Tense the muscles in one part of your body and then relax. Tense the muscles in another part of your body and relax. When you have worked your way from your feet to your head (or the other way around), rest for a bit. That is all there is to a progressive muscle relaxation exercise. The technique is easy to learn and to adapt to your individual needs and preferences.

A Short and Easy Progressive Muscle Relaxation Exercise is 15 minutes long, and you will go through the different sides of the body separately. This means that it is suitable for adults and children who know right and left.

The technique was first developed in the 1920s by Dr. Edmund Jacobson. In his version of the exercise, people tensed and relaxed the same muscle group several times. They started by tensing the muscles quite a lot, then relaxing. Then they tensed the muscles again, not as hard, and relaxed. So there was a gradual reduction of the tension applied each time. Progressive muscle relaxation is a well-known relaxation technique today. Research has shown that progressive muscle relaxation is highly effective for treating stress and anxiety, for example. Today, the process is quite often shortened and adapted rather than always doing it the way Dr. Jacobson first designed it.

Read by the author. Background music: A Pure Embrace, by Christopher Lloyd Clarke.

Sophie Grace Meditations is a Swedish meditation instructor who focuses on writing guided meditations that can be used repeatedly and that she personally would like to listen to. This book is also available in the author’s native language Swedish and is then called Progressiv muskelavslappning 1.