Sleepy Muscles

Drift into deep rest with this progressive muscle relaxation meditation. You’ll gently tense and release each muscle group, melting stress from head to toe. Calm your nervous system, quiet the mind, and prepare your body for effortless sleep.

Transcript

Hey, It's Doug. Before anything else, We need to get you into a comfortable position and get your eyes closed. If we're going to have any hope of getting you to sleep, We need those two things. So take a moment and do those two for me right now. As you're doing just that, Getting yourself as comfortable as possible and getting the eyes closed, I'm going to explain today's session to you. Tonight I'm going to guide you through a highly effective technique for relaxation and sleep, One of the most effective techniques out there. Now if you'd like to learn more about the family of techniques for sleep therapy, Then check out my course, Sleep Yourself Better with Science, And there's loads more in there. For now though, Let's get you to sleep, Shall we? Okay, The thing about being relaxed is that sometimes it takes feeling tense to actually notice what relaxed is. We need that juxtaposition. In one of my favorite movies, Lucky Number 7, Morgan Freeman has this great line he says to Josh Hartnett. Yeah, Remember Josh Hartnett? Josh Hartnett finds himself in this precarious position. In this moment, Mr. Freeman says, With that bassy voice, Which I'm not going to try to do. Yesterday you were better off, But it took today for you to realize that, And that's a bit like your body. Relaxation is just like that. We swear we are relaxed until we feel tension, And then we realize actually we are more tense than we thought. So with that in mind, I want you to take some nice deep breaths and pay attention to your body. Just start to tap into all the different sensations that are going on right now in that body of yours. If you want, You can start to imagine your breath is this illuminating light that allows you to see how your body feels. So as you breathe in, That illuminating light just lights up the whole body, And like light against contrasting dark, You can start to see what is happening in your body. What is happening in that body of yours. The deeper you breathe, The more the body you light up and the more you can feel. Each breath lights up the body a bit more, Adds a bit more awareness to the body that you're in right now. And after three or four breaths, You may notice that you are fully aware of your body. Everything from your toes up to your head and in between. And with this awareness, I want you to just gauge the level of relaxation you feel out of 10. Just give yourself a quick score. Okay, Great. Now, Carry on breathing and feeling your body with each breath and just connect with the area of your body that I say out loud. And I want you to concentrate on just that area, Right? It's kind of like a peekaboo or hide and seek for awareness and mindfulness. Ready? Okay. Let's try focusing just on your left foot. Notice how it feels. Become totally aware of it so you can breathe just into your left foot with that illuminating light of awareness and we have all the sensations. And now turn that awareness, That spotlight onto your right foot. Same deal. What do you notice here? How is that right foot doing tonight? Now to your left shin, Your right shin, Both thighs, Your buttocks. Try not to giggle when I say that. Your abs, Your chest, Your whole back, Both shoulders, Both arms, Both hands, Your neck, And your face. Excellent. So you're fully tapped into your body. Now we'll do that again, But each time I say the name of the area of your body, I want you to inhale and tense it as much as you can. And then when I say relax, You're going to exhale out and release that area. For instance, If I say left hand, You would ball your left hand up into a fist. As you inhale, You would squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze for dear life. And then when I said relax, You would let that fist go and allow that residual tension out with your exhale. So it's again that imaginary breath that is illuminating the area as before. And when you exhale, You imagine that tension just leaving your body. By the way, If you want to get straight to the activity next time, Look out for the track Express Tension to Tranquility under my tracks. All right, Let's get you to sleep with a bit of tension and tranquility. Inhale into that left foot now, Tense, Make a fist with that foot, Bring the toes towards the sole of the foot, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze it. Notice that foot. And exhale, Breathe out, Relax that left foot. Notice how that left foot feels and just feel that tension just oozing out of it. Inhale now into that right foot, Tense it even harder than you did with your left. Make a fist with that foot, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, And exhale. Relax that right foot. Normal breath as you just feel the relaxation seep into that foot as the tension in the right foot seeps out. Inhale, Tense the left shin, Squeeze that shin, Pull the left foot towards your shin. That will really get maximal tension. Hold it, Squeeze it, Squeeze it, Squeeze it, Squeeze it, And relax, Breathe out. Just a few breaths here to let that relaxation really seep into the left shin. Good job, Other side now. Inhale, Right shin squeezes, Tense it. See if those right toes can touch your shin, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Feel that tension, And relax. Normal breath, Feeling now how both shins are totally relaxed. Tension oozing out of them, Relaxation seeping in. Moving on to the left thigh, Inhale, Squeeze that left thigh, Make that left thigh muscle work hard, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Knee pushes down, And relax. Breathe out that tension. Normal breath now as you notice how that left thigh feels totally relaxed. Right thigh now, Inhale, Squeeze that right thigh, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, All the force you can muster, Press the back of that knee into the bed underneath you, And exhale, Relax. Tension goes out, Relaxation comes in. Leg should be nice and relaxed here from the thighs down to the shins, Down to the feet. Inhale now, Squeeze the bum, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Left and right cheek together, Squeeze it, Tense it, Engage it, Push hips to the ceiling, Notice how it feels, And relax. Let the tension out, And the relaxation in. Take a moment now and feel the whole bottom half of your body is relaxed and sinking into your bed without any tension. Right, Let's move on to the upper body and get you totally relaxed. Inhale into the abs and chest, Tense both of them like a bodybuilder or a 14-year-old trying to impress his first crush. Tense, Tense, Tense, Tense, Tense, Tense, Tense, Tense, Tense, Tense, Tense, Tense, Tense, Tense, Exhale, Breathe out. Recover your breath as you notice the difference. Moving straight along here, Inhale into the back, Tense, Bring the shoulder blades together, Squeeze all those muscles in your back, Arch, Arch, Arch, And relax. Tension flows out, Relaxation flows in. Inhale into that left arm and hand, Tense both. Make a fist with that left hand, Tense the bicep on the left arm, Make a superhero arm, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Engage, Engage, Engage, Exhale, Relax, And let go. Hand opens, Arm gets heavy. Moving on to the right hand and arm. Inhale, Squeeze, Make a fist, Make a nice strong arm. Tense that arm, Make it strong, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Make those muscles pop out, And exhale. Let that arm relax, Let the hand slowly open. Breathe easy, Feel the relaxation of both arms, Both hands, And the whole torso. Inhale now into the neck and shoulders, Squeeze shoulders towards your ears, Hide your neck, Engage those muscles in your neck, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Tense, Tense, Tense, Exhale, Let that tension escape the body. Shoulders fall heavy, Away from the ears, Neck is relaxed, Head is heavy. Inhale into the face now, Make a funny face, Eyeball, Eyebrows come together, Lip squeeze, Eye squeeze, Teeth squeeze, Everything squeezes, Make the face heavy, And exhale, Relax. Let the face just switch off and go soft, Floppy face. Easy breath, As you feel the tension just seep out of the face. And lastly, We're going to do the entire body all at once, Last bit of work together, Okay? Here we go. Inhale, Tense absolutely everything, Strong muscles everywhere, Feel those muscles, Squeeze those muscles, Find that tension, It's the last bit of tension, Squeeze it out the body, And exhale, Everything relaxes. Come back to the illuminating breath, As you inhale into your face, Noticing, Is it totally relaxed? And if you can find any tension, You let it go with the next exhale. Inhale into the neck and shoulders, Double-checking if they were relaxed. If not, We exhale out any tension. Breathe into both arms and hands, Checking for that tension, You know what to do now. Let the arms be heavy and the hands gently open. Breathe into the abs and chest, Just checking for any tension here. And exhale, Just breathing out any tension that you may find. Same with the back, Inhale, Check for that tension. Exhale, Let the back be the most relaxed it's been all night. Inhale into the glutes. As you exhale, Make sure they're relaxed. Breathe into both thighs. Exhale, Let them be as heavy as possible. Inhale into the shins. Exhale, Getting rid of any residual tension there. And last one, Breathe into those feet. As you exhale, Let them both turn off completely. Noticing how the entire body is now relaxed and primed for bed. No more tension anywhere. Enjoy your body, Enjoy the relaxation. Gentle breaths in and out. Body is fully relaxed, Heavy and ready for sleep.