Progressive Muscle Relaxation With Imagery

This guided-meditation is useful for all individuals including beginners. Awareness is brought to different areas of the body, along with suggestions for imagery while tensing and relaxing muscle groups. There are direct and subtle suggestions. With greater mind-body connection, individuals develop greater control over tension, pain and comfort in their body.

Transcript

Welcome.

Take a moment now just by finding a comfortable position either sitting or laying down in a location where you will not be interrupted,

Where you will have some space and time to connect with your body,

With how you hold tension and how to relax that tension.

If you are new to this type of experience,

You will be guided through this process,

So just taking your time,

Doing the best that you can.

Perhaps start with noticing where your body is resting,

If it's on a firm or soft surface,

And then allowing yourself to become more settled and comfortable as you can.

At your own pace,

Take in a slow,

Gentle inhale,

Followed by a long,

Even exhale.

Just doing your best and taking your time.

Then again at your own pace,

Take in a slow,

Gentle inhale,

Followed by a long,

Even exhale.

You are taking this time for a greater mind-body awareness through progressive muscle relaxation.

This is an active visualization of being guided to progressively tense and relax different areas of your body.

This is a gentle way of becoming aware of how you may be carrying tension and offers the opportunity for that tension to dissolve and soften.

Just bringing some awareness to your eyes and the space around your eyes,

And then tightening and scrunching your eyes,

Holding that for a moment,

And then letting them soften and relax,

Your forehead becoming smooth.

At your own pace,

Take in a slow,

Gentle inhale,

Followed by a long,

Even exhale,

Taking your time.

With your next exhale,

Continue to exhale even longer,

Intentionally moving the air out of your lungs,

Providing space for new fresh air to fill your lungs with your next inhale.

And when you are finished,

Allow your breathing to settle and become more regular again.

As your attention is brought to different areas of the body,

You will be invited to create tension in that area,

But not to the point of strain.

If you have any pain or injuries in that area,

Then instead of creating more tension,

Rather take a moment to offer gratitude or compassion to that area instead,

In whatever way you see as healing and kind.

So on your next inhale,

Bring your attention to your feet,

Your toes,

The heel,

The arch.

Begin to tense your feet by curling your toes in the arch of your foot,

Being mindful of creating only enough tension that is comfortable,

And then holding that tension,

Noticing what it feels like,

And slowly allowing your feet to relax,

To unwind,

To soften.

Feeling the new feeling of relaxation and ease,

Perhaps there is spaciousness.

And another slow,

Gentle inhale,

Followed by a long,

Even exhale.

Bring your awareness to your lower legs,

How they might be feeling,

How they're resting,

The fronts of them,

The backs of them.

Tense the muscles in your calves,

These are the muscles at the back of your lower legs,

And hold this tension and pay attention to the feeling of tension,

Of that awareness,

Just holding it,

Activating that area.

And slowly allow these muscles in your legs to begin to relax and to soften.

If you are able,

You are invited to bring tension to that area again,

And this time to give that tension a color,

A dark color,

A strong color,

Just to deepen your awareness of the tension and then holding,

And then allowing that tension to soften.

Perhaps you can see the muscles as dissolving or becoming smooth,

And maybe the color that you gave becomes diluted or softer or changes altogether.

And at your own pace,

Take in a slow,

Gentle inhale,

Followed by a long,

Even exhale.

Imagery can support mind-body awareness for a lot of people,

Such as adding colors or mental pictures.

Our minds are 35% visual cortex,

So the brain is very effective at responding to visual cues.

With your next inhale,

Bring gentle awareness to your knees and thighs.

You can become aware of the tension by actively adding more tension to your thighs by pressing your knees together as if you were holding a dime between them or a penny.

Feeling the tension just for a moment,

And then feeling that tension soften,

Softening and relaxing.

You are invited to bring tension to that area again,

Pressing your knees together as if you were holding a dime,

And this time,

Perhaps giving that tension a color,

A dark color,

A strong color,

And then releasing,

Allowing the muscles to soften,

To become relaxed.

And perhaps that color softens or becomes diluted.

At your own pace,

Take in a slow,

Gentle inhale,

Followed by a long,

Even exhale.

Just doing your best,

Taking your time.

As you are bringing in more tension to these different parts of your body,

You are providing yourself with the ability to really know the different areas of your body,

So that throughout the day,

You'll be able to allow different areas just to relax and soften.

It might be more subconscious,

Where an area will just begin to soften and relax when there is an uncomfortable amount of tension.

Just as your mind is able to create tension with just a thought,

Alternatively,

You are able to create ease and comfort as well,

Being gentle as you work through this process,

Knowing it gets easier,

As you are actually able to feel the difference between tension and relaxation,

Or ease in an area.

On your next inhale,

Bring your awareness to your hips,

To your buttocks.

This area supports your body throughout the day,

And so much tension is often stored in this area.

On your next inhale,

Create tension in this large muscle group,

Easily creating tension and holding that tension,

Perhaps giving it a colour,

While still breathing.

And then on your exhale,

Allow that tension to leave your body along with your outbreath.

And then with your next outbreath,

Continue to allow subtle tension to leave,

To relax,

To soften.

Any individuals find that the word relaxation to be a word that they cannot access for some reason.

This meditation is a part of healing your relationship with that word relax and relaxation.

So you can invite relaxation into your body at different parts during the day,

Allowing the muscles to release their tension,

To become softer,

Comfortable.

Relaxed muscles improve circulation,

And this improves circulation,

Nourishes all the areas of your body,

And creates greater physical and emotional comfort and ease.

With your next gentle inhale,

Bring your awareness to your chest.

Perhaps to create tension you can curl your torso like a curled leaf,

Holding that tension for a moment,

Giving it a colour or an image.

And then with your next exhale,

Allowing the leaf in your body to uncurl,

To soften,

Allowing yourself to settle comfortably.

With the next inhale,

Bring your shoulders up to your ears,

Up,

Up,

Up,

Recognising what tension feels like in your shoulders.

And then with your next exhale,

Let them relax and soften,

Allowing your shoulders to come away from your ears,

Becoming very aware of what they feel like as the tension leaves them.

Perhaps you see a colour just sliding out or being diluted,

Or just allowing your shoulders to rest,

Knowing it was never meant for one person to carry it all anyway.

As you relax,

You can rest and gather strength for what is needed and when it's needed.

Right now it's allowing your muscles and body to soften.

Perhaps you feel lighter or maybe you feel heavier like you're melting into the floor.

Taking a slow,

Gentle inhale,

Followed by a long,

Even exhale.

As you inhale,

Bring your awareness to your arms,

Specifically to your upper arms,

Your biceps,

Just noticing how they feel right now.

Flex and add tension to your biceps.

You might even imagine the muscle tightening and cords becoming taut and holding that tension.

As you exhale,

Release all those cords becoming loose and relaxed,

Enjoying the relaxation settling into your body,

Allowing your body to settle,

Allowing greater relaxation and ease into your body,

An awareness that you are able to influence the tension or ease within different areas.

Then just giving your brain the message that if tension is too much in certain areas,

Too much that it is not healthy or helpful,

That it can automatically let your body know to relax,

To soften,

If there was a color for it to become diluted.

It can just do that on its own.

Just as your mind knows to pump your heart and to fill your lungs without you thinking about it,

You can let your mind know that if there's tension that is no longer helpful,

That it can relax that area of the body.

This allows your body to be in a healthy state comfortably,

Balanced between being responsive and relaxation.

Take in a slow,

Gentle inhale,

Followed by a long,

Even exhale at your own pace.

And then on your next inhale,

Bring your awareness to your hands,

Just where they're resting,

And how they're resting,

Bringing awareness to your fingertips,

Maybe to one specific finger or your wrists.

And with your next inhale,

Curl your fingers tightly,

So tightly gripping around all the things you try to hold onto,

Holding the tension,

Giving that tension a color if you are able.

And as you exhale,

Allowing your hands to relax,

To soften,

To open,

To set down what they no longer need to carry.

Just even gently spreading your fingers when you set down what no longer serves you.

And then you are able to comfortably pick up all that you love.

Take in a slow,

Gentle inhale,

Followed by a long,

Even exhale,

Relaxing into that exhale.

This softness in your hands and your arms,

Perhaps it's like being in a warm current of relaxation,

A warm current that is now able to move freely through your chest,

Through your pelvis,

Down your legs,

And out of your feet.

A warm current that is flowing free around you and through you,

Dissolving or taking away any small areas of tension and just allowing all of yourself to rest and relax.

You are going to be given just a small pause to become familiar with the sensation in your body.

Relaxation might be new to you.

This awareness might be new,

So I'll just give you a moment.

At your own pace,

Take in a slow,

Gentle inhale,

Followed by a long,

Even exhale.

If you intend to go to sleep right now,

Then you can set aside other thoughts or concerns just as you set aside your daytime activities at the end of each day.

And then you can drift into comfortable and restful sleep.

If your intent is to continue with the rest of your day,

Then I invite you to bring gentle movement to your fingers and to your toes,

Very gentle movement.

Perhaps slowly rolling your wrists and your ankles.

You are encouraged to reach your arms up if you are able to enjoy a full body stretch,

Gently opening and closing your hands and your fingers.

As you bring your arms back down into a comfortable position,

On your next inhale,

Gently opening your eyes if you haven't already done so,

Bringing with you the healing and relaxation from this moment.

Reviews

Perfect. I didn't realize how much tension I was carrying in my body. It was starting to become painful. Once again I appreciate your guidance and help. Thank you so much.

🙏