And just see if you can notice any tension there.
Sometimes we can become aware of tension by noticing that our eyebrows are knitted together or raised as if we're concentrating or surprised.
And just see if you can allow your eyebrows to drop,
Allowing some space in between your eyebrows,
Allowing your forehead to become smooth,
And your eyelids to become smooth.
And just imagining with each breath in,
You're breathing in space to those areas.
And with every breath out,
You're letting that tension release.
Next,
Just focus on your jaw,
Your teeth,
And your tongue.
And first,
Just notice without changing anything,
Whether your teeth are together or apart,
Whether your lips are together or apart,
And where your tongue is in your mouth.
And just allow your teeth to come slightly apart,
Your lips to come slightly apart.
And if your tongue is anywhere but resting at the floor of your mouth,
For example,
Pressing against your teeth or pressing against the roof of your mouth,
See if you can allow it to just rest.
Next,
Bringing your attention to your shoulders and your neck,
Just being aware if your head is tilted to one side or the other,
If your chin is jutted forward or back.
And try to bring your neck and head into alignment above your shoulders,
Just right in the midline of your body,
Straight ahead.
Next,
Being aware of where your shoulders are in space.
We have a tendency to allow our shoulders to come creep up to our ears.
See if you can allow them to just gently fall down and back without forcing them down and back.
You can usually accomplish this by just imagining a heavy feeling.
Just allow your shoulders to become heavy.
Allow your forearms and your hands to become heavy.
Just observing if there's any clenching or tightening in your arms or hands.
Notice if your hands are clenched or if you're holding your hands together and see if you can just allow them to rest gently in your lap.
Again,
Trying to generate that feeling of heaviness.
And carrying that same feeling of heaviness down to your seat,
Just trying to notice the sensation of your body in contact with the chair.
Being aware of any clenching or holding in your quadricep muscles,
Those big muscles at the tops of your legs or in your lower back.
And experiment with just allowing yourself to sit in a restful position,
Allowing your muscles to become relaxed and unconstricted.
And again,
Seeing if you can imagine this happening with every breath in.
We're breathing in relaxation and expansion.
And with every breath out,
We're breathing out that tension.
And continuing to travel down to your calf muscles.
Sometimes we have a tendency to push into the floor or be poised as if we're about to stand up and see if you can just allow your legs to just rest.
Notice any attempt to keep your knees together or try to keep your legs in any particular position.
And then releasing any unnecessary tension by allowing your knees to fall where they feel like falling.
Allowing your calf muscles to rest and relax.
And lastly,
Just observing your feet.
Noticing any clenching or holding.
Notice how your feet feel in your shoes if you're wearing shoes.
Notice if your toes are clenched.
Just observing if there's any pressing or pushing into the floor.
Just allowing your feet to come into gentle contact with the floor without any pushing or pressing or any unnecessary pressure.
Now we'll move backwards and just move from your toes back up to the top of your head.
Taking as much time as you need.
Just noticing those different muscle groups that we went over.
And observing how they feel now that your attention has moved to other parts.
And if you find that you run across a muscle group that still feels tense or tight,
Just spend a moment seeing what you can do to influence that to relax.
And when you've made it back up to the top of your head,
Just bring your attention back to the room as you sit here.
Moving the attention from your body just to sounds that you can hear.
Tuning back from specific muscle groups to just being aware of your body sitting here as a whole.
And whenever you feel comfortable,
You can end the practice by gently moving your fingers,
Your toes.
And when you feel comfortable and ready,
You can open your eyes.
