Managing Stress | 💪 Reduce Stress with Progressive Muscle Relaxation 💚 | Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness Meditation for managing stress with progressive muscle relaxation. We can manage some of the effects of stress by consciously practicing the art of relaxation, using progressive muscle relaxation technique to release stress stored in the body.

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Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to Soothing POD's meditation. Inthis session, we'll progressively tense up and
then release muscles in our body tofind relaxation and release storage stress. Settle
into a comfortable position with a long, relaxed spine, Allow your shoulders to

(00:27):
soften and release away from your ears. Rest your hands in your lap,
letting your arms relax, and gentlyclose your eyes. Turn your attention to
your breath. Now take a fewdeep, full cycles. Let your breasts

(00:53):
help you become more present, asthough you are fully calling yourself into your
practice. And now let your breathingsettle back into its own spontaneous pattern.

(01:42):
Inhale through your nose without creating anytension. Breathe out through your nostrils as
well. If this creates tension aroundyour breath, then breathe out through your
mouth instead. As you stay presentwith your breath, allow your belly to

(02:21):
receive your inhales and exhales. Letyour belly move softly and naturally, gently
swelling with your inhales, releasing softlywith your exhales, and with the next

(02:46):
few exhales, Imagine the tension andstress held in your body begins to discharge.
It's almost like you are opening arelease valve. Notice your body has

(03:16):
already started to relax. We'll beginto tighten specific areas of the body in
order to help them soften. Asyou do this, remember not to harden
so much that you are creating painor discomfort. The idea here is to
engage your muscles and then allow themto release all at once, which helps

(03:40):
the body relax further. So keepbreathing softly and let your eyebrows lift as
high as possible so you feel yourforehead tightened. And hold this for a
few seconds. Now completely relax yourforehead. Remember, do it all at

(04:01):
once, releasing your muscles quickly.This allows the muscles to fully surrender.
Create tension in and around your eyes. You can squeeze them shut here and

(04:25):
hold for a few seconds and fullysurrender them now calling softness in. Now
bring tension to your cheeks and mouth. You can force a huge, rigid

(04:50):
smile for a moment, and thenrelax your face completely. Draw your shoulders
way up to your ears and holdthem here. Now let them drop heavily,

(05:17):
no more holding feel them relax.Our shoulders and neck hold so much
tension. It's worth doing this again. Pull your shoulders way uphold and relax

(05:39):
completely. Take a couple of cleansingbreaths here, just noticing your head,
your face, your neck, yourshoulders relaxed, breathing in and breathing out,

(06:11):
releasing the stress. Now, maketight fists with your hands and clench

(06:32):
your entire arms. Hold attention fora few seconds more and relax completely.

(06:55):
Pull your shoulders back behind you fora moment. Feel your upper back tense
up and release. Now carefully archyour lower back and hold this position and

(07:26):
softly release. Engage your chest musclesby taking a deep breath in. Hold
your breath and now blow out throughyour mouth, releasing all of the holding

(08:03):
Suck in your stomach. Now constrictingthere and fully relax. Grip your buttock
muscles tightly and let them loosen.Now and once more, return to your

(08:41):
breath. Take a few restoring breaths, feeling into your head, neck,
shoulders, arms, an entire torsorelaxed inhale and exhale, releasing the stress.

(09:31):
Now imagine you are holding the thinnestpiece of paper between your knees as
they pressed together. Engage your thighmuscles and relax. Dig your heels into

(09:56):
the ground and pull your toes uptowards your knees. Feel the tension in
your lower legs, and again surrendercompletely and curling your toes under, scrunch

(10:22):
up the bottoms of your feet.Now let it go, and now squeeze
all of the muscles in your wholebody inhale and hold your breath ban relax

(10:54):
completely, surrender, let your wholebody melt and soften. We've all felt
health. Stress affects our state ofmind and our emotions, and as it

(11:18):
accumulates, our body takes the bruntof it too. We might not even
realize how much gripping and holding happensbecause of stressful events big and small.
Our belly, neck, and shouldersare just a few typical places that can
get particularly tight. Potension can buildup anywhere, and those stress is unavoidable

(11:41):
at times. We can certainly managesome of its effects by consciously practicing the
art of relaxation. When we allowour physical body to soften, our blood
flows more freely, increasing our energy. Our heart rate slows a little,
our digestion improves, our immune systemgets a boost, and our mind gets

(12:07):
clearer and calmer. So the nexttime you feel your body tensing up from
stress, take a couple of deepinhales, hold your breath and tighten your
muscles, and then let it allout. You might even try a big
sigh as you release. Now,take a couple of deep breaths, bringing

(12:33):
your awareness back into the room aroundyou, and when you're ready, gently
open your eyes. I hope thispractice served you well. See you again

(12:54):
soon, satiaton seating rist