Taking Care of a Tense Body

This is a slow and gentle practice for gradually relaxing the body, which holds a lot of our stress. This can be a helpful practice for anxiety management, sleep, pain management, and trauma healing.

Transcript

Hi,

Welcome.

This is Sarah Rabinovich and this practice is called taking care of a tense body.

This practice is designed to help you harness the healing capacities of the breath,

Our sustained attention,

And certain attitudinal qualities we can hold of being accepting,

Non-striving,

And kind.

This practice is for anyone with lots of physical tension or stress right now and remembering that in this practice there's no expectation to relax.

So seeing if we can let go of that very natural desire and instead intend to follow the gentle guiding instructions of the practice.

This practice can be done sitting down or lying down and if possible lying down is preferred as this posture requires less muscle exertion and energy to sustain.

So making sure that you're as comfortable as possible and making any necessary adjustments to your posture.

Beginning now by taking a few deep and slow breaths.

Coming into the present moment.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And noticing the points of contact where the body is supported by the floor or the chair.

As you continue to breathe in and out just normally and naturally.

Seeing if you can give your muscles some permission to let go a little bit if that feels comfortable,

Possible.

Letting the chair or the floor support you.

Letting go,

Letting go,

Letting go.

And dropping your awareness now into the body noticing just how the body generally feels.

What's the energy like?

Is there a lightness or heaviness?

Fatigue,

Energy,

Tingling?

What's here in the body?

And allowing the thinking mind,

The sounds,

The busyness that so often takes the forefront of our awareness to just recede into the background for now as you drop awareness into the body right here,

Right now,

In this moment.

What does the body feel like right now?

And this may be the first time you've really stopped and checked in with yourself all day.

And so perhaps noticing a whole dance of sensations throughout the body.

Noticing certain regions of the body that may be tight or tense.

There's really no need to react to any of these sensations or judge them as good or bad.

Try to resist them or change them.

They just are.

This is just how the body is right now.

Here and now in the present moment.

And now allowing your attention to settle on the breath at the belly.

Really easy.

Without forcing or trying to do anything.

Just resting attention on the breath at the belly.

Feeling the rise and fall of the belly as you breathe in and out.

Breathing in.

Breathing out.

Once you've found a natural rhythm of breathing that feels comfortable,

You may choose to elongate the exhale a little bit.

Breathing in normally and breathing out nice and slow and easy.

Just gently elongating the out-breath a little bit if it feels right.

And I'd like for you now to think of a word or phrase that encourages relaxation.

And this can really be anything that comes into your mind.

It could be relax or soften or letting go.

And it could also just be words that help you stay in the present moment like here or now,

Present.

There's no right or wrong way to do this.

No right or wrong words.

So just finding one that feels like it fits for you.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And on the next out-breath quietly saying this word to yourself.

Pairing this word with the exhale.

Breathing in naturally and then breathing out nice and slow as you say this word in your mind.

And so now we're going to transition into guiding awareness and breath into various regions of the body.

Encouraging the muscles of the body to soften.

And remembering that there's really no expectation to relax,

But if it feels right for you to let a little tension or tightness go,

Following your body's lead.

And you are in full control of this practice and you're welcome to use my instructions as guidance.

I'm making this practice your own.

And so releasing awareness from the breath at the belly now.

Breathing in to the crown of the head.

Breathing in and as you slowly exhale saying your words soften or let go or whatever it is and seeing if you can soften the crown of the head a little bit.

And shifting attention into the forehead and brow and into the eyes and the temples,

This upper part of the face.

Breathing in and as you slowly breathe out saying your word,

Let go and encouraging the brow,

The eyes,

The forehead to let go of tension.

And moving your awareness into the cheeks and nose and ears and all the way down to the mouth and tongue.

Breathing in and as you exhale softening the face.

Releasing.

Letting be.

And with awareness now of the mouth and jaw breathing in and as you breathe out softening mouth and jaw and throat on a slow exhale.

Saying your word in your mind.

Letting go.

And now with awareness of the neck and throat.

Breathing in and on the exhale slowly softening down the neck down the shoulders,

Arms.

We down into the hands.

Breathing in naturally and as you slowly exhale.

Soften.

Whatever other words you choose softening the muscles.

From the neck down to the shoulders and arms into the hands.

Letting go,

Letting go.

And shifting attention now to the nape of the neck.

Breathing in and slowly out and softening the muscles in the shoulder blades.

Upper back and mid back lower back.

Breathing in and breathing out softening.

And gently taking hold of your attention now and shifting awareness to your front the collarbone.

Breathing in and out softening heart,

Lungs,

The walls of the chest.

The ribs.

Letting go,

Letting go.

And here right now.

And guiding awareness to the core of the belly now.

Breathing in and out softening.

Breathing in and exhaling slowly with your word letting the deeper muscles of the belly soften as you continue to breathe.

And softening down lower into the pelvic region and the muscles of the hips letting go.

The belly,

The pelvic region and the hips letting go.

And now full awareness of the upper legs.

Breathing in and then exhaling.

Softening upper legs,

Knees all the way into the lower legs and feet to the tips of the toes.

Breathing in and slowly exhaling releasing softening,

Letting go.

And now expanding awareness to take in a sense of the whole body connected,

Working in concert,

Softening in concert.

Breathing in easy does it and then exhaling slowly softening,

Letting go the whole body.

Seeing if you can encourage the whole body to soften into the floor and chair.

Right here,

Right now.

Breathing,

Softening.

Taking a few moments to just rest here.

Breathing.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And when you're ready,

Beginning to wiggle toes and fingers and very slowly transitioning out of this practice.

What will you take with you?

And as we come to the end of this practice,

Taking a moment to thank yourself for practicing.

This is a deep act of self-care.

Reviews

Truly wonderful. Thank you so much for this tremendous resource.

Totally relaxing. l have found à go to meditation . Thanxx.☺🌻🌹

Wonderful. As someone who has ptsd, I find it extremely difficult to let go of tension in my body from worry, stress and anxiety. This practice helped me get in touch with my body and soften. I released a lot of tension with this practice. I will be using this again in the future.

Very relaxing and helpful for softening

Loved it.. thank u.. very helpful

Very relaxing. I was able to release tension in my jaw. Thank you!

This is exactly what I have been looking for. I have issues In releasing tension throughout the day.
This will definitely be on my save list.
Thank you!!

Beautiful pacing

Always a great relaxer. Grateful thanks.

Just what was needed. Bookmarked for repeats. Many Thanks 💛

Amazing ❤❤. Thank you!

One of my new favorites.

Relaxing and comforting; ending was quick.
Thanks 😎

Good for my wired and tired body.

Feel much better!
✌

Great, thank you !

This was amazing! Thank you so much. I will revisit often!

Excellent. Really needed this. Thank you.