WHAT IS ANXIETY? - Ballarat Health Services

Anxiety : Relaxing page 17progressive muscle relaxation1. Sit or lie comfortably. Loosen tight clothing. Close our eyes and breathe slowly.2. Begin a series of tensing and then relaxing exercises starting with our feet.Gradually tense each muscle group in turn, counting to 5.Then release the tension slowly.Each exercise is repeated before moving on to the next group.Feet:Curl our feet and toes upCalf muscles: Point our feet and toes downThighs:Stomach:Chest/back:Shoulders:Neck:Face:Eyes:Forehead:Upper arms:Forearms:Hands:Straighten our legs and lift them off the groundSuck in our stomach muscles under our rib cageTake a deep breath, hold it, force our chest to expandPush our shoulders forward; then push our shoulders backPush our chin down onto our chest; push our head backwardsClench our teeth and stretch our mouth in an exaggerated smileScrew our eyes up tightlyRaise our eyebrows; frown, wrinkling our foreheadPush our knuckles back onto our shouldersBend our hands back at right angles to our armsClench our fists tightly; then, spread our fingers apart3. Once all the muscle groups have been relaxed in this manner focus on how our body feels.Try to detect any part of our body that is still feeling tense.Repeat the tensing/relaxing routine for these parts until all our muscles feel heavyand relaxed.4. Now our muscles are relaxed, take slow, shallow breaths in and then out,counting to 3 as we breathe in, then to 3 as we breathe out.Instead of counting as we breathe out, we can whisper the word "relax" or "calm".5. The whole process usually takes 20 minutes, after which we can stretch, open our eyesand slowly get up.