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Relaxation Exercises
The following exercises are very helpful for any person who is tense and under stress or who has a job in which he must do a lot of sitting or standing throughout the day and does not have a change to move or change positions frequently.  They help to counteract the tendency to develop tight, sore muscles because of sitting or standing in undesirable postures.  They should be done once an hour or whenever muscular tightness in noticed.

1. Close your eyes, relax your shoulders, then take ten deep breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.

2. Circle your feet from the ankles - first together, then one at a time, twenty times each foot.

3. Lift your heels and press your toes into the floor, then lift your toes and press your heels into the floor.  Repeat ten times for each foot.

4. With your arms at your sides, circle your shoulders forward ten times, then backward ten times.

5. If sitting in a chair, move back in the seat.  Lift one buttock off the seat, feeling the muscles on both sides tighten as you do: hold while you count slowly to five; relax.  Repeat for the other side.  Now do the exercise three more times on each side.

6. Press your lower back into the seat, then arch forward ten times.  Repeat ten times.

7. While sitting in a chair, press your knees and thighs together and tighten the buttock muscles; hold for five seconds; relax.  Repeat four times.

8. Link your fingers together and place your arms behind your head with the elbows pointing forward.  Gently push your head into your hands; hold for five seconds; relax.  Repeat four times.

9. Slowly circle your head in one direction, then the other.  Repeat ten times.