[Speaking gently, but not in a monotone] First, close your eyes, put your
feet on the floor and your hands either in your lap or on the armrests of
the chair. Imagine that you're at the beach, sitting in an empty hot tub,
looking out at the ocean. You feel both the sun and the breeze on your
skin, and you can see the sky above the ocean. You can hear my voice and
the ocean. As you follow my voice, imagine that the hot tub starts to fill
with swirling water, just slightly warmer than you are and pleasantly
scented. Now take your right foot and press down on the floor with your
toes. You should feel tension in your right calf. As you hold this
tension, breathe in and out through your stomach. As you relax your foot,
breathe again. Now repeat that: press down with your right foot, and
breathe in and out. Hold the tension for just a moment. Now relax. Now
do the same thing with the left foot: press down with your toes, and hold
the tension. While you're holding it, you may be able to look out over the
ocean, at the line that separates the sea from the sky, and breathe. Now
relax your foot as you notice that the water is beginning to cover your
feet and legs, swirling around your skin. Now press down a second time
with your left foot, and breathe. Relax your foot. You might notice some
warmth coming into your leg muscles. This could be blood flowing into
those muscles, or it could be the warm water surrounding them. Now press
down with your right heel, and feel the tension in your right thigh. Hold
this for a minute, and breathe in and out. The breeze may feel quite
pleasant as you now relax your heel. Now press again with the same heel,
feeling tension in your right thigh. And breathe. Relax your heel, and
notice the warmth in that leg as the water is now rising to the level of
your knees. Now press down with your left heel, and breathe. Hold that
for a moment, and then relax your heel. The water is still swirling up,
over your thighs. Now press down with your left heel again, and hold the
tension there. And breathe, in and out. Now relax your heel, and notice
that the water has covered your thighs and you may feel very heavy from
there down.
Now tighten your buttocks, holding the tension and breathing, in and out
through your stomach. You may feel yourself rising up out of your chair a
bit; just hold that for a moment. Now relax, as the water continues to
swirl around you with it's warmth and sweetness. Now tighten again, and
breathe in and out. The ocean sounds are gentle at the shore, and you can
hear them as the waves wash the sand. Now relax. The water is rising up
around your waist now, as you breathe, in and out. Now tighten your
stomach muscles, and hold this for a moment. Now relax them, and breathe
again. The water in the hot tub is warm, just the right temperature.
Tighten your stomach again, and hold it. Now relax, and breathe. The water
is up around your tummy now, and from your waist down your body feels very
heavy. As you arch your back slightly, until you can feel tension in your
lower back. The warmth of the water or the sun or the air on your back may
help to warm and relax those muscles. Breathe through your stomach, and
then relax. Now arch your back again, and hold it for a moment. You may
feel yourself sitting up a little taller again. Now relax, as you breathe,
in and out. The water in the hot tub is now up around your chest, and the
scent from the steaming surface pleasantly fills your nostrils.
Now make a fist with your right hand, and feel the tension in your hand,
lower arm and upper arm. You might feel your whole arm start to shake a
bit; remember to breathe through your stomach. Now relax your hand and
arm, as you drop them back down to where they were before. You might need
to stretch your fingers a little. Now make a fist again, feeling the
tension in your hand, lower arm and upper arm. Hold it just for a moment,
and breathe. Now relax, drop your arm again, flexing your fingers if you
need to. Now do the same with your left hand, making a fist and feeling
the tension in your lower and upper arms. Let them shake a bit from the
tension, as you breathe, in and out. Now relax, and drop your left hand.
Stretch your left fingers a bit. You might feel warmth in these muscles as
the blood flows into them, and as the water swirls around them. Now one
more time, tighten your left fist, lower arm and upper arm. Breathe, in
and out. As you watch sky drifting slowly and lazily by, relax that hand
and arm, stretching your fingers. The water is near the top of your arms
now, and has just a few more inches to rise. Now rotate your shoulders in
a circle, ending up with them up as close to your ears as possible.
Hold
them up there as you breathe, in and out. Now relax your shoulders,
pushing your arms down as low as they will go, dropping them lower than
normal. As the water comes up, the vapor from the surface may create a
little steam that makes the whole world look a little softer than usual.
Now rotate your shoulders again, and hold them up around your ears for just
a moment, as you breathe, in and out. Now relax, pushing both arms down as
far as they will go. The water is up at the top of the hot tub now, and
you are covered up to your neck in warm, sweet, bubbling water. From your
neck down, you may be aware that you hardly feel your body because it is so
heavy, as you breathe, in and out.
Now tighten your jaw, slowly, by clenching your teeth. Hold that for a
moment, as you breathe, in and out. Relax, letting your jaw drop, even
letting it drop open if it wants to. Just a couple more muscles to go.
Now clench your teeth again, as if you were to show off your bite. Hold
that tension for a moment, then relax as you breathe, in and out. The rest
of your body is now completely relaxed and under water. Now scrunch up
your face toward your nose, and hold it like that for a moment. Breathe
through your nose into your stomach, in and out. Now relax your face,
letting the skin move back away from your nose. The vapor from the hot tub
may be filling your nose and relaxing your lungs, as if you were in a steam
bath. Now scrunch up your face again, and hold it that way, as you
breathe, in and out. Now relax, as you notice the shadows on the beach
starting to get a little longer as the day passes on. Now raise your
eyebrows up toward the top of your head; you may feel your ears pulling up
as well. Hold that for a moment as you breathe. Now relax your eyes and
ears, as you relax your whole body in the hot tub. Now repeat one more
time, raising your eyebrows and ears toward the top of your head. Hold
that for a moment, and breathe. Then relax, letting all the muscle of your
face drop back to their natural position.
Now breathe once again, in and out. As you look over the beach before
you, take a look inside with your mind's eye and find out if there are any
last remaining areas of tension in your body. If there are, cast out the
tension into the warm water. Feel the muscles as they are completely
relaxed, as if the individual muscle fibers were spreading apart. Check
your feet, legs, thighs, buttocks, stomach, back, chest, arms, hands,
shoulders, neck and face. Now your whole body is relaxed, and from the
neck down you are covered by warm sweet water. You've been on vacation
from yourself, and this is a place you can always come back to. It is your
private beach, and private hot tub. The weather is always perfect, and you
always feel better here. But now it's time to come home. So start to move
your fingers and toes just a bit, and become aware of your body again. And
when you're ready, open your eyes.
OK, that is the end of the exercise, so you can turn on the lights again.
How do you feel? This is an exercise that some people use to help them go to sleep,
so I would recommend that when you do it, you make sure that you're in a safe place.
For instance, I wouldn't do this while you're driving. The breathing part you can certainly
do anywhere (except under
water), but the rest of it you'd better save for home, or for your lunch
hour, or for that nap in the library.
By the way, if this scene doesn't
work for you, choose another scene that feels tranquil to you, like the
mountains, a brrok in a meadow, or the snow falling. If you'd like, put on
some soothing music in the background. And if you have trouble with the
order of the muscle groups, or like the effect of hearing a voice guide you
through this, you can either record your own tape, or you can purchase
tapes like this under the heading of "Progressive Muscle Relaxation" at
many bookstores.
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