Welcome in,
And I invite you now to do something intentional,
Like see might you shift your body a little.
If you're kind of cozy,
But not really,
Well,
Is there something you might do to get a little bit more cozy?
If you're kind of listening,
But you're also doing something else,
Might you give yourself a little pause?
If you're feeling chilly,
Cover up.
So kind of notice the body,
Shift something,
And we come into this little pause.
I notice I'm speaking fast,
And a little high.
So I'm going to,
Ah Dee,
It's okay,
Let's slow down.
Inviting you wherever you are now,
To notice if you can,
Where the body is right now in contact with support.
You know,
That could be your feet on the floor.
Simply noticing that point of contact between your feet and the floor.
Can you sense into that?
Or noticing the body on the chair,
Or couch,
Or bed,
Where the body is in contact with support.
Can you become aware of those parts of the body?
And see if you can sense into that sensation,
That pressure point,
If you like,
Of touch.
Noticing your hands now,
And see if you might allow the hands to rest softly,
Palms open.
Inviting the hands to rest.
And then choosing what to do with your eyes.
You might like to leave your eyes open,
Watching this screen.
You might like to soften your gaze,
Finding something simple to have a gentle focus on.
You might like to close your eyes,
But choosing now how you might gift your eyes this little time of relaxation.
And then inviting the whole body to soften,
To have even a little more space,
As you sink into the support that is actually here.
The floor,
The earth itself,
Holding us up.
The chair,
Or couch,
Or bed you're on,
Supporting you.
Words of the practice also supporting you.
So that really in this moment,
It is okay to let go,
Even a little.
Coming to your breath now,
And see if you might just notice the breath.
Absolutely no need to change anything.
Just seeing if it's possible to notice the breath.
See if you might become aware of the breath coming in,
And the breath going out.
Just that.
Maybe noticing this breath in your chest area,
Your heart space.
Or perhaps for you,
Noticing this breath right down in your belly.
Just tuning in,
In a way,
To this breath coming in,
And this breath going out.
Now if your mind is busy,
Or your body is calling for attention,
Nothing has gone wrong.
No problem whatsoever.
Actually fantastic noticing.
So just gently becoming aware of what is here.
No problem.
It's just what's here.
And then when you're ready,
Coming back again to just this breath.
Breath coming in,
And breath going out.
Imagine yourself,
If you will,
Watching your breath in a way.
Like you might watch the waves on the seashore.
The wave coming in,
And the wave going out.
The wave coming in,
And the wave going out.
And resting in this gentle awareness of your breath now.
Or perhaps returning to this awareness of your breath as many times as necessary.
Just for this next minute or so.
Noticing,
Resting with breath,
Returning to breath.
You're just bringing a little loving awareness to the breath and the body right now.
But when you're ready then,
I invite you to bring your full attention to the very small of your back.
See if you can bring your awareness just to this place in the lower back,
Where the spine emerges from the sitting bone.
A part of the body we often carry and hold tightness and tension.
Bringing your awareness here now,
And imagining your own breath.
Soothing and softening and creating a little ease in this part of the body.
The lower back.
Moving on up to the middle back now.
And see if you might imagine your breath breathing right into the middle back.
Soothing,
Softening,
Creating a little ease.
On up to the upper back.
Your breath creating a little space and ease in the upper back.
Coming now to shoulders.
Noticing shoulders.
Maybe registering any sensations that are in the shoulders right now.
Perhaps some tightness or tension.
Or maybe the shoulders are soft and loose.
When you're ready then,
Inviting you to raise each shoulder up towards the ear.
Close to the ears as you can.
And then on an out breath,
Dropping down the shoulders.
We're going to do that two more times.
So on an in breath,
You might raise each shoulder up towards the ear.
And then on the out breath,
Dropping down the shoulders.
Last time.
On an in breath,
Raise each shoulder up towards the ears.
And then on an out breath,
Dropping down the shoulders.
And now bringing a little gentle movement to the shoulders in whatever way works for you.
Loosening,
Softening,
Releasing any tightness in the shoulders.
And then when you're ready,
Letting the shoulders nice and slowly come to rest.
Noticing now the neck,
The front of the neck,
The back of the neck.
Coming to the back of the head.
Imagine your breath massaging,
Soothing,
Softening the back of the head.
The top of the head,
Whole head being massaged and soothed by your breath.
Notice the ears.
The eyes.
The ears.
The cheeks.
Letting the jaw drop open.
Down.
Down.
Come aware of the mouth.
The chin.
Inviting the whole face to soften now.
Just imagine the whole face softening.
Having a little ease.
Come aware of your chest,
The heart space if you will.
You might notice your heart in this part of the body.
Maybe becoming aware of the heart through sensations of warmth around the heart.
You might even notice the heartbeat itself.
Seeing if you can become aware of the heart in the chest area.
And then the gentle rise of the chest on the in-breath.
And the soft falling back of the chest on the out-breath.
Inviting the whole heart space to be soft and open.
And on down to the belly.
Seeing if you might notice the breath in this part of the body.
The rise of the belly on the in-breath.
And the falling back of the belly on the out-breath.
Letting the breath itself now create a little ease and softness and space in the whole belly area.
So that the whole belly is a little softer,
A little freer.
And on down to the pelvic girdle.
That great big bony structure hip to hip.
Becoming aware of all of the organs in this part of the body.
And again imagining your own breath.
Soothing,
Softening,
Creating a little ease in this pelvic girdle area.
A little softness.
A little ease.
Your breath soothing this part of the body.
Noticing now the legs coming out from the hip joints.
Just becoming aware of the weight,
The volume and the length of the legs.
All the way down to the feet wherever they're resting.
Inviting the legs to soften.
To have a little ease.
And to come to rest.
Noticing now the arms coming out from the shoulder joints.
Again becoming aware of the weight,
The volume and the length of the arms.
All the way down to the elbows.
And on down to the hands wherever they're resting.
Letting the arms now become soft and limp.
And letting the hands too be open and soft and resting.
So that the whole body now might have a little more ease.
But let's revisit.
Feet relax.
Legs relax.
Buttocks relax.
Lower back relax.
Middle back,
Upper back relax.
Shoulders relax.
Arms all the way down to the hands relax.
Front of the neck,
Back of the neck relax.
Back of the head,
Top of the head relax.
Whole face relax.
Chest area,
Heart space relax.
Belly relax.
Pelvic girdle relax.
Now that the whole body is more at ease.
Inviting the breath too to soften,
Even a little.
So the breath might be a little slower,
A little easier,
A little softer.
And then letting the mind too have some ease.
If there is thinking or planning or remembering happening in the mind.
See if you might let these activities be like clouds in the sky.
Thinking,
Occurring,
Having a moment,
Moving on.
Just like clouds floating in the sky.
So that the mind too has a little rest.
So body,
Mind and breath are all having a little ease.
And in this final moments of this practice,
Taking this quiet time.
To notice what you would wish for yourself just right now.
What would be your wish for yourself just right now?
Maybe a word or a phrase will come to mind.
Perhaps not.
But creating this space for you to wish yourself well.
And now very gently becoming aware again.
Without moving if possible.
Just noticing the body in contact with support.
Maybe noticing those places where there is support.
Floor or parts of the body in contact with chair or couch or bed.
Noticing support.
Noticing air in contact with the body.
Just becoming aware of air circulating in the space that you're in.
Maybe air in contact with face or hands.
And then lifting the gaze or opening the eyes.
And taking a nice long slow look around the space that you're in.
And maybe letting the eyes rest just on one thing.
Just for a moment noticing something in your space in a new way.
And then when you're ready nice and slowly and gently.
Bringing a little movement back into the body.
And seeing if the body might help you by telling you what it would like right now.
Maybe that's just allowing a wee smile to arrive on the face.
Perhaps it's a wiggle or squiggle of fingers or toes.
Maybe your body would like a nice long yawn.
Or a loud sigh.
Or perhaps a stretch.
A small little stretch.
Or a long slow full body stretch.
So letting your body have some freedom in how it might like to do some gentle movement right now.
And then nice and slowly in your own time just coming back into the space.
