Progressive Relaxation For Menopause
Our bodies can become so used to holding habitual tension we often don't even notice and it becomes our natural baseline. Add into the mix menopausal symptoms and this unnecessary gripping can be amplified. This meditation encourages you to create and observe tension and then release and let it go. I will guide you progressively through the body, and my hope is by the end you are tension free, more spacious, and better able to manage whatever arises during the day ahead. Let's start moving our baseline from tension to softness.
Transcript
Thank you for joining me for this progressive relaxation practice.
We'll just take a moment to settle before we begin.
So please choose whether you're lying or sitting and take a moment to get yourself comfortable.
Once you're in position,
Begin to notice your breathing.
If you find it useful,
You can place your hands on your belly or just have them resting in a place that feels comfortable and at ease.
As you observe your breathing,
I invite you to notice the quality of your breath.
So as you settle,
You can pay attention to things like the pace of your breathing,
If it's fast or slow,
The location of your breath.
Is it chesty or is it down in the belly?
Also the intensity of your breath.
Do you tend to pull in and push out your breath or does it feel soft and at ease?
And then the ratio of your breathing.
If your inhale is longer,
This tends to be more sympathetic in nature.
So I invite you to go for even a balanced breath or a longer exhale,
Which is a brilliant way of tapping into your parasympathetic nervous system.
So a longer exhale tends to be more calming.
So if you feel your breath is high up,
Can you bring it down into the belly so you know that you're using your diaphragm?
If your breath is quick,
Can you encourage it to slow down?
And going at your own pace,
There's no rush.
And if your breath feels intense,
Remember this is a relaxation practice,
So soften the edges.
Gently drawing the breath in and gently releasing the breath out.
And continue to be aware of your breathing.
And then just allowing your body to breathe.
No need to control,
Just observe and be a witness.
And let's begin.
Transitioning through menopause and beyond is a pivotal moment in our lives.
A time that brings with it many challenges from the physical,
Mental and emotional aspects to the spiritual dimension,
Where we have the opportunity to recognise and honour our wise women power.
This exploration can be supported by a regular practice of deep rest,
So we have the space to manage the symptoms we are experiencing.
And the energy to burn through aspects of ourselves that need to be brought into the light to either shed or to nurture.
The parts that either no longer serve us and the ones that say,
This is me and I'm going to live life on my terms.
To grow into our full capacity and accept all facets of ourselves,
We need to go inward with compassion and loving kindness.
To create an environment for old wounds to heal and space for our deeper needs to be heard.
We all carry habit energy.
Habitual tension or holding created from our perceptions of our experiences and our interactions.
And this creates our samskaras or embedded thoughts and behaviours and our belief system.
So this practice focuses on progressively tensing and releasing your whole body and it is an invitation to observe and welcome your habit energy because its sole purpose has only ever been to protect you.
But perhaps now it's time to remove your armour against the world,
To soften into being,
To hold yourself gently through this transition and beyond.
And remind yourself you're walking this path together.
You are not separate from yourself or all aspects of yourself.
You are one.
Trust your inner wise woman and go inward for guidance.
So let's attend to our habit energy and then consciously release it and let it go.
So let's take a slow breath in through the nose and out the mouth.
And then return to becoming aware of your breath and your whole physical body.
If you are seated,
It is now time to lie down.
We're going to begin with the right leg.
Stretch your right leg away from you and open the toes of your right foot.
Really spread and stretch the toes.
Now relax the toes and flex your right foot so your toes come towards your nose.
Begin to squeeze the muscles of your right leg.
From your ankle to your knee all the way up to your hip.
Squeeze the muscles tight.
Hold the squeeze.
Breathe in and raise your right leg a few inches off the ground.
Hold it.
Now exhale and lower the right leg down,
Relaxing any of the tension and move the right leg back and forwards a few times.
To help it release and soften.
Now forget about the right leg.
Let it completely relax.
Move your attention to the left leg.
Stretch your left leg away from you and open the toes of the left foot.
Really spread and stretch the toes.
Now relax the toes and flex your left foot so your toes come towards your nose.
Squeeze the muscles of your left leg from your ankle to your knee all the way up to your hip and hold them tight.
As you hold the squeeze,
Breathe in and raise your left leg a few inches off the ground.
Hold.
Now exhale and lower the left leg down.
Relaxing any of the tension and moving the leg left and right a few times.
Now forget about the left leg.
Let it completely relax.
And as you move through the rest of the practice,
I invite you to really notice the difference between that holding and that tension in the body and then the releasing and letting it go.
Let's move now to the right arm.
Stretch your right arm away from you and down towards your feet.
Open the fingers of your right hand nice and wide.
Really spread and stretch your fingers.
And now relax the fingers and begin to curl them inwards to make a fist.
Start to squeeze the muscles of your right arm from the wrist to the elbow all the way up to the shoulder.
Holding the squeeze,
Breathing in and raising the right arm a few inches off the ground.
And hold it.
Now exhale and lower the right arm back down.
Gently uncurl your fingers and move your right arm left and right a few times and then forget about it.
Let it completely relax.
Move across to your left arm.
Stretch your left arm away from you down towards your feet.
Open the fingers of your left hand wide and really spread and stretch the fingers.
Now relax the fingers and curl them in to make a fist.
Begin to squeeze the muscles of your left arm from the wrist to the elbow all the way up to your shoulder.
Holding the squeeze,
Breathing in and raising the left arm a few inches off the ground.
Hold it.
Now exhale and lower the left arm gently back down.
Uncurling your fingers and moving it gently left and right and then forget about it.
Let it completely relax.
Move your attention to your buttocks.
Begin to squeeze the muscles of your buttocks.
As you are squeezing,
Inhale and you will notice the natural lift of them off the ground.
Pause and exhale.
Relax the buttocks back down and feel the muscles soften to the ground.
Move your attention to your belly.
Take a long slow inhale breath.
Feel your belly rising up and outward.
Pause here,
Holding gently and feeling into that expansion.
Exhale and feel the belly lower down as you gradually draw your navel in towards your spine and then relax the abdominal muscles.
Bring attention to your chest.
Take an inhale breath and feel your chest rising up and outward.
Hold the breath,
Hold the expansion and pause.
Now exhale and feel your chest relax back down.
Moving to your shoulders.
Begin to scrunch your shoulders up towards your ears.
Pause here,
Gently holding your breath and exhaling,
Relaxing your shoulders back down towards the hips and into the earth.
With your arms alongside your body and your palms facing up,
Fingers gently curled.
Moving to your face.
Bring attention to your nose as the center of your face and squeeze all the muscles of your face in towards the center.
Hold it and then exhale and relax all the facial muscles and allow your head to rotate gently one side to the other.
Allowing the weight of the head to just drop left and right.
After doing that a few times,
Just gently rolling your head on the ground.
Guide it back to the center and now we're going to tense and release the whole body.
So from your head down to your toes,
From your toes up to your head,
Arms,
Belly,
Chest,
Buttocks.
Take a breath in and tense all these areas,
Your whole body holding on,
Squeezing and then on your exhale out the mouth,
Let it all go.
And now it's time to completely relax and rest in this space where you have released and let go of physical tension which has hopefully created a bit more space in the head,
A softening of your breath and a sense of easefulness through your whole body.
So I invite you to take long slow inhale breaths and long slow releasing exhale breaths.
As you breathe in,
Can you feel the breath moving in and through your whole body?
Reaching the boundless edges.
Softening and letting go.
Resting in this space and I'll let you know when it's time to come back.
It will just be a couple of minutes.
Begin to bring your attention back.
Obviously,
If you have longer to rest,
Please stay put.
Otherwise,
I invite you to observe your breathing again,
To observe the rising and falling of your belly,
To feel the support of the ground beneath you as you begin to move and stretch.
Taking a couple of slow inhale breaths through the nose and perhaps releasing out of the mouth,
Sighing out and cleansing perhaps any habit energy that you've moved through your body today mentally and physically.
Sigh it out and let it go.
Once you've had a nice big stretch,
Gently bring your knees in towards you and roll to your side and take a breath there.
Not rushing,
You're transitioning to seated to come in your own time to a sitting position.
And once you're there,
Bring your hands over your heart center.
Breathe into your heart space.
Breathe out and release that habit energy.
I hope you're feeling rested and at ease.
Thank you for joining me today.
