Hello and welcome to this face relaxation script designed to help you fall asleep,
Even if you have a headache.
I'll guide you through a series of relaxation techniques to release tension and stress from your facial muscles.
I'm Dr.
Juna.
I'm a lifestyle medicine physician and I know that sleep is a key to health and even happiness.
As always,
Only listen to this when you're in a place that you can safely fall asleep.
Now get your environment ready by turning down the lights,
Perhaps adjusting the temperature,
Finding your favorite blanket,
Maybe even a little aromatherapy,
And get yourself settled in,
Finding a comfortable position for yourself.
We're going to start with some relaxing breath,
Followed by relaxing our body,
And then come to rest on the muscles of our face to help you drift off into a peaceful and restful state.
If you're a doctor or a student or a student of Latin,
These anatomical terms will sound familiar to you.
Just allow it to lull you to a familiar and friendly place.
If you're not familiar with this terminology,
It will simply act as a mantra for you,
And this can be quite powerful because when we don't know the exact meaning of the words we're hearing,
Just allowing them to be and focusing on the sound itself,
It can be the vehicle that takes you into a deeper relaxation.
So settling in,
Allow your eyes to close or lower.
So continuing to settle in and getting even more comfortable.
If for some reason you can't breathe through your nose,
You can always breathe through your mouth.
If your nose is stuffed up,
Take a moment to blow your nose,
And if you find it more comfortable to breathe through pursed lips,
You may go ahead and do so.
Take a deep breath in through your nose,
And when you're ready,
Exhale through your nose.
Take another deep inhale through your nose,
And on the exhale,
Whenever that is for you,
Allow your eyes to gently close or lower.
As you breathe in through your nose,
Notice the temperature of the air entering into your nostrils.
Notice the temperature as you exhale.
As you continue to breathe gently through your nose,
Pay attention to the subtle changes in temperature of the air on the inhale,
And the temperature of the air on the exhale.
Inhale,
Breathing into your lungs fully,
Expanding into your ribs and back,
And exhale slowly,
Releasing muscle tension in your face,
Neck,
And shoulders.
When you're ready,
Take another deep breath in,
Inhaling for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And holding for seven,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
And exhaling slowly through your nose or through your lips for eight,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
Releasing the muscles in your neck and shoulders.
Take another deep breath in,
Inhaling for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And holding for seven,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
And exhaling slowly through your nose or through your lips for eight,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
Releasing the muscles in your neck and shoulders.
On your next breath,
Whenever that is for you,
Take a deep breath in,
Inhaling for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And holding for seven,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
And exhaling slowly through your nose or through your lips for eight,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
Releasing the muscles in your neck and shoulders.
Now let that go,
And now just allow yourself to breathe naturally,
And with each in-breath feeling just a bit lighter,
And with each out-breath feeling some tension leaving your body bit by bit by bit.
Allow each breath to bring in a wave of lightness,
And allow each out-breath to leave to leave,
Taking along some tension.
Continue to feel the lightness with the in-breath,
And the warmth and relaxation on the out-breath.
Now bring your attention to the sound of your breath,
Turn your attention to the sounds in your room,
And without judgment listen for the world outside.
Whatever sounds you hear,
Just remember that they're here as a reminder that you're in a safe place where you can relax,
As a reminder that with each breath you can inhale a little lightness and exhale some tension.
Now gently bring back your focus into the sounds of your room,
Noticing the silence or the hum of machinery,
Whatever you may be hearing in your room,
Without judgment,
And as you feel the stillness of lying,
And gently bring your attention to the sound of my voice,
And as you listen to the sound of my voice,
Let it become the anchor that keeps you centered in this moment.
As you continue to breathe deeply,
Bring your attention to your forehead,
Your forehead,
Imagining a gentle touch and smoothing any tension or worry lines between your eyebrows,
And on the exhale feel the muscles in your forehead release and relax your forehead,
Your frontal belly of occipito-frontalis muscle.
Now between your eyebrows,
The prussaris muscle.
On the next exhale,
Release the muscles around your eye socket,
Orbicularis,
Oculi,
The orbital part surrounding your eye socket,
And then the palpebral part,
Releasing as you let your eyelids,
Upper and lower,
Relax.
Now release the corrugator supercilii muscle,
Coming across between your eyes,
Now moving down into your cheeks,
Releasing levator labii superioris,
Which radiates from the corners of your mouth,
Along with your zygomaticus minor,
Zygomaticus major,
Rhizorius and buccinator,
And depressor anguli oris muscles,
All extending from the corner of your mouth,
Helping you smile in that beautiful way.
Allow them to draw the corners of your lips up,
And then release on the out-breath,
Into a tiny smile,
And then release on the next out-breath,
And on your next out-breath,
Whenever that is for you,
You'll allow the muscles around your ears and your temples release the auricularis anterior superior and posterior,
Releasing,
Relaxing the tension around your ear.
Now let's come back to around your mouth,
Such an expressive area,
Allowing the space between your nose and your upper lip,
Where the depressor septi nasi muscle lives,
And the orbicularis oris muscle,
And the mentalis,
The motiolus,
The depressor labii,
And the mentalis muscle,
Depressor anguli,
Connecting your face down into your neck,
Blending in to the platysma muscle,
The wide sheet-like muscle that lives over your lower jaw,
Draping over your neck,
And your clavicle,
Which is your collarbone,
Just let that relax,
Allowing that whole sheet of platysma muscle,
Just let it go.
Now come around the back of your head,
Releasing the flat muscles along the back of your head,
Connecting to your neck muscles,
Just let it all go.
Now come over your shoulders,
Allowing it to all release,
Melting away any tension in your neck,
Shoulders,
Arms,
Releasing all the way down all the way down into your fingertips.
Now let's come back to your face from the crown of your head,
Forehead,
Eyes,
Temples,
Nose,
Cheeks,
Lips,
Jaw,
Ears,
Your entire face,
Let it go just a little bit more.
Next,
Exhale.
Now bring that same release over the top of your head and the back of your head,
Coming down the back of your neck,
Vertebra by vertebra by vertebra,
Way down your neck and back,
Releasing,
Allow yourself to be breathed naturally,
Allow a soothing wave of relaxation from the top of your head down your forehead,
This wave of relaxation touching every part of the front of your body,
From your head all the way down to your toes.
And now on the next exhale,
Whenever that is for you,
From the top of your head all the way down the back of your body,
This relaxation wave touching every single part of the back of your body,
From your head down all the way to your toes,
Bottom of your feet.
Now take a few moments bringing this relaxation over your neck and down your arms again,
This time allowing the relaxation wave to linger in the palms of your hands and your fingertips.
Just allow yourself to be feeling light on the inhale and heavy on the exhale,
Exhale allowing to be light and heavy at the same time,
To be light as you breathe in and sinking heavily and relaxed into your bed as you breathe out,
Allowing this gentle motion of your breath rock you to a restful sleep.
