Guo Gu: Progressive Relaxation

Guo Gu gives instructions for relaxing the body and connecting with the breath. This foundational teaching will create a sense of stability in our practice. While we tend to spend a lot of our time living inside our heads, Guo Gu asks us to shift our awareness into the tactile sensations of the body, inviting in awareness of the “undercurrent tones” that shape our experiences. This practice is a part of Tricycle's Meditation Month 2021, a month-long meditation challenge.

Transcript

So one of the most important practices I want to introduce you is this progressive relaxation.

So this is a practice in which when we sit,

We begin with the crown of our head,

Closing our eyes,

Sitting upright,

Relaxed,

And through tactile sensations,

Bring your awareness to the crown.

So you can actually use your fingers,

Feel this area,

And then take your hand away,

Allow the sensation to continue to be there,

And then bring that sensation down the forehead.

The areas to be aware of first is the eyes region.

So you want to raise your eyebrows up,

And in other words,

Tense up and release.

Tense up,

Release.

So becoming more and more in tune with different bodily parts.

So this part.

And allow the sensation to sweep down to the eyes,

Eyelids,

Relax.

Again,

Don't talk to yourself.

Don't command yourself.

Actually feel the tactile sensations.

Relaxing the eyelids,

Not using the eyes,

Feeling the eyeballs releasing tension.

And then allow that release to extend to the planes of the cheeks,

The chin,

Gentle smile,

And then bring it down from the top again,

Now this time to the back.

All the way down to the back,

To the shoulders.

Second most important part.

Raise up,

Tense up,

And release.

And then you can do that a few times until you can relax the whole arm,

Down,

Down,

Down,

To the fingertips.

And then becoming more aware of your breath,

And how that affects the rise and fall of your chest.

Now you can use your breath,

Especially the exhalations,

To release the tension.

And then bring it down to the abdomen.

Feeling the rise and fall.

Release.

Using your exhalations now,

Once you exhale,

Drop the sense of bodily weight down.

So feeling your buttocks connected to the cushion,

Connected to earth,

Extending down.

So people typically do this several rounds,

And that's how I teach it.

Mastering this practice before using the method.

After this stunt,

Then take a moment to feel the undercurrent feeling tone right now.

How do you actually feel?

So after the body is relaxed and grounded,

You should feel content.

Being at ease.

Needing nothing from the outside.

And with this priming of the body and the heart,

Bring level of awareness,

Clarity,

To whatever method that you're using.

That is the importance of progressive relaxation.

Reviews

Simple, yet foundational, imstruction and practice. When short on time, use this to stay full of insight, calm, and joy.

Wonderful and so useful for someone who suffers chronic stress. Thank you 🙏

An excellent grounding method and simple relaxation technique. Thank you 🙏

Venerable is always skillful and grounded in the dharma. The longer version of this guided meditation is also excellent.