Put Your Body At Ease With Progressive Muscle Relaxation

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Don’t you hate it when someone tells you to “Just relax”? As if it’s that simple. If we could all relax at a moment’s notice, we’d all be chilling, all of the time. But the reality is that we live in a world of stressors. Something is always demanding our focus or causing us worry. We can even feel threatened or in danger at certain times. Our body has a natural reaction to everything we face and overcome each day, and that reaction is to tense up. It doesn’t feel good. You know when your body is in that place. If your typical reaction is to just wait as long as it takes to release that tension (or down some wine to do it faster), you don’t have to keep living like that.

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is a breathing/meditative exercise that enables you to relax every muscle in your body in just about 10 to 20 minutes. (But don’t let people who tell you to “just relax” know that – they aren’t the boss of you). This technique is for you to use any time your body feels tense. The mind responds to the body, and vice versa, so when a stressful event causes your body to tense up, that tension reiterates to your mind that something is wrong, and the cycle persists. PMR can help you break that cycle.

How Progressive Muscle Relaxation Works

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You have two nervous systems: your sympathetic nervous system and your parasympathetic one. PMR works to shift you from the former to the latter.

Your sympathetic nervous system is also known as fight-or-flight mode. It’s a network of nerves that responds in times of stress, when you’re exercising and when you feel unsafe. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, you’ll feel your heart racing and your muscles tensing.

Your parasympathetic nervous system is also known as your rest and digest system. It kicks in after stressful events, and when you’re digesting and sleeping (hence the name) to calm you down. In this mode, you’ll notice your heartbeat slowing, your blood pressure dropping and your breathing slowing.

The idea behind PMR is to use a breathing technique, combined with purposefully clenching and then relaxing each muscle group, to deactivate your sympathetic nervous system and to activate your parasympathetic one.

How To Practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation

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PMR is best done lying down, however, you can do it sitting up. And the good news is that you can do it anywhere, like at your desk or when you’re sitting in a doctor’s office (a stressful event that can call for some PMR).

Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down. Close your eyes so as to reduce unnecessary stimuli. You want your full attention on your breath and on your muscle groups. The next progression of actions can be done starting at the toes, and moving all the way up the body to the head. Or, starting at the head and moving all the way down to the toes.

Take a couple of large belly breaths to relax the body and get centered. Now, focus on just one small muscle group, like the toes. Inhale and squeeze (or tense) that muscle group, holding that breath and tension for about five seconds. Then release the breath and relax the muscles for about 10 seconds.

Really focus on the sensations in that area now. Consider how different it feels after this progression. Do this all the way up the body, keeping each step as focused as possible, concentrating on a small muscle group. You can move up to the calves, knees, thighs, lower abdomen, chest and so on.

When you are finished, you should feel that your whole body is more relaxed than when you began.

The Benefits Of Progressive Muscle Relaxation

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The immediate and obvious benefit of PMR is that you will feel good in the moment. However, it can also do things like:

• Fight anxiety. Because BMC Psychiatry states that PMR can fight the body’s physical reaction to anxiety, it’s a good idea to do it any time you sense a trigger coming on. If you can make your body feel calm, that will signal to your brain that you are safe.
• Sleep better. PMR can be particularly useful if you struggle to relax at bedtime. If you lead a really busy life, with little to no time to unwind before bedtime, it’s hard to shift into your parasympathetic nervous system. PMR empowers you to do so on command.
• Improve your workouts. You might think you want to be in fight or flight mode for exercise, but it’s actually best to calm your body. When your muscles are relaxed, you’re less likely to injure yourself. Plus, PMR can regulate your breathing and send oxygen through the body, which is ideal for a good workout.

Once you get in the practice of PMR, it can be an invaluable tool to use leading up to or following stressful events.