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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.
Mp< 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.