You might like to read through the steps of this simple technique first, then practise without any guidance.
Find somewhere to sit, with your feet planted shoulder width apart, flat on the ground. You can also lie down if you prefer. You’re going to be tensing and then relaxing your muscles, one by one.
First, focus on the target muscle group, for example, your hands. Next, take a slow, deep breath and squeeze the muscles as hard as you can for 5-10 seconds. Then quickly relax the tensed muscles, letting all the tightness flow out of the tensed muscles. Exhale as you do this step.
You'll find a list of all the muscle groups on the next page.
You can use this animation to help you focus whilst working through the muscle groups.
- Feet (curl your toes downward)
- Lower legs and feet (tighten your calf muscle by pulling toes towards you)
- Whole legs (squeeze thigh muscles while doing above)
- Hands (clench your fist)
- Entire arms (tighten your biceps by drawing your forearm up towards your shoulder and “make a muscle” while clenching fist)
- Buttocks (tighten by pulling your buttocks together)
- Stomach (suck your stomach in)
- Chest (tighten by taking a deep breath)
- Neck and shoulders (raise your shoulders up to touch your ears)
- Mouth (open your mouth wide enough to stretch the hinges of your jaw)
- Eyes (clench your eyelids tightly shut)
- Forehead (raise your eyebrows as far as you can)
- Feet (curl your toes downward)
- Lower legs and feet (tighten your calf muscle by pulling toes towards you)
- Whole legs (squeeze thigh muscles while doing above)
- Hands (clench your fist)
- Entire arms (tighten your biceps by drawing your forearm up towards your shoulder and “make a muscle” while clenching fist)
- Buttocks (tighten by pulling your buttocks together)
- Stomach (suck your stomach in)
- Chest (tighten by taking a deep breath)
- Neck and shoulders (raise your shoulders up to touch your ears)
- Mouth (open your mouth wide enough to stretch the hinges of your jaw)
- Eyes (clench your eyelids tightly shut)
- Forehead (raise your eyebrows as far as you can)
When you’ve finished, don’t get up straight away.
Stay where you are for a minute or so, then, when you do get up, do so slowly.
Practice this when you're calm if you can, this will make it easier for you to use this technique when you're feeling stressed or anxious.
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