This one hour long guided progressive relaxation technique meditation uses deep delta waves brain entrainment to completely relax and heal your mind and your autonomic nervous system.
(Listen at a low comfortable level using headphones)
You’ve probably heard of progressive muscle relaxation technique (PMR) even if you’re not sure how to go about it. After all, it does have a long history.
An American doctor named Edmund Jacobson published his first book about the progressive relaxation technique concept in 1929 after noticing that physical relaxation helped his patients to feel calmer.
Since then, advocates of progressive relaxation techniques have been using this meditation method to enjoy a wide range of physical and mental health benefits. If you’d like to try a simple, safe, and natural relaxation method, this progressive relaxation technique meditation may be for you.
Benefits of Progressive Relaxation Technique:
1. Relieve stress. Anxiety and stress can make your muscles stiffen, and that can leave you feeling tenser. progressive relaxation technique method helps to reverse the cycle because your mind calms down when your body loosens up.
2. Treat insomnia. PMR can be very effective in helping you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Plus, unlike many medications, it has no harmful side effects.
3. Manage chronic pain. The progressive relaxation technique method has had some success with various conditions, especially with relieving chronic pain. Other uses include lowering blood pressure and enhancing digestion.
4. Connect with your body. One of the main advantages of PMR is that it helps you to listen to your body. That means you can notice symptoms faster and respond more quickly.
How to Practice Progressive Relaxation Technique:
1. Master the basics. The progressive relaxation technique method involves deliberately tensing and relaxing individual muscle groups. You squeeze each group for about 5 seconds as tightly as you can without causing pain or cramps. Then, you completely relax the muscles.
2. Learn the sequence. Individual instructions may vary slightly. Generally, you start with your hands and arms. Then you work downwards from your head to your feet. As you become more experienced, you may sometimes want to do shorter sessions targeting a single muscle group that is particularly stiff.
3. Monitor your breath. For maximum results, match your progressive relaxation technique movements to your breath. Inhale as you tense your muscles and exhale as you release them.
4. Slow down. Give yourself time to notice the difference between how your muscles feel when they’re bunched up compared to when they’re relaxed. During your day, just take a moment and focus on your breath as you tighten and relax each major muscle group. One inhale and one exhale as you tighten each major muscle from head to toe. Also, give yourself a few minutes of stillness at the end of your session.
5. Listen to a recording. You may find it helpful to follow this The progressive relaxation technique recording to guide you through the sequence and pace your movements, especially when you’re just starting out.
6. Avoid distractions. Pick a quiet and comfortable place to do your PMR. You can sit or lie down. Close your eyes or turn down the lights.
7. Talk with your doctor. While the progressive relaxation technique is safe for most adults and children, there are some concerns you may want to discuss with your doctor, such as any previous muscle injuries.
Other Natural Relaxation Methods:
1. Meditate daily. Meditation is another way to calm your body and mind. Start out by observing your breath for a few minutes at a time.
2. Practice visualization. Picture a setting that you find soothing and refreshing. Imagine walking on a sandy beach or sitting in a green meadow.
3. Do yoga or Tai Chi. If you prefer more activity, do yoga or Tai Chi. Sign up for classes at a studio or watch videos online.
4. Try art therapy. If you’re the creative type, you may want to explore music and art therapy. Pick up a book at your local library or search for a professional therapist in your area.
The progressive relaxation technique is easy to learn and requires only about 15 minutes of practice a day to see noticeable results. Put it to work for you, and watch tension disappear.
How You Can Reduce Anxiety With Simple Relaxation Techniques
It can be difficult or even hard to determine exactly when your anxiety started. Often stressful events can happen without us even realizing and soon, we begin to worry and we feel helpless without even knowing why.
Uncontrolled anxiety can take its toll on you and your health and can become a much larger challenge to overcome. There may be days when you feel like you’re unable to do things you’ve done all your life. This condition plays tricks on your mind and wreaks havoc with your mental health.
Luckily, you can reduce your anxiety by incorporating progressive relaxation techniques into your life. Be kind and patient as you feel the results start to happen, just give yourself the time and effort to make lasting change for a better life.
Clear your schedule and your mind. Do a short meditation and allow yourself to embrace the relief you have experienced and see yourself living an anxiety-free lifestyle into the future.
Learn how to bring these easy relaxation techniques into your life and leave anxiety behind:
1. Get fresh air. Fresh air is a quick and easy solution to clear your mind and help you calm down. Take a few deep breaths of fresh air to relax almost immediately. Just step outside and take 5 minutes to breathe and feel the peaceful calming effect on your mind, body, and spirit.
* Enclosed spaces like offices tend to worsen episodes of anxiety. This is why it’s a good idea to head outdoors the minute you feel an anxiety attack coming on.
* Notice how just simply closing your eyes and breathing deeply in and out three times, can help you to calm down quickly and bring you into the moment and begin your task renewed.
2. Participate in guided yoga. Yoga in itself is a great meditation tool. But sometimes, you need the guidance of a yogi to get your mind in the right place. Yoga instructors can guide your thoughts and breathing patterns for the best results.
Yoga techniques are available online and fully explain how this ancient practice can have a very beneficial impact on your physical and spiritual path to wholeness.
* Taking a local yoga class can help reduce stress and anxiety in ways that you may have never thought of. Having other people around you with the same goal in mind and purpose and help you understand how a healthy state of mind can bring incredible benefits to your life.
3. Remove clutter around you. A cluttered space contributes to heightened anxiety.
* Ensure your office is free of clutter. Remove mounds of paper or file them away.
* Get the different living spaces in your home in order so you aren’t always thinking about the clutter around you.
4. Exercise. You can also use exercise as a method to relieve stress in your life, its an effective way to reduce anxiety and can allow you to move on to other interests in your life. Exercising releases the “happy” hormones and helps free you of anxiety and fills you with joy.
* Choose a progressive relaxation technique exercise activity that demands your complete attention. Meditation has long been know through scientific research to reduce anxiety triggers and learn how to relieve your mind in a step by step process.
5. Remove possible food triggers. Some foods trigger a negative response.. to stress. Do some research on those foods and try to eliminate them from your diet.
* Caffeine has been shown to trigger anxious feelings of anxiety and can increase unrest in the mind and body. Just try to take a break from your morning coffee just until lunch and see how you feel.
6. Avoid watching the news. While it’s a good idea to keep up with current affairs, if you have anxiety it might be better to avoid the news! Because there are so many troubling stories on the news, you’re bound to be affected.
Many successful people never watch the news at all, it sounds crazy in this day and age, but you will be surprised at how much more you get done and you will feel better with a “news vacation”.
* Use your news time to watch something more enjoyable and learn about something you are truly interested in learning more about like a home renovation show.
Unfortunately, anxiety around the world has become a normal lifestyle for far too many people. However, for most, it’s just a habit that you can eliminate much of your anxiety by understanding your anxiety triggers and with that awareness, you can make a few adjustments in your life to live a more peaceful and happier life.
Just know, with help and awareness, you can reduce or get rid of anxiety and allow the gift to yourself to experience a calm and a peaceful life just by making a few adjustments. It may take a little while to get rid of anxiety completely, but just be patient and your progressive relaxation technique efforts will be well worth it.
