When you look into a person’s face, you can tell a lot about
their state of mind. Whether we're aware of it or not, our facial
muscles naturally express our joys and our sorrows, our hopes and our
fears. And when we’re stressed out, the muscles of our face look tense.
Because
there’s such a close connection between our mental-emotional state and
the muscles of our face, if you’re feeling down or depressed, simply
smiling can send a message to your brain telling it to lighten your
mood. Similarly, learning to relax your face can be a powerful way of
relaxing your mind, your emotions, and your whole body.
If you’re
new to relaxation exercises, or if you know that you carry a lot of
tension in your face, learning to relax your face can be a good place to
start learning the skill of relaxation.
If you’re new to relaxation techniques, we recommend you begin with
this exercise before going on to the second one. It will help you get
more familiar with what a tense muscle and a relaxed muscle feel like.
That may sound like a no-brainer, but many of us are so used to carrying
around tension that we’ve come to experience our tense muscles as
normal.
In this exercise you’ll be bringing your attention to different
parts of your face, gently tensing up each part as you inhale, holding
the tension for a brief moment, and then slowly releasing the tension as
you exhale.
Choose a place where you’re not likely to be disturbed and get into a
comfortable position – either sitting up with your back straight but
relaxed, or lying down.
Once you’ve settled in, bring your
attention to your breath. Check to see that you're breathing
abdominally and let your breath gradually become slower, gentler, and a
little deeper. With each exhalation, as best you can, let go of whatever
you were doing, thinking, or feeling before. Let your attention on the
breath help you to settle into the present moment.
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Please Note: As you go through tensing and releasing the different parts of your face, be sure that when you tense up, to do it very gently, without strain. If you feel any pain at all, decrease the amount of tension to a level that’s comfortable for you. |
Bring your attention sequentially to the following parts of your face:
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and for each part, do the following:
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After completing the exercise for your whole face, take a moment
to notice any changes in your body, your mind, or your emotions.
There’s no need to think about, analyze, or judge what you observe.
Just notice and be gently and compassionately present with whatever
you're experiencing.
Remain in this relaxed state as long as
you like. When you’re ready, slowly get up and go on to your next
activity, carrying the feeling of relaxation with you.
After practicing the Tense-Release exercise for a while, you may
find that you’re able to release tension from your face without first
having to tense up. In this Mindful Relaxation exercise, you simply
bring a calm, mindful awareness to the area of tension and use your
breath to “breathe it out.”
Begin by getting into a comfortable position and then take a few slow, gentle ocean breaths. With each exhalation, let go, as best you can, of whatever you were doing, thinking or feeling before. And just be gently present with your breath.
Bring your attention sequentially to the following parts of your face:
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and for each part, do the following:
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Before going on to your next activity, take a moment to notice any changes in your body or state of mind – gently, compassionately, and without judgment. When you’re ready to move on, see if you can carry the feeling of relaxation with you.
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If you would prefer to be guided through this exercise, you can find an audio version of both face relaxation exercises in our store.