Training Muscles to Relax
Once you have learned to tell the difference between a tensed muscle and a relaxed muscle, and have gained the ability to relax some muscles at will, you are ready to go onto the next step. Perhaps you have heard of progressive relaxation before and thought it had to do with self-hypnosis or the new age movement. It may be used for those purposes, but there is nothing anti-Christian about the act of relaxing your muscles. The name simply refers to an exercise of working from one end of your body to the other trying to make every part relaxed at one time.
Begin as before in the side-lying position. Choose a part of the body to begin with (many women find it is easier to work from one end of the body to the other rather than try to start in the middle and work towards both ends). Relax the muscle group you choose to start with, if you need to tense and relax it a few times that is ok. Be sure the muscle group is very well relaxed before moving on.
Now, keeping that muscle group as relaxed as possible, relax the muscle group that is next. So, if you are starting with your feet you will move on to your ankles and calves and then to knees and thighs. The key is to relax each part of your body without losing the relaxation in the muscle groups you have already relaxed.
This may take time to learn, but do not get discouraged. If you lose the relaxation in your feet while you try to relax your thighs, continue until your thighs are relaxed then go back and relax your feet again. Then you can either work your way back up your leg or jump to your hips if the leg has remained relaxed.
The idea is to be able to relax your entire body at one time. This may seem an overwhelming task, but it is one that will get easier with practice. You may soon find that you surprise yourself with how well you are able to relax your body. It may become difficult to get up quickly if the phone rings or your toddler wakes from a nap, so be sure that you have set aside time to practice your relaxation when you will not be disturbed.
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