Getting Your Body Settled
Here are two ways to get your body ready for relaxation. Incidentally, you can gently close your eyes either before you start this process or when you are through and ready to focus within.

As you prepare to relax, allow your body to settle in as comfortable a position as possible, allowing the furniture (or floor if you are lying down) to completely support you... and if there is some part of your body that distracts you, move a little so that part can be more comfortable.

When you sit back or lie down, notice how it feels to have your body touching the chair or bed or sofa... Notice the sensation of your hands resting on your lap or on the furniture... Notice your feet and how they feel within your shoes and stockings or how they feel if you do not have them covered... Simply be aware of how your body is wonderfully supported. 

If you are still uncomfortable during the course of an imagery or meditation session, speak to that part of your body, telling it that you are aware of how it feels, but that you choose now to concentrate on relaxing. Let the discomfort fade into the background as you focus on the particular exercise you want to do. If that doesn't work, then allow yourself to move so that you may become more comfortable. Of course, I realize that some instructors would suggest you should stay with the experience of discomfort and watch that feeling change. That may be fine for more advanced work, but if you set up rigid roadblocks before you've learned how to relax, it will take you longer to learn the process than is necessary. 

Progressive Relaxation
A number of exercises use a relaxation training system called progressive relaxation. With this technique, you tighten and then relax various muscle groups, noticing the difference between tension and release. The immediate feedback is especially good for people who they aren't even aware that they carry tension like a second layer of skin. You can practice a simplified version of this technique right now if you: 

While this is a good method to introduce relaxation, I personally find it frustrating if it is on an imagery tape. I don't mind being guided through most relaxation steps, even though I can now relax without following instruction on how to do so. However, I find the tightening and releasing of muscles unnecessary, and many of my clients do as well. Nevertheless, if this works best for you, I encourage you to use it.

Using Your Breath to Relax
As I pointed out in the last class, one of the easiest ways to develop effective relaxation techniques is to practice abdominal breathing. Taking one or two deep abdominal breaths is a good start, but you wouldn't want to hyperventilate for the whole session, so remember to always return to your natural rhythm of breathing, without any effort to change the pace or depth of your normal breathing pattern. Let your breath come and go in the natural way that it has been doing ever since the day you were born. Just observe how cool air gently enters your body when you inhale and how, when you exhale, you put a little bit of your warmth into the world.

As you experience the ebb and flow of each breath, gradually become more relaxed than you were a moment before... more peaceful... more comfortable.... With each breath, imagine that every cell of your body becomes at ease and all the tension, tightness or discomfort drains down your spine, down your legs, and then into the ground. Soon you will find yourself in a state of pleasant, relaxed consciousness.