Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)

It is hard to relax these days...and even harder to get a good nights sleep.  Between stress from work, stress from family, fear f hurricanes and the end of the world, anxiety is at an all time high.  For the last few days, I have been practicing progressive muscle relaxation, or PMR, to help me get to bed.

My first experience with PMR was when I was about 16 years old.  I was in a group meditation class at a summer camp,  and they started THE  meditation with PMR.  It is basically a series of tensing, then relaxing, different muscle groups.  Deep breathing accompanies the muscle tensing and relaxing.

If you are interested in trying this out, There are many youtube videos.  I listened to several, and I found this one to be the most relevant and of the highest quality (at least audio quality).  If you are someone who has trouble sleeping, or even relaxing, I highly recommend giving this a try.  I personally like doing it while lying in bed, and it puts me to sleep like an exhausted baby.

VIDEO