Joyful Progressive Muscle Relaxation & Tension Release

Enjoy a progressive muscle relaxation exercise with a bit of humor, visuals, and whole-body-mind acceptance. Simple, easy, and invitational in nature, Rainier brings a journey of tension release and relief, especially for those working through trauma and difficulty. Music by PixaBay, royalty free.

Transcript

Hello,

And welcome.

Today we'll be working on progressive muscle relaxation,

Which is the simple practice of tensing and releasing muscle groups in succession.

The hope is that perhaps we get to a level of relaxation,

And we eventually teach our body,

Or re-teach it,

How to notice tension and drop it throughout the day.

So,

You can do this in any position.

Lying down on your back,

Sitting up on a couch,

Seat,

Chair of your choice.

In most positions.

Although,

The seated position with feet on the ground will allow for the most flexibility of moving through these postures in ways that are quick and effective.

So once we settle in,

You may bring your eyes to be closed,

Or look downwards,

Closed 50 to 75 percent,

Or perhaps a soft gaze at something across the room.

An article of healing,

A candle,

A gentle light,

A beloved pet.

There's no pressure to close the eyes,

We just want to reduce a little bit of sensory input to focus inward.

Now as you change the position of the eyes,

You may notice that the mind has begun to wander,

And chat,

And speak,

And pursue other things.

We are not here to change that.

Just a simple bounce back,

All right,

I'm back to what I'm doing,

All right,

We'll take care of that later,

I'm back here again.

Just gentle reminders that you may have to do a multitude of times,

But bring compassion to each time.

Now let's begin.

So we are going to start,

Since this is a little bit of a shorter practice,

If you are seeking something really long and luxurious,

Please feel free to come back here when you need something a little shorter.

We are going to focus on both sides of the body,

If those are present and available,

As we may be living with certain conditions or experiences,

So just focus on what is available,

And send love to what may not be available.

For instance,

When I say feet,

We're going right and left,

Instead of one at a time.

Okay,

So we will begin at the feet,

We're going to go ahead and tense the feet.

Now to do so,

You may almost point those toes inward like they're trying to look at the middle of the foot.

Now,

No charley horses here,

Right,

So be gentle,

Nothing to the point of pain.

Alright,

Hold,

Hold,

And release.

Maybe you do a little bit of the wave with the toes,

Wiggle them,

Stretch them out from each other to let that whole tension drop.

Now,

Up to the calves.

Go ahead and invite tension to the calf muscles or the bottom of the leg.

You may do this by,

If you are laying down,

Pointing the feet.

If you are seated,

You may need to rise up on your toes or heels to invite some tension there,

And hold,

And hold,

And release.

Now we go up to the thighs or the upper part of the leg.

If you are seated,

You might want to push with all your might into the heels.

If you are laying down,

You might just have to almost bring that kneecap up,

Both kneecaps,

Just to invite some tension in.

Just imagining tensing,

Tensing,

Showing everyone your strength,

And release.

Now,

I did not mention,

But we might get a little silly through some of this,

But you might just remember it for next time.

Now as we focus onto the glutes,

We are going to almost rise,

Perhaps a little bit off of wherever our glutes are landed on,

By maybe a half inch.

I almost imagine like both sides of the glutes are trying to meet and kiss,

And hold,

Hold,

And hold,

And release.

That release might feel like a little pat of butter going right onto a hot frying pan.

Just flatten it out,

Flatten it all out.

Okay,

Now we'll go to the stomach,

And then we'll begin up the chamber of the arms.

Now for the stomach,

Almost imagining as if you are in a martial arts class,

And you are bracing for impact.

Nothing's going to get through you.

Brace that stomach,

Tense that stomach,

Imagine that point of tension up a little under the belly button,

Hold,

Hold,

Hold,

And release.

Stomach out like Thanksgiving dinner,

We are stuffed.

You can push that stomach out a little bit,

Never to the point of pain or deep discomfort,

And take that breath.

Now for the arms.

With the fist,

Both of our fists,

We are just going to tighten them,

I recommend having the thumb outside of the hand,

And not inward with all this tension.

And hold,

Hold,

Hold,

If we're holding onto the most precious little item that we have,

And release.

Allow the fingers to create space from each other,

Maybe do a little wave,

Like a little starfish saying hello.

Now for the forearms,

Bring some tension to the forearms,

You may need to invite the fist to face up towards you,

Or go down,

Just to get that little muscle in the middle to pop out.

Just invite that tension,

Tense the forearms,

Hold,

And release.

Now onto the biceps.

This is our time,

Whether laying down or seated,

To do a bit of a classic showing off of the guns pose,

Right?

Now we want to flatten those forearms almost onto the bicep,

So if we're holding a penny that we don't want to drop between them,

We're going to hold both of them,

It may help to hold them up or down,

Just feel that tension in the biceps,

Hold,

Hold,

And release.

Undo all the arms.

Alright,

Now shoulders,

We'll have a series of two.

We'll begin with the shoulder blade kiss.

We're going to go ahead and open up,

It's as if we're pointing our chest up at the sky,

Beyond the sky,

Very open front chest,

And we're trying to get those shoulder blades in the back to meet together.

It's a very light tension,

Maybe a tiny shake,

Hold,

Hold,

And release.

Back to your normal posture.

Okay,

Now we're going to bring our shoulders up to meet the earlobes at the bottom of the ear,

Look a little bit crunchy,

We're going to bring them up,

Up,

Up,

And let the shoulder blades drop back and down along the back chamber of the body.

Now,

The next two will involve the face.

First will be the jaw.

Might feel a little bit like a dog playing tug of war,

No,

No,

You will not take that from me.

But not to the point of pain or deep discomfort,

We are not here to shatter any teeth or chip.

So we're going to hold a little bit of tension like we're kind of angry,

And you can probably hear it in my voice.

Hold,

Hold,

And release,

Perhaps some self-massage with the index and middle fingers,

Maybe moving the jaw gently side to side,

Opening and closing the mouth,

Doing a circle with the jaw.

And now for the face.

You just might feel some slight pain in the back of the head,

Maybe a little bit of a face,

You just might feel silly here as well,

And that is part of what we're here for,

Is to bring some levity to life,

Right?

Now,

I imagine when we're tensing the face that we're trying to collect all of our features onto the tip of our nose.

So we're bringing all of those features together,

Very scrunchy as if we've had 10 lemons and we're just done.

Bring it all inwards,

Embrace the silliness,

And undo.

Bring the features back to where they were,

And you might like to imagine a teeny tiny miniature little iron ironing out any creasing between the middle of the eyebrows,

The sides of the eyes,

The bottom of the nose,

And the top of the lips,

And anywhere else.

And our last pursuit will be the whole body.

This will depend on whether you're laying or sitting.

You are just going to tense everything to your heart's desire,

Popular ones are the feet,

Fist,

Face,

Glutes.

Just make yourself that little aerodynamic tension ball or arrow,

Depending on your posture,

And you're going to hold it all.

And hold,

And hold,

And release.

Be that little overcooked noodle.

Let it go.

And take a moment to just notice any micro or macro changes in the body.

Perhaps some tension dropped,

Maybe a new awareness of where tension is held.

Maybe a little laughter in your soul.

Remember,

We were just here to try,

We were just here to experiment.

Now this is always with you.

You don't always have to bring this whole 10 plus minute scenario with you,

But you can bring the little moments of the tensing and releasing while you're driving,

Working,

Working,

Walking,

Before you go to bed.

Just to be here,

Respecting ourselves and showing up.

Now may you all have a most wonderful,

Beautiful day.

And invite yourself back sometime.

All right,

Until next time,

My friends,

Take good care.

Reviews

Gosh I’m feeling really relaxed but uplifted! I’m giggling at the Thanksgiving dinner tummy, the teeeny tiiiny iron and the limp noodle 😂 This must be the best meditation I’ve listened to! 😂🕊️✌🏼