Relaxation Meditation

Hi there! Welcome to my meditation where I'll be sharing with you some simple ways to help you relax and unwind. You can do these meditations anywhere and anytime.

Relaxation Meditation

Okay, here we go!

Firstly, find yourself in a comfortable position either laying or sitting down. Your comfort is very important so you'll be able to simply relax and let go.

We will start by taking a deep breath in through the nostrils and feeling that go right down to the stomach, hold for a second or two and gently breathe out through your mouth.

Try this a few more times. Deep breath in, hold, and breathe out. One more time. Note that every time you breathe in and out you are becoming more and more relaxed and really starting to feel any tension you may have in your body start to free itself up and leave.

Many times, we hold tension in our body and we don't even know it's there until we stop what we are doing and take notice of how we are feeling.

Now that you are fairly relaxed, we will start to deepen the relaxation by putting our attention on our right foot. Just gently pay attention to your toes - if they feel tense start to wiggle them a bit and let any pent up energy leave as you start to notice the feeling of freedom - yes, even our toes need a little freedom from being walked around on all day and being enclosed in shoes and socks!

We continue along to our foot and again note any tension there by moving it around in a circular motion. You may hear a few cracks and creaks but that's okay, keep releasing that pent up energy. You're doing great!

Now, let's move on up to the ankle. A good way to notice any tension in the body is to tighten up the area we are concentrating on and then let it go and you will feel a big release entering that part of the body.

Slowly now, paying attention to our lower leg and the knee, feel into that area and relax it, moving on up to the thigh. Again, tighten this area if you need and then relax the muscles. Our legs do a lot of walking - they're our support system so we need to look after them.

We are going to repeat the same steps with our left side. Just as before, start with the toes and work your way slowly up to the thigh area. This is the time that we really place our attention on what we have just relaxed - can you feel a difference from your legs to the rest of your body? Let's hope so!

Now, let's really get to work with our middle and upper body parts, feeling into the stomach and at the same time your lower back. This is definitely where we hold a lot of tension. Try to scrunch up the stomach and then let it go.

Do that a few times and start to feel the relaxation pour in. Our lower back will respond at the same time. We can carry a lot of stress in one day from our jobs, our family life and just general ups and downs so it's important to take notice of any pain we may be feeling in that back area. It's often a sign we may be taking on too much.

How are you going? We will now concentrate on the upper part of our body as we breathe in and out in a normal manner. We can start to relax our ribs and our chest. Take notice of any tightness you may be holding onto and just gently breathe it out.

Pay attention to your lower upper back - where is it tight? Again, find that point and relax, pushing your upper back to the floor or back of the chair just to get its attention and relax it.

Now, we focus on our arms just as we did to our feet and legs. We will go through the same process starting with the right hand and fingers, palms facing up, scrunch the fingers up and then release them a few times and just feel the tension draining out of each fingertip as you're doing this.

Place your attention on the arms. If you like, you can bring them half way up, tense the muscle and then relax it a few times. This should get the tension out as you start to pay attention to your shoulders. This is another stress area that we tend to keep a lot of tension in - I'm sure you would agree!

Again, tighten the area and gently release. Feel the tightness start to leave this area, all the while knowing your body is happy and feeling more relaxed as we head up to the neck area and throat.

Let's face it, we do a lot of talking and most of us are probably unaware of how we're holding our head and neck throughout the day. Let's check that position and note any tension in the area and just relax it.

Moving up to your face. Our face has many muscles in it and we use them all day long and on into the night so this is where we start to relax. First the jaw, freeing up the tension that we hold there and don't even know it.

Then our mouth, our cheeks and of course, our eyes and forehead, going right to the top of the head. Just focus there for a bit, take a deep breath in and let it go.

Thanks for joining in with me!