RELAXATION TECHNIQUES I

October 8, 1989


RELAXING THE BODY

Close your eyes. Get yourself comfortable, and concentrate on your
breathing.

Pay close attention to your breathing. Recognize how slow and deep
breathing will help to induce relaxation. Exhale. Then take a deep
breath in through your nose and blow it out through your mouth.
Breathe from your abdomen, deeply and slowly.

As you concentrate on your breathing, focus your attention on an
imaginary spot in the center of your forehead. Look at the spot as if
you were trying to see it from inside your head.

You will begin to realize that your eyelids have become tense.

Get a sense of how tense the eyelids can become as you stare at the
spot that you can compare this feeling with relaxation.

When your eyelids become strained and uncomfortable, let them drop.
Notice the feeling of relaxation that radiates all through and around
your eyes. Allow that feeling of warmth and relaxation to move out to
the temples and across the forehead.

Let the relaxation then radiate to your scalp, to the back of your
head, to your ears, temples, cheeks, nose, then to your mouth and chin.

As you feel all the tension leave your face, relax your jaw muscles.
Let your jaw open slightly, so that all the tension can smoothly flow
away.

Relax the muscles in your neck. As you do, let your head tip forward
gently so your chin just about touches your chest.

Let this feeling of relaxation flow down into your shoulders and from
there into the muscles of your arms and hands, then down your back,
over to the front of the chest, on down to the abdomen, and then allow
it to reach all the way down to the base of the spine.

Let the buttocks go completely loose and limp. Allow the warmth and
relaxation to spread to the thighs, on down the legs, down to the
ankles, and down through the feet to the tips of the toes.

Now you feel completely relaxed. Take a moment, starting from the top
of your head and working down, to check to see if any part of you is
not yet fully relaxed.

If you find any part of your body not fully relaxed, simply inhale a
deep breath and send it into the area, bringing soothing, healing,
relaxing, nourishing oxygen to comfort that area. As you exhale
imagine blowing out right through your skin any tension, tightness, or
discomfort. By inhaling a breath into that area and exhaling right
through the skin, you are able to replace tension in any part of your
body with gentle relaxation.

When you find yourself quiet and fully relaxed, take a few moments to
enjoy it.



Arlan,
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