Find a comfortable sitting or lying down position.
Take several slow deep breaths.
Feel the oxygen as it fills your lungs.
Make your breathing slow and relaxed.
Deep slow breaths.
Say to yourself,
Breathe deeply,
Hold and exhale.
Let your mind rest.
Put all of your thoughts and your worries aside.
There is plenty of time to attend to them later.
This time is for you.
If any distractions occur,
Let them pass.
Just breathe deeply and slowly.
As you continue to take slow deep breaths,
Concentrate on your legs.
Stiffen the muscles in your legs,
Either separately or one at a time.
Hold the tenseness for several seconds and then relax.
Let all the tension out of your muscles.
As your leg muscles loosen,
You will feel warmth as the blood in your legs flows more freely.
As you alternate tensing and relaxing your leg muscles,
You will learn to appreciate the muscles without even realizing it.
This exercise will help you get in touch with your body so you can learn how to control it better.
After tensing and relaxing your leg muscles several times,
Let your legs completely relax.
Allow all of the tension to go out of your muscles.
Let the blood in your legs flow freely.
Feel your legs as they get warmer and very comfortable.
Imagine that your legs are floating in some nice warm water.
You can hardly feel them because they are so comfortable and light.
Now focus on your arms and hands.
Tense your hands,
Either together or one at a time.
Then let them relax.
Do the same with your arms.
Learn to recognize the difference between tense and relaxed muscles in your arms and your hands.
And after tensing and relaxing your hands and arms several times,
Let all the tension go out of them.
Allow your hands and arms to get loose.
As you release all of the tension in your arm and hand muscles,
You will feel the blood flow more freely.
Your hands and arms will feel warmer,
Relaxed,
And comfortable,
Like they are floating weightless in nice warm water.
Focus now on your neck and your shoulders.
Lift your shoulders and make your shoulder and neck muscles tense.
You can see that if you did this for very long,
You would end up with a stiff neck and a stiff backache.
This is what happens sometimes when we spend the day tense and uptight,
Without even realizing it.
Now relax the muscles in your shoulders and your neck to become aware of the difference between tense and relaxed muscles.
Try tensing and relaxing several times so you can learn how to recognize the difference.
Learning to recognize tension is a valuable skill because it tells us when to put our relaxation exercise into effect.
Now let all of the tension out of your neck and shoulder muscles and say to yourself,
Relax,
Relax.
Feel the muscles in your neck and shoulders get looser and looser and appreciate the warm and relaxed sensation as the blood flows freely.
Your neck and shoulders are getting more and more relaxed.
You are floating on a cloud through the sky.
There is no pressure on your neck and shoulders,
Only a feeling of pure comfort.
Continue breathing deeply and slowly.
Take slow deep breaths.
Let the oxygen flow into your body,
Replenishing your blood cells as you practice your self-relaxation skill.
Continue your slow deep breathing.
Now focus on the muscles in your face.
Tighten your jaw muscles.
You may be surprised to feel how strong these muscles are.
Learn to recognize the difference between tight and loose jaw muscles.
Close your eyes tightly and make a strong grimace.
Compare the tension when you do this with your facial muscles to when they are relaxed.
You can easily tell that if you went through your day with tenseness in your face,
You would end up with a tension headache.
Now let the muscles in your face get completely relaxed.
Feel the blood flow into your face as it begins to get warm and comfortable.
Continue breathing deeply and slowly.
While you were concentrating on your neck and shoulder muscles,
You probably forgot about your legs and arms.
Your legs and arms are now so relaxed,
They hardly feel like part of your body.
You know they exist,
But you are allowing them to be so relaxed that you barely feel them.
You are floating on a cloud through the sky.
You are lying on a beautiful beach in the warm sun.
You are relaxing in the mountains by a refreshing waterfall.
Oxygen is a skill to use to do something good for yourself.
It is your time to take a break from life's hassles.
It is your time to find peace within yourself,
To let your body do its miraculous work.
As you breathe deeply and slowly,
You are helping oxygen come into your blood.
Your heart is working at a relaxed pace,
Pumping the enriched blood through your body.
You can take time in your relaxed state to appreciate the inner workings of your body and the value of your relaxation skill for helping you put yourself in a positive state of being.
Breathe slowly and deeply.
Let all of your muscles get more and more relaxed as you float on a cloud to your favorite place.
And take some time to be alone with yourself far away from everything else in this world.
