Home/ Basic meditation exercises / progressive muscular relaxation

Progressive Muscle Relaxation.

 

 

Progressive muscular relaxation is the first step in developing complete and rewarding meditation session. This will make you more comfortable and also free up your mind. You will notice, as you do PMR, the amount of stress and muscle tension you really have. You will also see that doing progressive muscle relaxation right before your meditation session makes a world of difference.

 

I once heard it said, that you can think of the mind like an excited monkey in a cage, and without relaxing it first, it can prevent you from a proper meditation experience, leaving you frustrated and more aggravated, anything but calm and relaxed. This progressive relaxation technique will also bring focus to you and calm the body, which in turn calms the mind.

Suggestions for progressive muscle relaxation Practice

1. Practice in a quiet place, alone, with no distractions, not even background music.
2. Remove your shoes and wear loose clothing.
3. Avoid eating, smoking, or drinking. It is best to practice before meals rather than after, when the body is digesting food it diverts blood and resorces from the rest of the body to the stomach..
4. Sit in a comfortable chair if possible. You may practice lying down, but you may end up falling asleep.
5. If you fall asleep, give yourself credit for the work you did up to the point of sleep. Never get angry with yourself about your practice. That anger and frustration can carry over to future practices. Be gentle with yourself.
6. When you finish a session, relax with your eyes closed for a few seconds, and then get up slowly. (Orthostatic hypotension a sudden drop in blood pressure due to standing up quickly can cause you to faint.) I like to breath 3 breaths with my eyes shut, then a long slow one as I open my eyes, followed by 5-10 normal breaths, and then moving into my meditative posture to start my basic meditation exercises.
   

 

Muscle Groups for your progressive muscle relaxation Practice

You will be working with most all the major muscle groups in your body, You will start at the bottom and work your way up:

1. Start at the bottom with one foot then the other. (Note pick which side you prefer and then keep to it for all muscle groups, That way you will not have to think if you did the other side yet, messing up your cncentration).
2. Move on to your lower leg and foot
3. Then your entire leg (one then the other, NOT both together)
4. The more to your hand, Then your forarm and hand,Then your entire arm (one side then the other)
5. Now move to your Abs
6. Then your lower back (try to focus on each vertabrea when doing your back)
7. Next your chest
8. Then upper back
9. Then neck and shoulders
10. Lastly your face. (start with Jaw, then cheeks, then eyes, ears, then forhead, then as a whole)

The Tension and Relaxation Procedure

First focus your mind on the muscle group; for example, your hand. Then inhale and simply squeeze the muscles as hard as you can for about 5-7 seconds; in the example, this would involve making a tight fist with your hand. It’s important to really feel the tension. Done properly, the tension procedure will cause the muscles to start to shake, and you will feel some pain.

Next, After the 8 seconds, just quickly and suddenly let go. Let all the tightness flow out of the muscles as you exhale. In the example, this would be imagining tightness flowing out of your hand through your fingertips as you exhale. Feel the muscles relax and become loose and limp, tension just flowing away from you.

Focus on and notice the difference between tension and relaxation.

Stay relaxed for about 15 seconds, and then repeat the tension-relaxation cycle. You’ll probably notice more sensations the second time. Do a set of 3 for each muscle group.

Note. Beginners usually make the mistake of allowing muscles other than the intended group to tense as well; in the example, this would be tensing muscles in your arm and shoulder, not just in your hand. With practice you will learn to make very fine discriminations among muscles; for the moment just do it and the skill at seperating the muscles will come with time and practice.

I hope you will enjoy this exsercise and that it will make a positive change in your life...
Nameste

 

Return from Progressive muscle relaxation to Basic Meditation Exercises

Return from Progressive muscle relaxation to Mind and Body Yoga homepage