Hello,
Pasha Lindy here.
Here's a short mindfulness practice designed to help you let go of tension.
For the next few minutes,
We'll be deliberately tensing and releasing certain muscle groups.
So first,
Finding a comfortable sitting,
Standing or lying position.
Either closing your eyes or leaving the eyes open with a soft gaze.
And taking a few nice long deep breaths.
Exhaling fully with a sense of letting go,
Perhaps.
And then allowing the breath to settle into its natural rhythm.
And on the next in-breath,
Deliberately tensing all of the muscles in the face.
Holding them tight,
Not so hard that we hurt ourselves,
But just enough to feel the squeeze.
Noticing how that feels.
And then,
Ah.
Softening,
Releasing,
Letting go on the out-breath.
And noticing how that feels.
And then resting,
Soft and relaxed for a moment.
On the next in-breath,
Deliberately tensing the muscles in the shoulders.
Hunching them tight,
Not so much that we hurt ourselves,
Just enough to feel the tension.
Noticing how that feels.
And then,
Ah.
Letting go,
Softening and releasing on the out-breath.
And noticing how that feels.
And then resting,
Soft and relaxed for a moment.
On the next in-breath,
Deliberately tensing all of the muscles in the left arm.
Making a bicep in the upper arm.
Holding it tight,
Clenching the lower arm and fist.
Feeling the squeeze.
And then,
Ah.
Softening,
Letting go,
Relaxing on the out-breath.
And noticing how that feels.
And then resting,
Soft and relaxed for a moment.
On the next in-breath,
Deliberately tensing all of the muscles in the right arm.
Making a bicep in the upper arm,
Holding it tight,
Clenching the lower arm and fist.
Noticing how that feels.
And then,
Ah.
Softening and releasing on the out-breath,
Letting go.
And noticing how that feels.
And then resting,
Soft and relaxed for a moment.
On the next in-breath,
Deliberately tensing all of the muscles in the abdomen.
Holding them tight like a board.
Squeezing and noticing how that feels.
And then,
Ah.
Relaxing,
Letting go.
Softening,
Feeling the difference.
And then resting,
Soft and relaxed for a moment.
On the next in-breath,
Deliberately squeezing all of the muscles in the buttocks.
Squeezing and holding them tight.
Noticing how that feels.
And then,
Ah.
Letting go,
Releasing,
Softening and noticing how that feels.
Then resting,
Soft and relaxed for a moment.
If you're standing,
Shifting your weight over into your right leg and supporting yourself to balance if necessary.
On the next in-breath,
Deliberately tensing all of the muscles in the left leg.
Squeezing the thigh,
The calf,
Pulling the left toes back towards you.
Noticing how that feels.
And then,
Ah.
Relaxing and releasing and noticing the difference.
Then resting,
Soft and relaxed for a moment.
If you're standing,
Now shifting your weight over into the left leg and supporting yourself to balance if you need to.
On the next in-breath,
Deliberately tensing all of the muscles in the right leg.
The thigh,
The calf,
Pulling the right toes back towards you.
Noticing how that feels.
And then,
Ah.
Softening,
Letting go.
Noticing how that feels.
And then resting,
Soft and relaxed for a moment.
And now,
Taking a moment to rest.
Allowing the muscles in the body to relax even more deeply with every out-breath.
If you wish,
You can continue this during the day.
Noticing tension and repeating this process,
Squeezing the muscles and then releasing on the out-breath.
Thanks for taking time to reconnect.
