What we'll be doing here momentarily is a practice of relaxation as one way to explore the wonderful parasympathetic wing of your nervous system,
The so-called rest and digest wing of your nervous system.
That's a great resource to be able to draw upon pretty much anytime you want to help you lower your experience of stress,
Release tension in the body,
Protect yourself from the negative impacts of stress,
And become more resilient,
More supportive of your long-term health,
And also grow your own sense of well-being.
In this practice,
We'll be getting into relaxation,
As I said,
Which is a really nice way to feel better and over time to kind of reset your own relaxation inner thermostat so that you're more able to stay in a nice relaxed place in an ongoing way,
Even when you're dealing with difficulties.
In this practice,
We'll first start by exhaling,
Longer than inhaling because the parasympathetic wing of the nervous system handles exhaling.
Then I'll take you through a practice of what's called progressive relaxation,
Starting with your feet moving up to your head.
Then we'll draw attention to your body really slowing down,
Your breath slowing,
Quality of tranquility just spreading inside you.
And we'll finish with a real awareness of this sweet spot where you're both relaxed and alert and very present.
Here we go.
To begin with,
Begin aware of your breathing,
Inhaling and exhaling.
Be aware that the common tendency is for the inhalation to be longer than the exhalation.
And then for yourself,
Deliberately,
For a minute or so,
Making sure that your exhalation is longer than your inhalation.
And a nice way to do that is by doing a little count and making sure that you're exhaling twice as long as you're inhaling.
For example,
If I were to do it,
And you can do it with me right now,
It would be inhaling two,
Three,
Exhaling one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Inhaling two,
Three,
Exhaling two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
So let me quiet for a minute or so as you do this on your own,
Finding your own rhythm and trying to help your exhalation to be about twice as long as your inhalation.
And already beginning to notice changes as you engage the parasympathetic wing of your nervous system through this relaxing practice of lengthening the exhalation.
All right.
You by the way can continue if you want to really help the exhalation be long.
Now we'll shift into the second way of relaxing here,
Which is progressive relaxation of the parts of your body.
I'll go at a certain pace.
Feel very free to slow this presentation down so you can take more time into practice.
Also if you want,
You can move along more quickly.
It's up to you.
Here we go.
Relax your left foot.
And by the way,
You might change the instructions or suggestions I'm giving you in your own mind if it works better for you.
Like locate a space in your left foot or let go in your left foot or left foot,
Letting go.
Whatever works for you.
Relaxing your right foot.
Relaxing your left ankle.
There could be nice feelings of warmth moving into the area that you're relaxing.
Relaxing your right ankle.
Relaxing your left lower leg.
You might explore the sensations in the large area really of your left lower leg as you relax your whole left lower leg.
Relaxing your right lower leg.
Continuing to relax in your breathing as you relax in your body.
Relaxing your left knee.
Relaxing your right knee.
Relaxing your left upper leg.
Relaxing your right thigh.
You can even imagine relaxing the bones in different parts of your body.
Relaxing your right upper leg.
Relaxing your right thigh.
Relaxing your left hip.
Relaxing your left hip.
Relaxing your right hip.
Relaxing the muscles and tissues around it.
Relaxing your pelvic floor and the whole base of your torso.
Relaxing your stomach.
Relaxing your stomach.
The whole area of your belly,
Your lower torso up to your rib cage.
Letting go of tension here.
Perhaps warm feelings coming into your belly,
Your stomach.
Relax your diaphragm.
The area just underneath your rib cage.
It tends to drop down and expand out when you inhale and you can pull down and up when you exhale.
You can put your hand on it if you like just under your rib cage to feel it rising and falling.
Relaxing your diaphragm and breathing with it.
Relaxing your lower back and your sides.
Relaxing your chest and your lungs and your heart.
Relaxing your left thigh.
Relaxing all the internal organs.
Relaxing your upper back.
And your whole spine.
Relaxing your shoulders and the whole upper part of your chest,
Especially where your chest connects with your neck.
Relaxing your left shoulder and left upper arm.
Relaxing your right arm.
Relaxing your right shoulder and right upper arm.
Relaxing your left elbow.
Relaxing your right elbow.
Relaxing your right elbow.
Relaxing your right elbow.
Relaxing your right elbow.
Relaxing your right elbow.
Relaxing your right elbow.
Relaxing your left elbow.
Relaxing your left lower arm,
Your forearm.
Relaxing your right lower arm.
Relaxing your left hand and wrist and fingers.
Relaxing the palm of your left hand.
Relaxing all the knuckles in your fingers.
Relaxing your right wrist and hand and fingers.
Relaxing your right elbow,
Your palm,
And all the little knuckles in your hands and fingers.
Relaxing your throat and neck.
Relaxing your jaw.
Relaxing your jaw.
Relaxing your jaw,
Both sides of your face and relaxing your tongue.
Perhaps your lips coming open.
Relaxing your face and cheeks and eyes and forehead.
All face relaxing,
Perhaps as if it felt a little heavy in the tissues or drawn down by gravity.
Your face relaxing.
Relaxing the back of your head,
Especially where your neck joins your skull called the occiput.
And relax the sides and top of your head as well.
Your whole head relaxing.
And relaxing your brain.
And relaxing your mind and all the thoughts within it.
Putting your body all together,
Becoming increasingly tranquil.
The breath perhaps slowing down.
Maybe the heart as well.
Resting.
Letting go.
While remaining alert,
Awake,
Present as your body and mind become increasingly relaxed,
Tranquil and peaceful.
Enjoying this experience of relaxation and letting it sink in.
And then as we gradually transition out of this practice,
Knowing you can come back here again,
This place of relaxation.
And knowing as well that even as we shift out of this practice and start to engage thinking more and perhaps being a little more active in your body,
Moving it slightly,
Moving your feet on the floor,
Your hands on your thighs,
Eyes opening.
Coming out of this practice knowing that you can remain quite relaxed even as you participate in life in enjoyable ways.
One of those ways as we finish up here are to reflect on three quotations.
The first is from the ancient poet Ovid.
He writes,
Take rest.
A field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.
You know,
If we spend our days pouring out and pouring out and never resting,
For a while we start running on empty and we don't have much inside for ourselves or for other people.
In the next quotation from Eti Hillesum,
She writes,
Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.
And then last,
We have Sylvia Plath.
She writes,
I think it's an important point because sometimes we can get a little serious about relaxation.
She writes,
There must be a few things that a hot bath won't cure,
But I don't know many of them.
Maybe that's your preferred form of relaxation,
A hot bath or your cat snuggled in your lap or your grandson or making art,
Making music,
Cuddling,
Hanging out with friends,
Sitting under the night sky,
Waking up early in the morning to see the sunrise,
Arranging some flowers,
Simply looking at a flower.
Whatever your form of relaxation,
That's the one,
That's the best one of all.
