Progressive Muscle Relaxation For Expansion

This progressive muscle relaxation is soothing and mindful as you work to incorporate the breath through the practice! Perfect for beginners, stress reduction, or as an introduction to deeper meditation practice. Expand your awareness through this relaxation.

Transcript

Hey there,

This is Jen with Laughing Lotus Wellness.

Welcome to our meditation practice.

Hello and welcome in.

Today we're going to be doing a progressive muscle relaxation.

You can choose to either do that progressive muscle relaxation in a seated position or you can come to lie down on your back.

So finding whatever comfortable position you'd like to be in for our practice,

You can just begin to move inward for a moment and pay attention to the breath,

Inhaling and exhaling.

You might imagine feeling the weight of your body either on the seat you're sitting on or the floor where you're lying down,

Where the spaces of your body are touching whatever you're sitting on or lying down on.

And feeling the breath as it expands in your rib cage,

Your back,

Perhaps your belly and chest.

And for today as we go through our progressive muscle relaxation from head to toe,

I encourage you to think about this process as expansion and contraction.

And so when we're tensing the muscles,

That will be what we'll call a contraction.

Finding all of that energy and engaging the muscles,

Tightening them up and then releasing and relaxing and that expansion should feel restful,

Relaxed and peaceful.

So our effort is going to look like going in and tensing those muscles up and then fully relaxing and releasing those spaces and leaving them that way for the rest of our practice as much as possible.

I might encourage you to close your eyes or you can soften your gaze and just look two or three feet in front of you.

Sometimes we have a more internal and aware experience when we close our eyes and we take away extra sensory experience.

And so to begin,

We're going to start all the way up at the crown of our heads.

And we're going to tense or contract our eyes,

Our jaw,

Our tongue,

Either to the roof of the mouth or the front of the teeth,

Cheeks,

Going in and holding that contraction as tightly as you can for two,

Three,

Four and release into the expansion.

Releasing those spaces with light and airiness,

Expansion.

Now heading into the neck,

We're going to take that same tension and contraction and contract the neck as much as you can,

Leaving the other spaces at peace,

Tensing up the neck as much as possible,

Holding in that space two,

Three,

Four and releasing that out into expansion.

Just coming back to the breath,

Inhaling and exhaling in and out through your nose as much as possible and heading into the shoulders,

Shrugging them up,

Tension,

Tight contraction here for two,

Three,

Four and release that out into expansion and space,

Relaxation and peace.

And now into the arms,

The upper and lower aspects of the arms,

Tensing those up,

Contracting the muscles for two,

Three,

Four and release those spaces now filled with relaxation and light airy space.

Again leaving that head and neck,

Shoulders and now arms all at peace and coming into the hands and tightening up your hands,

Fingers,

Creating a fist,

Tight contraction there,

Inhaling and exhaling,

Holding for two,

Three,

Four and releasing that out,

Filling each finger with space and air and expansion and relaxation,

Perhaps experiencing that as a floating sensation.

And now we're going to move into the upper chest,

You're going to tighten,

Tense,

Contract those upper chest muscles and upper back,

Trying to leave everything else loose,

Holding that contraction two,

Three,

Four and release out.

And pausing here to just notice the difference between when you started practice and having contracted and expanded in the head,

Neck,

Shoulders,

Arms and hands and upper chest,

Noticing the difference in the body,

What you notice,

The quality of the sensation of all of those spaces,

Now having expanded.

Moving downward,

We're going to come into that mid-belly,

Mid-back area and we're going to tense just those spaces up,

Contracting those spaces for two,

Three,

Four and release that out.

Inhaling and exhaling here,

Ensuring that you're not holding your breath,

But rather allowing your breath to flow inwardly and back out again,

Easy and neutral expansive space in that midsection and moving down to the low abs,

Belly,

Low back area,

Contracting and tensing that space,

Pulling that inward,

Holding that for two,

Three,

Four and releasing that out,

Relaxing and releasing into that space,

Feeling expansive space,

Low belly,

Mid-belly,

Upper chest,

Hands,

Arms,

Shoulders,

Neck and head,

Leaving those spaces and expansion and relaxation.

Now moving downward into our hips and seat region and we're going to tense and contract all of those muscles in the hips and seat region,

Holding that for two,

Three and four and release it out again,

Really releasing any tension,

Any holding in those spaces,

Feeling the expansion,

Relaxation from that hip,

Low belly,

Mid-belly,

Upper chest,

Hands,

Arms,

Shoulders,

Neck and head,

All in a state of perfect relaxation.

Breath,

Inhaling and exhaling in equal proportion,

Easy neutral breath.

Now coming into the upper legs,

Both fronts and backs,

Tensing those up,

Sending contraction into the muscles,

Holding that tight,

Major muscle group two,

Three,

Four and release that out.

Space and expansion,

Peace and relaxation,

Moving into the knees,

Fronts and backs.

Then we tense up the muscles there,

Holding that contraction for two,

Three,

Four and release that out.

Checking back in with the breath,

Easy flow of an inhale and exhale.

Releasing into the calves,

Pull that tension contraction right into the calves,

Tensing and holding for two,

Three,

Four,

Releasing into that space of expansion.

Exhaling for a moment again,

Just noticing the quality,

The sensation and the difference in your body,

In your breath.

Moving into the ankles,

We contract that space,

Tense the muscles all around the ankles,

Holding that for two,

Three,

Four and release.

Relaxation space and peace in the ankles,

Inhaling and exhaling.

Now moving into your feet and your toes,

Tensing and flexing all the muscles in your feet and toes,

Contraction now for two,

Three and four and release.

Releasing that space,

Expansion and peace throughout your feet,

Taking a check now from your feet to your crown.

As we scan from feet to your head,

Paying attention for any residual tension,

Strain and releasing that now as we move upward.

So from the very tips of your toes,

Moving into the balls of your feet,

The arch of the feet and the heels,

Releasing any residual sensation,

Tension or holding.

Up into the ankles,

Front of the lower legs and calves.

Again releasing any residual tension,

Strain or holding.

As you move up to the knees,

Thighs,

The backs of the thighs,

Scanning for any tension,

Sensation,

Tension,

Releasing anything that would allow you to feel more deeply at peace.

And now into the seat and the hips,

Checking there for any residual sensation,

Holding and releasing that now.

As we come into the low belly and the mid belly,

We're going to inhale in and audible exhale out.

Two more of those inhaling into the belly,

Audible exhale out.

One more expanding inhale through the belly,

Audible exhale out.

And now up into the chest,

Scanning for residual energy or sensation,

Letting that go now into the shoulders,

Arms and hands,

Scanning for residual sensation or tension,

Giving permission for that to release and expand into the neck and the head,

The crown,

The face.

Again releasing any residual tension,

Letting that go,

Filling it with peace and relaxation,

Expansive space.

Just breathing in this peaceful place.

Either pausing here to stay in this moment,

In this peaceful place,

Or listening as we come back into our bodies and back into the space.

You might begin to feel where you connect with your seat,

Where you're lying down,

Imagining and feeling that breath in the ribs and in the backside of the body.

Just inhaling and exhaling here,

Sending that sense of hearing out into your space,

Listening for any sounds located just inside the room you're in.

You might begin to wiggle fingers and toes,

Rub hands on the carpeting if you're lying down or your legs if you're seated,

Just creating that connection with the space around you.

You might rub your hands together and create some friction,

Some warmth,

You can place the palms over your eyes for a moment to return to the space fully aware of your body in the place that you are.

Really gently opening your eyes if they were closed and making visual contact with your world again too.

I want to thank you for joining me and hope that you will use this progressive muscle relaxation whenever you feel like you could use to be more present or to release any tension that you're holding.

It's a beautiful way to come into a meditation practice as well.

Until next time,

This is Jen in Laughing Lotus Wellness sending you blessings and light on your meditation journey.

Reviews

This muscle relaxation exercise first took some getting used to... it seemed to make my body more tense. But the final exercise of relaxing all muscles through a body scan really helped. A well rounded meditation, thank you!

Wow that was incredible. So much stress and tension released from my body. Will be doing this meditation most mornings from now ! Thankyou

Thank you, Jen. It was lovely, and I feel completely at peace.