TAKE TIME TO RELAX:
PASSIVE RELAXATION
ALTHOUGH THE ACTIVE relaxation you read about yesterday will work for anyone, some people prefer a technique called passive relaxation. Both strategies work to produce the same relaxation response in your body, but passive relaxation accomplishes this through a less physical and more imaginative approach. In short, while active relaxation requires you to physically flex each muscle group, passive relaxation relies upon your ability to imagine each muscle group being systematically relaxed.
Because you won’t be sure which approach works best for you until you try both, your assignment for today is to do just that: practice both active and passive relaxation. I’ve included an exercise to guide you through passive relaxation, but you can also practice this technique by downloading CD Two from www.myrealityonline.com. Make sure you spend at least twenty minutes completing the process.
After you complete passive relaxation, turn your attention back to yesterday’s exercise by practicing active relaxation for at least another ten minutes. After you perform both styles of progressive relaxation, you will probably be drawn to either active or passive. One probably will seem to work better or to mesh better with your personal style.
Feel free to choose whichever technique feels more comfortable and effective to complete every day, then use that one for the remainder of the program. While it probably won’t hurt you to bounce back and forth between passive and active relaxation in the long run, I want you to get very comfortable with the technique that works best for you in order to get the most out of the program.
Remember, as you practice today, you probably won’t feel totally relaxed even after spending close to thirty minutes engaging in progressive relaxation. That’s OK, because you are just learning how to use these techniques. Just do your best and understand that your ability to produce the relaxation response in your body using either relaxation technique will get only better and better. Now, go relax.
ASSIGNMENT
• Practice passive relaxation for twenty minutes using CD Two or the guide at the end of today’s reading.
• Practice active relaxation for ten to twenty minutes.
A GUIDE FOR PASSIVE RELAXATION
Get as comfortable as you possibly can. Sit back in a chair, or even lie down on a couch or a bed, and close your eyes. Take several deep breaths, making sure you breathe from the deepest part of your stomach and not your chest. Make sure your breaths are nice and slow. Inhale for the count of three, hold the breath, then exhale for the count of three. Repeat this several times.
As you take deep breaths in and out, imagine yourself on a lonely beach somewhere. Focus your attention on your hands. Imagine the bright, summer sun reflecting down on your hands, and feel the heat of the sun on your hands. As you continue to take deep breaths in and out, let your hands feel soft and relaxed. Say quietly to yourself in your head, “My hands are warm. They’re soft. They’re relaxed. They’re pliable. My hands are extremely heavy.” As you continue to breathe deeply, I want you to focus all your attention on your hands and let your hands feel heavy.
Now, shift your attention from your hands to your forearms as you continue to take deep breaths from your abdomen. As you sit on that beach, I want you to imagine the bright, summer sun reflecting on your forearms. And I want you to feel the warmth of the sun on your forearms. As you continue to take deep breaths in and out, let your forearms feel relaxed and soft. Say quietly to yourself, “My forearms are warm and soft; they’re relaxed and pliable. My forearms feel extremely heavy.” As you continue to breathe deeply, I want you to let your forearms feel heavy. Focus all your attention on your forearms. Feel the sun; feel the heat; feel the relaxation; feel the heaviness.
Keep breathing deeply now and shift your focus from your forearms to your biceps. Focus all your attention on your biceps. As you sit on that beach, imagine the bright summer sun reflecting down on your biceps, and feel the warmth of the sun on your biceps. Allow yourself to experience that heat. Let your biceps feel relaxed and soft. Say quietly, “My biceps are warm; they’re soft; they’re relaxed; they’re pliable. My biceps are extremely heavy.”
As you continue to breathe deeply, let your arms feel heavy—your hands, your forearms, your biceps. Let them feel heavy, and experience the warmth of the sun on your arms.
We’re going to move now to your forehead. Focus all your attention on your forehead. This is where many people hold their stress. Recognize whether you have any stress in your forehead. I want you to begin to focus on all the stress in your forehead and allow that stress to just be drained out. Remember, you’re sitting on that beach, and I want you to imagine the warm summer sun beating down on your forehead. You can feel it hitting your forehead. I want you to feel the warmth of that sun as the stress fades away from your forehead.
As you continue to take deep breaths in and out, I want you to let your forehead feel soft and relaxed. I want you to say quietly in your own head, “My forehead feels warm from the sun. It feels soft. It feels very relaxed.” As you continue to breathe deeply, let your forehead feel extremely relaxed. And don’t forget to breathe in and out.
Now continue that deep breathing as you shift focus from just your forehead to your entire face. As you continue to take deep breaths, I want you to move all your attention to your face. As you sit on that beach, I want you imagine the bright, summer sun reflecting down on your entire face. It’s warm. You can feel the sun. As you continue to take deep breaths in and out, I want you to let your face feel extremely relaxed, soft, and pliable. Allow the stress to fade from your face. And I want you to tell yourself quietly, “My entire face feels warm; it feels soft; it feels relaxed.”
And as you let that relaxation just resonate in your face, I want you to begin to shift focus. Breathe deeply as you begin to concentrate on your shoulders. Tell yourself in your head, “My shoulders are beginning to feel soft. They’re beginning to feel extremely relaxed.” Remember, as you sit on that beach, I want you to imagine the bright sun reflecting down on your shoulders. It’s hot. Feel the heat of the sun on your shoulders.
As you continue to breathe in and out, I want you to let your shoulders feel relaxed and soft. I want you to say quietly in your head, “My shoulders are incredibly warm; they’re soft. My shoulders are relaxed. They feel pliable. My shoulders feel heavy.” As you continue to breathe deeply from your stomach, let your shoulders feel heavy. Let them droop down. You can feel the warmth. You can feel the relaxation. And your shoulders feel heavy.
Now, I want you to focus your attention more on your stomach. Continue to breathe deeply as you focus on your entire abdomen. You’re breathing deeply. Take a long breath from your stomach at the count of three, hold it, then let it go. As you sit on that beach, imagine the bright summer sun reflecting down on your abdomen. Continue to take deep breaths in and out, and let your stomach feel relaxed and soft. Tell yourself, “My stomach, my entire abdomen, feels soft and relaxed. My whole stomach feels heavy. My whole midsection is completely relaxed.”
Now I want you to scan your entire upper body—your arms, your face, your shoulders, and your stomach. As you take deep breaths in and out, let your entire upper body feel soft, warm, and relaxed. Focus on any residual stress you have in your upper body, and let it go. Imagine that stress flowing up your upper body, down your arms, and out your fingertips. Let your whole upper body feel soft, warm, relaxed, and heavy.
Now we’re going to shift focus. I want you to go from your upper body to your hamstrings. This is the top part of your legs. As you continue to breathe deeply, focus all your attention on your hamstrings. Imagine you’re sitting on that beach, and you can feel the sunlight beaming down on your upper legs. It feels warm, and the heat of the sun is just beaming down. As you continue to take deep breaths in and out, your hamstrings feel soft and relaxed. I want you to say quietly to yourself, “My hamstrings feel so soft and relaxed. They feel warm from the sun. My hamstrings are incredibly heavy.” As you take deep breaths in and out, let those hamstrings feel heavy. Take another deep breath.
Now shift your focus to your calves and feet. As you continue to breathe deeply, focus all your attention on your calves and feet. Remember, you’re sitting on that beach, and that bright summer sun is reflecting down on your calves and feet.
You feel the warmth of the sun. You’re taking deep breaths in and out. I want you to let your calves and feet feel relaxed and soft. I want you to say quietly, “My legs feel warm and soft. They’re relaxed. They’re pliable. My legs feel extremely heavy.” As you continue to breathe deeply, I want you to let your entire lower body—everything below your waist—feel heavy.
Now scan your entire body for any signs of residual tension. Go from your hands to your arms to your face, your shoulders, your abdomen, your hamstrings, your calves, and your feet. Look for any signs of residual tension. As you breathe in and out slowly, the muscles in your hands and arms should feel very relaxed and very warm. Your hands should feel heavy. Say to yourself, “My hands feel extremely heavy.” The muscles in your forearms should feel soft and pliable. Your forearms should feel heavy.
Now say to yourself in your head, “My forearms are relaxed.” The muscles in your biceps should be smooth and loose. Say, “My biceps and my arms are extremely relaxed.” The muscles in your forehead and your face should be relaxed and warm. Tell yourself, “My forehead and my face, they’re loose. They’re entirely relaxed.” Remember, you’re taking deep breaths in and out. As you take deep breaths in and out, notice that the muscles in your shoulders are very soft and pliable. Let your shoulders feel extremely heavy and loose. Say, “My shoulders are extremely heavy. They’re relaxed.”
The muscles in your stomach should be calm and relaxed. Let your stomach rise and fall rhythmically. Say, “My stomach muscles are extremely relaxed.” The muscles in your hamstrings and upper legs should feel loose and smooth. Let both legs feel extremely heavy and say, “My legs are heavy.” The muscles in your calves should feel soft and pliable. The muscles in your feet should feel incredibly loose and soft. Let your calf muscles and your feet feel extremely heavy and released. Say, “My feet, calves, and hamstrings feel extremely relaxed.”
Now I want you to take another deep breath from your abdomen. Hold it for the count of three. As you exhale this time, allow any residual tension to drain away, allowing your entire body to relax very deeply all over. Again, take a deep breath and hold it. And again as you exhale, allow any residual tension left in your body to drain away. Allow your body to relax even deeper than before. As you continue to breathe in and out, let your entire body feel heavy. As you take some more deep breaths, say, “I am,” as you inhale and, “relaxed,” as you exhale. “I am. Relaxed.” Practice that several times. Now take three more deep breaths. The third time open your eyes as you inhale. Then exhale, and take several more deep breaths.