Progressive relaxation is a great overall tension relieving exercise. It is best done in a comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed.
It is also useful to help you fall asleep at night if you are having trouble doing so. The general principle behind progressive relaxation is to gradually relax muscles until your entire body is relaxed. There are several different ways of doing this. The method outlined below is just one:
1- Find a comfortable position (preferably lying down) and take a few deep breaths.
2- Contract the muscles in your toes until they are very tense and keep them like that for a few seconds. Observe how this feels.
3- Relax these muscles and notice how relaxed muscles feel. Concentrate on this sensation of muscle relaxation for about 5 seconds.
4- Repeat steps 2 and 3 for a second time, this time spending more time concentrating on the feelings of relaxation. You may find that your toes become warm, comfortable and almost numb as if they were floating and not part of your body any more. This is the sensation that you will try to achieve with all the muscles in your body.
5- Take that relaxed sensation that you feel in your toes and move it up into the balls of your feet. Put all your thoughts and energy into creating that warm, comfortable and numb feeling in that part of your body.
6- When the balls of your feet are relaxed, swirl that feeling into the arch of your feet and your heels; once again focusing all of your energy into making that particular part of your body relax.
7- Continue moving that wonderful relaxing sensation up your body until you have covered every body part. One suggested sequence is: Toes, balls of feet, arches and heels, ankles, calves, knees, thighs, buttocks, hips and groin, lower back, spine and upper back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, upper arms, elbows, lower arms, hands and fingers, neck, back of head and scalp, forehead, around the eyes, cheeks and nose, mouth, and finally chin and jaw.
8- Once you have covered your entire body, start again from the toes and quickly redo the procedure. If you come to any body part that is not very relaxed, spend a few moments in that area and concentrate on relaxing it.
9- Once you have finished, remain in that relaxed state for a little while. Picture yourself floating on a cloud or sitting in a hot tub.
10- Slowly come out of your relaxed state. You may want to set a soft alarm which will mark the time for you.