Hello,
And welcome to this progressive muscle relaxation meditation to help reduce stress and anxiety.
My name is Juana,
And I am honored to guide you into a deeply relaxed state.
Begin by finding yourself a comfortable position that allows for a straight supported spine.
You can either be seated or lying down,
Whatever you prefer.
Place your hands comfortably on your lap or beside you.
Close your eyes and start by taking a big breath in through your nose.
Hold it at the top for a few moments and just let it go nice and slowly.
Feel your chest contracting as you do so.
Take another big breath in.
Hold the air and slowly release it.
Once again,
Another big inhale.
Really fill up your lungs.
Hold it there and slowly let it go.
Great.
Get used to this breathing pattern as we will be using it throughout the rest of the meditation.
All right,
Let's head right into the progressive muscle relaxation technique.
Starting from your head,
You will slowly tense and relax your way right down to your feet.
Make sure you breathe deeply and slowly throughout.
For every breath cycle,
Pay close attention to the feeling of relaxation and how different it is from the feeling of tension.
If at any point holding your breath becomes too difficult,
Simply resume your own natural breathing pattern as you tense and release.
It's important to listen to yourself and what you need and follow your own guidance in any practice.
Begin by focusing your attention on your neck and your head.
As you take in a big inhale,
I want you to tense your face and your neck by scrunching your face and holding it tightly.
Hold your breath as you feel the distortion in the muscles around your eyes,
Cheeks,
And mouth.
On your exhale,
I want you to unscrunch your face and let go of any and all tension.
Notice how calm and soft your face feels now.
Transition your focus to your shoulders.
On your inhale,
Clench your shoulders tightly by pulling them high up to your ears.
Hold your breath and that tension in your shoulders for a few seconds here.
And as you slowly exhale,
Let your shoulders drop back down low,
Allowing all that tension to just dissolve.
Feel how nice it is to have loose,
Relaxed shoulders.
Next,
Become aware of your arms.
If you need to grip your hands into fists to feel the tension in your arms,
Please do so.
As you take a big breath in,
Grip and clench your arms as tightly as you can.
Squeeze all those muscles in your forearms,
Biceps,
And triceps.
Just tighten your arms as much as you can.
Hold that tension as you hold your breath and notice what it feels like.
And on your exhale,
Untighten all your muscles and just release.
Let it all go.
Feel that tension draining out of your arms as a feeling of relaxation takes over.
Notice how your limp arms feel softer,
Warmer,
And more at ease.
On your next big inhale,
Focus on your hands and clenching them as tightly as you can.
Imagine you are squeezing all the juice out of a lemon.
Pull them tightly into a fist and grip as hard as you can.
Feel that tight grip as you hold your breath in.
And now,
As you slowly allow your breath to leave your body,
Allow your hands to soften and open up simultaneously.
Enjoy this relief in both your fingers and hands.
It's now time to shift your attention to the muscles in your back.
Bring your shoulders together behind you as you inhale,
Holding them tightly and tensing them as hard as you can while holding your breath.
Release the tension from your back on your exhale and welcome in this new feeling of relief from all that strain on your upper body.
Place your awareness on your stomach and chest.
Inhale and tense up your stomach by sucking it in.
Squeeze hard and hold that pressure in as you hold your breath for another second.
Exhale and allow your stomach to relax.
Notice how good it feels to let go.
Let's move to the muscles of your pelvic region.
Clench your butt as tight as you can on your breath in,
Pulling in your stomach muscles and holding onto that stress in your pelvic area.
Hold it there just a little bit longer.
Now feel all that stress easing up as you breathe out.
Notice how when you hold in your breath,
You hold in tension.
And notice how when you let your breath go,
You let that tension go with it.
On your next inhale,
Tense the muscles of your upper legs by tightly squeezing your thighs together.
Feel that stress in your quads,
Hamstrings,
And thigh muscles as you hold your breath.
And release it all on your exhale,
Feeling all your muscles there relaxing.
Really pay attention to how differently your body feels when you just allow it to relax.
Shift your focus to your lower legs.
Breathe in and tense the muscles in your calves by pointing your toes.
Hold your breath and muscles tightly as you feel that tension.
Now exhale and imagine that tension moving out and away from your muscles and your body.
Notice how relaxed your legs now feel as compared to when you were tensing them up.
Last but not least,
Concentrate on your feet.
With a big and slow breath in,
Tense your feet up by curling your toes and the arch of your foot.
Notice what that feels like as you hold your breath in.
And just like that,
Breathe out and release this tension,
Uncurling and softening your feet.
Relax fully for a few deep breaths here as you prepare for one last tension and release cycle.
Finally,
Take a big breath in and tense your entire body from the bottom of your feet all the way to the top of your head.
Really hold on to that tension hard as you hold on to your breath for another brief moment.
And release all of it as you release all the air out of your lungs.
Allow your body to go completely limp.
Use this moment to bask in the space of softness and ease.
Thank yourself for taking this time to connect more deeply with your body.
We will now transition out of this meditation.
So begin to wake your body up by slowly wiggling your fingers and toes and give yourself a nice big stretch as you flutter open your eyes.
Thank you for joining me on this head to toe journey today.
Carry this deep sense of relaxation everywhere you go today.
If you feel any tension throughout your day,
Notice it and just like you did here,
Go ahead and breathe it out of your body.
As always,
Do let me know how your meditation went and follow along for more to come.
It has been a pleasure letting go with you.
