"Lie down in your bed, relax, let the bed hold you up. Let go... and then let go again... and again. Concentrate on your breathing. Pretend there is a balloon right under your belly button. When you breath in, the balloon fills WAY UP with air; when you breathe out, the balloon collapses almost all the way down to your spine. That is the natural way to breathe. That is the way babies and puppy dogs breathe. The natural way to breathe fills your lungs with good pure oxygen, and expels the carbon dioxide and other poisons all the way from the very bottom on out of your body. Just breathe slowly and naturally.

"Pay attention to your feet. Relax your heels; relax your insteps; relax the balls of your feet; relax each toe in turn; wiggle your toes a little; let go. Make your feet heavier and heavier, or limper and limper, or more and more weightless.

You might say to yourself, "My feet are relaxing. My heels are relaxing. The balls of my feet are relaxing. My toes are relaxing...."

Relax the lower legs, the knees, the upper legs, the buttocks, the genitals, the pelvis, the small of the back, the spine, the abdomen, the chest, the fingers, the hands, the wrists, the forearms, the elbows, the upper arms, the shoulders, the lower neck, the upper neck, the throat, the ears, the top of the head, the lower jaw, the tongue, the upper jaw, the nose, the cheeks, the forehead, the eyes.

"Take your mind to any part of your body where you still feel tension... and deliberately let go... again... and again."

(from: Wallas, 1985, Stories for the Third Ear, pp. 7-9)

Here's a version of Progressive Relaxation you can download: