Some people lead busy and stressful lives which manifests in body and muscle tension.
This session is going to help you develop an effective way to systematically relax your body.
Progressive muscle relaxation teaches you how to relax your muscles through a two- step process. First, you systematically tense particular muscle groups in your body, such as your neck and shoulders. Next, you release the tension and notice how your muscles feel when you relax them.
This exercise will help you to lower your overall tension and stress levels and help you relax.
Through practice you can learn to distinguish between the feelings of a tensed muscle and a completely relaxed muscle. Then, you can begin to “cue” this relaxed state at the first sign of the muscle tension that accompanies negative feelings and emotions.
By tensing and releasing, you learn not only what relaxation feels like but also to recognise when you are starting to get tense when you are being reactive to thoughts, situations or people.
Your mindfulness practice for this session is to learn about the progressive muscle relaxation exercise, (PMR) and the audio recording at the top of this page.
Enjoy the PMR exercise as a formal practice on 3 consecutive days and thereafter when you feel you might benefit from relaxing the whole of your body maybe after a busy day at work or when you notice you feel stressed or tense.
This exercise encourages you to be mindful of each muscle group as you tense and relax them. You deliberately focus on the tensing part of the exercise and equally, as you relax the tensed area you stay with the feeling of the relaxed muscle.
Some people like to use this practice at the start of a day before work or even at the end of the working today to create an effective gap between work and home life.
Others like to use this on holidays. By the time we get to go on holidays there can be so much stress and tension that we take away with us that we can find it difficult to relax or switch off.
Whichever way you want to utilise the progressive muscle relaxation exercise is your choice but do create the awareness where it will best serve you.
Listen with headphones
It is recommended that you listen to any audio recordings or mindfulness guiding meditations with headphones and in a place where you will not be disturbed just so you can devote your attention to the audio.
Never whilst driving
Because of the calming nature of some of the recordings
you must never play any of the recordings whilst driving
for your safety and the safety of others.
The guided recording
Below is the guided recording for the muscle relaxation exercise. It lasts for approximately 15 minutes.
As with all your mindfulness sessions it is important to schedule your practice time and not just to try and fit it in.
Mindfulness and meditation means paying attention with the sole focus of attention being the mindfulness session and not anything else.
Moving on from the formal progressive muscle relaxation exercise, this 2nd part of the session introduces you to an equally enjoyable general relaxation session.
This is an enjoyable way of relaxing mind and body and can be listened to whenever you feel you'd like to spend some time with a mindful and relaxing recording.
We could say some quality 'you time!'
Meditate with the audio once as a formal and scheduled practice with headphones in a comfortable place where you will not be disturbed and thereafter return back to this relaxation exercise when you choose.
This is not a formal mindfulness practice but a useful addition to your mindfulness toolbox to enjoy 20 minutes of peace and relaxation.