My name is Dan guerra. This stress management practice is known as progressive muscle relaxation. It's also called p m r. In this practice, we'll be tensing and releasing certain muscle groups in the body. This practice will help you to relax the body and the mind. Just one word of caution. This is a tensing and releasing exercise.

However, if you're having pain of any sort in the body, and particularly in the area of the body that we're focusing on, please do not tense that area. When the instructions tell you to tense the area, just focus on the release before beginning the practice of PMR decide whether you would like to do the practice from a chair, seated position or lying on the floor. You can lie on the floor on a yoga mat or a rug as long as it's a fairly firm surface. Do not do this practice while lying on your bed. Let's assume for now that you'll do the practice from a seated position. Okay, chin is parallel to the floor and your feet are flat on the floor.

Become aware of your natural breath. Don't try to manipulate your breathing in any special way. just observing your natural breath. Now become aware of your hands Just take a deep inhalation. As you inhale, just clench your hands into fists and hold the breath for a moment or two. Now slowly exhale the breath.

And as you exhale, release the hands totally feel the difference between tension and relaxation. Good. Once again, going to inhale and as you inhale, slowly bring your hands into fists and hold it, they're not tensing so much that you're moving into pain. But just tensing and holding. Good and then exhale and release the hands. As you released the hands, notice the difference.

Between tension and relaxation. Now bring your attention to your wrists. Inhale the breath. And as you inhale with your hands flat and open, bend your hands at the wrist joint so that your fingertips point up toward the ceiling, creating some tension in your forearms. Once again, hold the breath for a moment or two. And just notice the tension studying.

And now as you exhale, release, release the breath and the tension and just relax the hands and wrists completely. Good. Once again, tensing the forearms by lifting the fingertips up toward the ceiling. Holding that tension, noticing it, focusing on it, and then exhale and release. And as you exhale, you should time, the release of your hands with your exhale. And just let go.

So nice to begin to feel some relaxation, spreading through the hands, wrists and forearms. Now, bring your attention to the bicep muscles. Take an inhaled breath now and bring your fingertips up to the front of your shoulders and tense your bicep have muscles here. That's it, just creating some tension and notice the tension. Hold the breath. And now slowly exhale and release the arms back down.

In full release. We're timing the release with the exhale, so that you're letting go of the tension as you let go of your breath. Feel the difference between tension and relaxation. Once again, raising the fingertips to the front so the shoulders, tense the bicep muscles on an inhale, Hold it. Hold the tension there. And now Exhale and release.

For release, come come Double relaxation spreading now down the arms and into the hands. Become aware of your shoulders. Take a deep inhalation and lift your shoulders up towards your ears. Make sure to keep the rest of the body relaxed while you do this. Lift them and hold the breath since the breath on the hold and the tension in the shoulders and now, very slowly, as you exhale, release the shoulders. Very good.

In the relaxed position, just breathe normally. Now once again, lifting your shoulders up toward the ears as you inhale And then when you reach the top, hold it keeping the rest of the body relax. Hold it there. And then as you exhale, release, see if you can time the release with your exhale. Now, bring your attention to the back of your head. If you're sitting up against the couch or lying on the floor, you can inhale the breath and gently push the back of the head against the floor or the couch or chair, just enough to create some tension in the head in the neck.

If this is not the case that you're sitting in a chair with a headrest or lying on the floor, then you can just sense any tension that you might experience in the head and just inhale and just notice that tension there. Hold the breath for a moment or two, study the tension. Now release as you exhale the breath and bringing the head back to normal position, relaxed and not touching anything. Once again, just tensing the head and upper neck. Inhale, hold the tension there, study it. And now release.

As you exhale the breath Notice the difference between tension and relaxation in the head and upper neck. Very good. Now bring your attention to your eyebrows. First, just notice the space above your eyebrows. Now, take an inhaled breath and raise your eyebrows up, creating ripples in the forehead. See the tension.

Notice it hold it. Now exhale and let the eyebrows fall down to normal position. Feel the relaxation spreading all along the forehead. Once again, inhale and raise your eyebrows up. feel the tension in the forehead. Just notice it and hold it there.

And now exhale, let the eyebrows fall down right into normal position. Good. bring your attention to the eyes. Inhale deeply, and as you inhale, squeeze the eyes shut so that no light can get in. squeeze them now as you inhale and hold the breath. Notice the tension.

Now release the breath and let the eyes relax into a normal position. Feel the difference. Once again, inhaling, squeezing the eyes shut and holding the breath for a moment. Notice the tension and then exhale and release and just feel the release and feel relaxation spreading through the forehead down into the eyes. Now take this moment here to notice any differences in the body, particularly the eyes, the forehead, upper neck, arms and hands. Bring your attention now to the nose.

Inhale and scrunch the nose up. Create little tension here. You can do this part of the practice by imagining, trying to bring all the parts of your face to the center of your nose. Hold the tension there. Notice it. Now Exhale and release the tension in the nose.

Feel the face flattened out. You can enjoy this relaxation in your face here. Once again, inhaling scrunching up the nose, creating tension here, hold it, hold the breath, study it. And then as you exhale, release the tension. Once again, feeling the difference between tension and relaxation. Bring your attention To the teeth.

Very gently. Allow the teeth to clench. Not too hard, but enough to feel some tension in the jaw. Inhale and clench the teeth, hold it and notice the tension. Now exhale and separate the teeth. You can even wiggle the jaw but from left to right, just helping the release.

We hold a lot of tension in the jaw, so it's nice to release the tension here. Once again, allowing the teeth to clench just a bit, feeling some tension in the jaw. Hold the inhale and keep the teeth clenched. Notice it See it. Now exhale, and again separate the teeth can wiggle the jaw and feel the release. Calm, comfortable relaxation.

Spreading now through the whole head and face. It's nice to have some control over tension and relaxation. Now, bring your attention to the lips. Inhale and press the lips together. Hold the tension there. Go ahead press them together.

Notice the tension in and around the mouth. Exhale and gently separate the lips on the exhale notice the release relaxation all around the mouth now. Very good. Once again, pressing the lips together. Hold the tension there. As you inhale.

See the tension. And now exhale and gently separate the lips on the exhale. Good. Let's bring attention down to the neck now. On an inhale, just the chin forward a bit and bring tension in the neck, simply by flexing the neck muscles. There's so many muscles in the neck.

So just feel them and feel the tension and study it. Keep the rest of your body relaxed as you tense the neck Keeping the rest of the body relaxed as you tense one body part is called differential relaxation. Hold the tension there in the neck. Now exhale, and with the exhale, release the tension in the neck. You're in control here, have tension and relaxation. With your breath, you're able to let it go.

Tell yourself this as you release. Good once again, inhaling, shutting the chin forward a bit and bringing tension in the neck. Feeling the tension once again, study it. And then when you're ready, Exhale and release that tension. Good. Now, bring your attention to the upper back.

Gently take the elbows and read reach them behind the back, almost as if they were going to touch and just feel the tension in the upper back and maybe even the back of the shoulders. Inhale and hold their notice it and then exhale and just release the shoulders and arms and back to a normal position. Once again now, inhaling reaching the elbows back behind the back, almost as if they're touching, tense that upper back region and hold the breath and then exhale, slowly and gently and release. Notice the release and notice the difference between tension and relaxation. Focus your attention on the muscles in and around the chest. Inhale and flex the chest muscles as best you can.

Whatever way makes sense to you. Again, keeping your arms relaxed and head and neck. Just feel the tension in your chest and hold it. Now release the tension as you exhale and feel the release Once again, inhale, flexing the chest muscles. Hold the inhaled breath and feel tension in and around the chest. study it.

And then when you're ready, Exhale and release all tension around the chest. Feel the release, notice it as you let go. bring your attention to the belly. Inhale and tighten the belly a bit. Almost as if someone were going to give you a little punch in the stomach area. Hold the tension there, brace for it.

Notice it, notice the tension. And now exhale, and release the tension in the belly. Just like Go, don't hold on to it at all. Many of us hold tension in the stomach area all the time. Let it go. Feel the difference between tension and relaxation.

And once again, inhaling, tightening the belly a bit, holding the tension there. See it, see the tension. And then as you exhale your breath, release that tension. Let it all go. Good. Now shifting your attention to the lower back.

Inhale and very carefully, flex the lower back muscles. Just maybe arching. lower back, just enough to feel a little tension there. Hold it and notice that Okay, now Exhale and release the lower back. You can even try releasing by rounding the lower back and dipping the tailbone a bit down into your seat. Exhale and let go.

Feel the release. Very good. Once again now inhaling, flexing the lower back muscles and just feeling tension in the lower back region. Notice that and then exhale and releasing once again, the lower back exhaling and letting go Now, bring your attention to your buttocks. Inhale. And as you inhale, tense the buttocks muscles right there in your seat.

Feel it. Notice it and study the tension. Hold the tension right there. Now Exhale and release the tension in the buttocks. As you exhale, feel that tension just melting into your seat. Let it go completely with the exhale.

And once again, inhaling and bring some tension to the buttocks. And now Exhale and release. Feel the difference between tension and relaxation. bring your attention to your thigh muscles. With your feet flat on the floor, inhale and tense the thighs by drawing the kneecap up toward your hips. flex the thighs.

Hold the tension right there. Of course, notice the tension. See it. Okay, now Exhale and release the thigh muscles. Feel the release and the letting go. Remember to experience the release.

Once again, tense the thigh muscles. Hold the tension there. As you inhale, holding the breath And now with your decision, Exhale and release and feel the release. Bring your attention now to the calf muscles. Inhale and raise the heels off the ground, creating tension in the calf muscles. Notice the tension here.

Feel it, study it and hold. Now Exhale and release the tension in the calves. Feel that release now. Relaxation spreading through the hole of the legs. Once again, inhaling. Raise the heels off the ground and feel the tension in the calf muscles And exhale, release the breath and release the tension in the calves.

And now bring your attention to your feet. Inhale and scrunch up the feet into balls inside the shoes. The feet can hold a lot of tension. So just feel it here. scrunch them up and hold the tension here. With your inhaled breath.

Exhale now and release the tension, but letting your feet spill out like water into your shoes again, feel them widen and spread out as you release your breath. Very, very good since the release again, inhaling tensing the feet, bringing them into balls and just feel that tension. Notice it, hold it. And then exhale and release by letting your feet spill out and widen and you're releasing your breath. Feel the release. Okay, now, get ready for a full body scan.

We're going to focus on the whole body at once. inhale slowly and deeply and as you do, tense the hands into fists, bring them up to the shoulders, lift the shoulders, raise the eyebrows, press the lips together. Tense the neck and chest, belly and buttocks, legs. feet, hold it, hold it all. feel the tension. And now with an audible exhale, just release the tension and the body.

Let it all go and let the body sink into the chair on the release. And just keep exhaling all the breath out of the body. We'll do that one more time. So you can inhale slowly and deeply, tensing the fists. Bringing them up to the shoulders, lifting the shoulders, eyebrows, lips, neck, chest, belly, buttocks, legs and feet, holding it. And when you're ready, with an audible exhale, releasing the tension from the body.

Let it go. Feel the release. Very good. Just feeling all the comfort and relaxation. You've created throughout the body. Feel the release, just enjoying feelings of comfort.

Stay in the release position. just noticing your natural breath now. take notice of any changes that have occurred in the body and now the practice of PMR has ended.