Progressive Muscle Relaxation for Stress and Anxiety
It’s common for smokers to turn to a cigarette when feeling stressed, but there are healthier forms of relief that, with a little practice, you can master and use in any setting. In many instances you can relieve nagging stress by reducing physical tension in the body.
Progressive muscle relaxation is a technique that can be used to control stress, in addition to anxiety, insomnia, and chronic pain. The practice involves tightening one muscle group at a time, followed by a moment of relaxation to release the tension.
Although the principles of progressive muscle relaxation are easy to learn, audio guidance can help you quiet your mind and focus your thoughts. This week, we are sharing an audio meditation that will guide you through a progressive muscle relaxation technique, but you can also follow the step-by-step instructions below.
- Get into a comfortable position.
- Take a few deep breaths to clear your head.
- Beginning with your right foot, concentrate on how it feels. For five to 10 seconds, tense up the muscles in your foot.
- Release the tension. Focus on how good it feels to let the tension slip away. Allow your foot to go completely loose.
- Take a brief moment to exist in this relaxed state.
- Repeat this for the following muscles groups, one at a time:
Right foot, then left foot; right calf, then left calf; right thigh, then left thigh; hips and buttocks, stomach, chest, back; right arm and hand, then left arm and hand; neck and shoulders, face.
This Monday, reduce your tension to reduce your stress and save your quit!