Trauma Informed Progressive Muscle Relaxation Reset | Ep 38

Host Liz Albanis invited you to try a trauma informed meditative relaxation. A progressive muscle relaxation, to help you to start noticing sensations in your body. Trauma can often cause a disconnect. If this is you, that's common and there's nothing wrong with this. Your body can learn the difference between being told to “relax” and being helped to feel supported.  
If you’ve been carrying stress in your jaw, shoulders, hands, or feet, this is a gentle way to come back to yourself.

You can practise: 

• Lying down or seated:
• With props if you’ve got them and want to}. Props may aid  your muscles and mind to soften.
• Whatever lighting feels most supportive.
• With someone or by yourself, again what feels most supportive.
• Feel free to discontinue the practice at any time. It's your practice and no one else's. 
• Feel free to add music.

If you're curious to know more before we start:

 Starting with simple breath awareness. Breathing softly through the nose if it’s available, noticing where the breath lands, and letting my voice be an anchor when your attention drifts. There’s no pressure to do it “right”. You’re welcome to adjust, keep your eyes open, pause, or even fall asleep. That permission is part of the practice, and it’s why this guided meditation can work so well for anxiety, burnout, and bedtime wind-down.

Halfway through, an invitation to introduce a sankalpa. A heartfelt intention or affirmation you plant quietly in the background. Then we moving into progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), tensing and releasing key muscle groups. So you can feel the contrast between effort and ease.  Finish with a full body release into the ground, a moment many people notice as warmth, lightness, or calm.

If this helped, subscribe for more guided mindfulness and relaxation practices, share it with a friend who needs a reset, What did you notice first when you let gWe guide a slow, supportive meditation that helps you settle your body, soften your breath, and feel safe enough to relax. We layer in a sankalpa intention and progressive muscle relaxation so you can notice the clear difference between tension and ease.

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Transcript

Settle Into Comfort

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Setting yourself up for a meditative relaxation. I'm Liz and it's an honour to take you through it. Lying in some way that you feel comfortable and supported. Or sitting if that feels better.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

There's no perfect way. Only your way today. Feel free to keep your eyes open if you prefer.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Use any props that bring comfort. Blankets, bolsters, eye pillows. Sometimes a cushion or a blanket under the head can support the mind to relax. And sometimes a pillow or a bolster can help support your lower back. The main thing is to be comfortable. It's your practice. If it's available to you and your nose isn't blocked, breathing softly in and out

Breath And Permission To Pause

SPEAKER_01 1:05

through your nose.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Feel free to move or adjust any time.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Allow my voice to be like an anchor that keeps you present and in the moment.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

If you drift into sleep, that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

If you feel the need to pause or stop, that's fine too. This space honors your experience without pressure or expectation. During this practice, we welcome every sensation, feeling, and thought as a doorway to a deeper experience of being present here and now. Feeling yourself arriving now into the support beneath you. Adjusting if you need. Perhaps warmth, ease, or lightness. Returning to it any time during the practice if you need to reset or feel more supported.

Set A Sankalpa Intention

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Gently bringing to mind a sankalpa, a heartfelt intention or affirmation or prayer, letting it arise from within. This is the seed that you, your heart, or a higher power is planting for your personal growth and well-being.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

This is something that you hope to gain as a result of your practice. And if that's not available to you today, that's fine.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

If it feels okay, though, repeating to yourself silently as if planting a seed in fertile soil. Let it rest in the background, supporting your journey.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Imagining it as true and already happening right now, if you can. And then trying to let it go and watch how it returns to you during your practice.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

If you need taking a moment here to adjust yourself so that you feel even more comfortable, I invite you to move gently from tension into ease, from doing into being, helping to cultivate awareness of the difference of being tense versus relaxed.

Notice Breath And Tension

SPEAKER_01 6:22

But before we begin, I invite you to simply notice your body in this very moment. Noticing your breath where you feel it, maybe in the throat, entering through the nose and the chest, the ribs, and lower down perhaps or not.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Noticing if it's fast or slow.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Noticing if more air is coming through one nostril.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Or perhaps your nose is blocked.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

I invite you to notice any areas of tension you already feel if you do.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Give it a name if you want.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

I'll be guiding you to tense and relax various muscles, holding that contraction for a few seconds, but releasing early, of course, if you need to. Otherwise, just simply breathing continuously, whatever feels best. And if you can't tense a particular body part today, it becomes easier over time. You don't have to tense or contract it to your full exertion, just to the level that feels right in your body today. Going with what is available while drawing awareness to that body part. This practice helps remind your body of the difference between being tense and relaxed.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Opening your jaw wide, stretching it, holding for a few seconds, and then releasing, letting the jaw soften. Gently scrunching your face, cheeks, lips, and eyes, and holding that if you can. And then gently letting it go.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Noticing if you feel any difference there.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Drawing your awareness to your shoulders, lifting them up towards your ears, and holding that there. And then letting them drop completely, softening and releasing.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Noticing if you feel any difference. Then drawing your awareness to your right hand.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Make a fist with your right hand. Holding that if you can and feeling the tension.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

And then softening your right hand. And noticing if there's any difference.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Drawing your awareness now to your left hand.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Make a fist with your left hand and feel the tension. And then softening. And noticing if there's any difference.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

And curling the toes, holding if you can, feeling the tension there.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

And then slowly releasing.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Noticing any difference there. And then going over to the left foot. Curling the toes, holding if you can, feeling the tension there.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

And then slowly releasing. Noticing if there's any difference there.

Full Body Release

SPEAKER_01 11:36

I invite you now to imagine your whole body in gentle tension. Contract, tense as many muscles in your entire body and hold it if that feels right for you today. Squeezing out any negativity that's in your life right now. And then when you're ready, release into the ground beneath you. Letting go of as much effort as you can.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Noticing if you feel any difference in your body. Staying here if you wish.

Return To Movement And Close

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Otherwise, wherever you are now, if you wish to start moving, you can gently bring movement back in what way that feels good for you. Perhaps wiggling the toes, making circles with the hands, whatever stretches that feel good.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

If you wish, I invite you to.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

You might have set earlier if that was available to you. Repeating to yourself silently again if that feels good. It was a pleasure to take you through your practice today. Thanks for joining in.