How can I feel more relaxed?
If you are feeling anxious, I think this exercise will be really helpful to you, This blog post will help you learn to do an exercise for relaxation called progressive muscle relaxation. Progressive muscle relaxation is an exercise that can help relax your mind and your body by tensing and then relaxing different muscle groups throughout your body We usually start in the forehead and go all the way down to your toes. You will tense each muscle for about five seconds and then you'll slowly release You'll notice that this creates kind of a wave of relaxation in your body. When your body is stressed or anxious it tends to tense up. Progressive muscle relaxation will help you lessen the tension in order to feel more relaxed.
I will gonna walk you through the steps. You can start by finding a comfortable position either sitting or lying down. I find that sitting is generally a little bit easier with this exercise. Go somewhere where you're not going to be interrupted and allow your attention to focus only on your body. If you find your mind wandering, don’t worry, just bring it back to the body and bring it back specifically to the muscle group that you're working on.
Steps of Progressive Muscle Relaxation
First, start by taking a deep breath through your abdomen. You're going to hold it for a few seconds and then exhale slowly. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Breathe in and then out, breathe in again and out, and one more time in and out as you go through each step remember to keep breathing.
1) Forehead / Face
Tighten the muscles in your forehead by raising your eyebrows as high as you can hold that for five seconds and release. Just notice all the tension falling away now and pause for ten seconds. Breathe now smile widely you can feel your cheeks and your mouth tense up. Then release appreciating the softness that you feel and your muscles here make sure to continue breathing in and out between each step.
Next, we're gonna work on your eye muscles. Squint and then release. Breathe in and out gently after each exercise. Hold the tension for about 7-10 seconds before releasing it.
2) Neck
Now we're going to work on kind of the neck. You're just going to gently pull your head back as if you're looking up to the sky. Feel that stretch in the back of your neck and then release breathe in and out. Pause for a few seconds just notice your body starting to feel more relaxed now. Feel the weight of your head you're, gonna let your head fall. Let your neck kind of sink and stretch in the back and then release and breathe in and out, again Let go of all of your stress breathe, in and out one more time.
3) Hands
Tightly but without straining, I want you to clench your fists and hold that position, and after five seconds, release. You might feel a little bit of a burning or tingling feeling in your hands. Just notice when you release that feeling of limpness and your hands and then breathe in and out.
4) Arms
Flex your biceps feeling that build-up of tension you might even visualize the muscle tightening. Hold that for five seconds and then release noticing again that feeling of limpness and your arms and relaxation. Breathe in and out.
5) Shoulders
Lift your shoulders up as if they can touch your ears, tensing those muscles for about five seconds, and then release.
6) Back
Tense your upper back by pulling your shoulders back trying to make your shoulder blades touch hold out for five seconds. Then release breathe in and out.
7) Chest
Tighten your chest by taking a deep breath holding it for five seconds and exhaling blowing out all of the tension you feel in your body.
8) Stomach
Go down to the muscles in your stomach by sucking in and holding that for five seconds suck in now, and release, breathe in and out.
9) Feet
Gently arch your lower back and hold off for five seconds feeling stretch in your lower back and then release breathe in and out. Now flex your feet pulling your toes toward you and feeling the tension in your calves, hold that for about five seconds. Feel that stretch and then release you want to feel the weight of your legs sinking down. Just pause for a few seconds and notice your body.
Curl your toes tense your feet and hold that for about five seconds just stretch and release.
You did it!
Progressive muscle relaxation will help your body relax and destress
We've gone through a lot of the muscles in the body. I want you to notice feeling a wave of relaxation spreading from your head and going all the way down to your feet. Feel the weight of your relaxed body and then one last time take a deep breath in and out.
This technique is called progressive muscle relaxation. It takes about ten minutes. I would recommend it if you have been feeling tense lately. Do this exercise once a day. Hopefully, it'll help you feel a little bit calmer in your mind and in your body.
To go through this exercise with me narrating the progressive muscle relaxation, I have made this video. You will find many other videos on the Wilson Counseling Youtube page to help you with your anxiety.
If you would like to talk to a Houston anxiety therapist, we would love to help you work through your anxiety symptoms and feel relief today. You can contact us online to schedule an appointment or call 713-565-0922 to ask any questions you have about how we can be of help to you. We also have a lot of resources on our anxiety treatment in Houston page.