So today's practice I'm offering is like a muscle relaxation practice.
So and we can do this.
You can do this now sitting or lying down.
So just taking a minute to find your cozy spot,
If you like.
What would that be for you?
And getting yourself settled.
And in a way,
What you're doing is you're signaling the brain.
Ah,
I'm going to take a little chillax here.
So this is just a time for you.
So just letting the body sink then and settle.
Letting your hands rest,
You know,
Loosely on your lap or by your side.
And then choosing what to do with the eyes right now.
So you might like to have the eyes open.
You might like to lower the gaze.
Or you might like to close the eyes.
So just letting the body settle or arrive.
Maybe sinking a little.
Into the chair or whatever is supporting you.
And then without any efforting,
Just seeing what you notice the breath in the body.
Just kind of tuning in to the breath that is here already.
Maybe noticing the breath in the belly.
A slight rise of the belly on the in-breath.
And the gentle falling back of the belly on the out-breath.
So just right now,
Seeing if you might notice this breath in the belly.
Or if the mind is really busy.
Emotions are tugging.
Or the mind is agitated.
Then seeing if each time you notice the busy mind or wherever the mind has been,
If you might be really kind to yourself in the noticing.
And then just when you're ready.
Coming back again to this breath in the belly.
Nice,
Gentle noticing of the rise of the belly on the in-breath and the falling back of the belly on the out-breath.
Just noticing how the belly rises and falls with each breath.
And now take a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
All the way down to the stomach.
And hold the breath for just a moment.
And then exhale out through the mouth.
So let's do that together.
Taking a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
All the way down to the stomach.
Holding the breath then,
Just for a moment.
And then exhaling the breath.
Making a sound if you like,
Out through the mouth.
Allow the breath to carry away all stress and tension as the air floods out of your lungs.
Take another slow breath in through the nose.
This time filling your lungs completely.
Hold for a moment.
And then release the breath again through your mouth.
Empty your lungs completely.
Doing that again now.
Taking another slow breath in through your nose.
Fill your lungs completely.
Hold it for a moment.
And release the breath through the mouth.
Emptying the lungs completely.
Taking another deep breath in.
Hold it for a moment.
And then let it go.
Feel now that your body has undergone a change already.
The tension in the body has begun to loosen and to subside.
Maybe the body will sink or settle,
Even a little.
Maybe realising that for this short time we don't have to work so hard.
We really can sink or settle or let go even a little.
As gravity supports us and the practice supports us.
So just allowing the body to arrive,
To sink and to settle.
Letting the breath now just return to whatever is the normal rhythm.
Just your ordinary breathing.
So that the breath and the body have a chance to relax now.
To pause.
To just be.
During this relaxation I will ask you to tense various muscles throughout your body.
So just take a minute now to realise that you are never asked to strain any muscles.
No need to exert yourself.
Really the invitation is just to contract each muscle.
Gently but firmly.
And we do this tensing of the muscle on the in-breath.
So no worries at all.
If at any time you feel uncomfortable.
You can simply relax in your way.
Inviting the body to soften and breathe normally.
So now I want you to bring your awareness to your feet and your toes.
See if you might just notice that part of the body.
The feet and the toes.
Breathe in deeply now through your nose.
And as you do,
Gradually curl your toes down and tense the muscles in the soles of your feet.
Hold your breath for just a few seconds.
And then release the muscles in your feet as you breathe out.
You might feel the tension in your feet wash away as you exhale.
And just take a minute now to notice how different your feet feel when tensed and when they are relaxed.
So let's do that a second time.
First of all bringing your full awareness as best you can to your feet and toes.
And then your awareness to your toes.
Breathe in deeply through your nose.
And as you do,
Gradually curl your toes down and tense the muscles in the soles of your feet.
Hold your breath for just a few seconds.
And then release the muscles in your feet as you breathe out.
Feel the tension in your feet wash away as you exhale.
Noticing how different your feet feel when tensed and when they are relaxed.
Feeling yourself relaxing more and more deeply with each breath.
Your whole body now might be becoming heavier,
Softer,
More relaxed as each moment passes.
And now shifting the awareness away from the feet to your lower legs,
To your calf muscles.
As you draw in a nice deep breath,
Point your toes upwards towards your knees and tighten those calf muscles.
Hold for just a moment.
And then let those muscles go limp as you exhale.
Calves relaxing.
Once again,
Draw in a deep breath and tighten your calf muscles,
Pointing your toes up towards your knees.
Hold for a few seconds and then let it all go.
Feel your muscles relax and feel the tension washing away with your out-breath.
Noticing the difference in the calves right now.
Then we move on to the thighs.
So if you are lying down,
You can do this by trying to straighten your legs.
You'll feel the muscles pulling your kneecap upwards.
If you're in a sitting position,
You can tense these thigh muscles by pushing your heels down onto the floor.
So whenever you're ready now,
Take a deep breath in and tense the muscles of your thighs.
Tightening up all of the thigh muscles.
Hold for just a moment.
And then on an out-breath,
Release everything,
Softening down the thigh muscles.
As you do this and the blood flow to your muscles increases,
You might notice a warm tingling sensation.
Maybe not.
Again,
Breathe in deeply and tighten all of your thigh muscles,
Scrunching up all of the muscles in the thigh area.
Hold the breath for a moment.
And release,
Letting all of the thigh muscles go limp and loose as you breathe out.
Now we're letting go of the thigh muscles and moving the awareness to the buttocks,
To the bottom.
So this time,
On a nice deep in-breath,
The invitation is to gradually tighten all of the muscles in the buttocks,
Just scrunching up everything as tight as you can.
And hold this contraction now for just a few seconds.
And then on the out-breath,
Relax down those buttock muscles.
You might even move your bottom now side to side,
Allowing everything to soften.
Allowing some ease in the whole bottom area.
Let's do that one again.
So on an in-breath,
The invitation is to tighten up the muscles of the bottom as tight as you can.
The buttocks scrunching up all of the muscles.
And then hold this contraction for just a few seconds.
Before releasing on a nice out-breath,
Letting all of those muscles soften.
Maybe moving the buttock cheeks side to side,
Allowing everything in this part of the body now to have a little ease.
I'm just noticing the after effects of that now in the buttocks.
Now we're going to focus on the whole leg,
Right and left.
So on a nice,
Slow in-breath,
I want you to gradually tighten all of the muscles of your legs.
From your feet all the way up to the buttocks.
So everything now is tightened and scrunched up.
All of the muscles of the legs.
So you do this in the way that's comfortable and natural for you.
And then hold it.
And then release all those large,
Strong muscles on a nice,
Long out-breath.
Once again,
Focusing the awareness now on the whole leg area,
Right and left leg.
From the feet all the way up to the buttocks.
And the first thing I want you to do is on a nice,
Slow in-breath,
Scrunch up all of the muscles from the feet right up to the buttocks.
And then see if you can hold those tightened muscles just for a few seconds.
And then on an out-breath,
Releasing,
Relaxing,
Letting go,
Softening the whole of the legs and the feet.
Noticing now any sensations in the legs and the feet.
Maybe some tingling.
Maybe some heaviness.
Just noticing what is here,
All the way from your buttocks right down to your feet.
And then letting the legs and the feet and the buttocks just come to ease.
And seeing now if you can shift the awareness just to your tummy.
To your belly.
And this time,
As you're taking a nice,
Deep,
Slow in-breath,
I want you to tighten the muscles of your belly.
Imagine you were trying to touch your belly button to your spine.
So you're contracting and tightening the muscles of the belly.
Hold for a few seconds.
And now release your breath,
Letting all of the muscles of the stomach area relax.
Just letting go.
And we'll do that again.
So on the nice,
Long,
Slow in-breath,
You're contracting all the muscles of the belly area.
You're imagining your belly button is going to touch your spine.
So you're scrunching everything up in your belly.
Holding for just a few seconds.
And then the luxury of breathing out,
Letting the whole belly,
All of the belly area,
Soften.
Have more space and relax.
So just really luxuriating in allowing the belly to soften,
To have more ease,
And to relax.
And now again,
Drawing in a deep breath and then tightening the back muscles.
So you're scrunching up all of the muscles of the back.
Hold for a few seconds.
And then letting the whole back area soften,
Release,
And have more ease.
Again,
Drawing in a deep breath and tightening up all of the muscles in the back.
Scrunching up all the muscles in the whole of the back area.
Holding for a few seconds.
And then on an out-breath,
Allowing the whole back to soften,
To release,
And to let go.
And now seeing if you might bring your whole attention to your shoulder muscles and the muscles in your neck.
And this time,
As you slowly draw in a nice deep breath,
Seeing if you might pull your shoulders right up towards your ears,
Squeezing the shoulder muscles tightly.
And then as you breathe out completely,
Allowing the shoulders to drop,
Contracted muscles to go loose and limp.
We're going to do this one two more times.
So first of all,
On a nice slow in-breath,
You're slowly drawing your shoulders right up towards the ears,
And you're squeezing all of the muscles of the shoulder area firmly.
And then on an out-breath,
Relaxing down,
Dropping the shoulders,
Allowing all of the muscles in the shoulder and the neck area to go loose and limp.
Last time,
On an in-breath,
Scrunching up each shoulder right up towards the ears,
Tightening all of the muscles.
On an out-breath,
Dropping the shoulders,
Relaxing all of the muscles of the shoulder and the neck area.
And this time now,
Bringing a little gentle movement to the shoulders,
Just moving your shoulders in whatever gentle way makes sense to you.
And perhaps the neck also.
Nice,
Gentle,
Releasing,
Softening the muscles in the shoulders and in the neck.
Just allowing any tension or tightness to leave the body with every out-breath.
Feel the heaviness in your body now.
Just enjoying the feeling of the body resting,
Easing.
Feel yourself becoming heavier and heavier as the body settles and sinks,
As the body has more space and more ease and lets go,
Even a little.
You are calm,
Secure and at peace.
And now it's time to let go of all the tension in your arms and in your hands.
So let's start with the upper arms.
So in your own time,
As you breathe in,
Raise your wrists now towards your shoulders and tighten the muscles in your upper arms.
So that you're aware that all of the muscles in the upper arms are scrunched up and tightened.
Hold that breath now.
And those tightened,
Contracted muscles,
Just for a moment.
And then gently lower your arms and breathe all the way out.
As you do that,
You might feel a warm,
Burning sensation in your muscles when you tighten them.
And feel how relaxing it is then to release that tightness and breathe away all tension.
So let's do it again.
Raising both wrists up towards your shoulders,
Tightening the muscles in your upper arms,
Scrunching everything as tight as you can.
Hold that breath now for just a moment,
All the tightened muscles in the upper arms.
And then gently lower the arms,
Breathing all the way out.
And noticing whatever sensations might be there now.
Maybe some burning sensations in the muscles as you tighten them.
And a sense of releasing or relaxing or letting go of some tension as you breathe out.
And now I invite you to bring awareness to your forearms.
So this time as you breathe in,
I want you to curl your hands inwards as though you were trying to touch the inside of your elbows with your fingertips.
So as you're doing that,
You might feel the tension in the lower part of the arms.
Holding it.
And then breathing out,
Relaxing the lower arms.
Feeling the tension washing away.
And now moving to the hands themselves.
So just for a moment,
Notice the hands.
And this time on an in-breath,
We're going to clench the fists,
Making tight fist with each arm,
Scrunching up all of the muscles of the arms.
Holding the breath for a moment.
And then releasing,
Opening up those arms,
The hands,
Letting the whole hands become soft,
Have more ease and come to rest.
Once again,
Taking a deep breath in and clenching the fists as tight as you can.
Holding for a few seconds and then releasing.
Letting the fingers go limp.
Allowing the fingers,
The hands and the arms to come to rest now.
Perhaps the arms and the hands are tingling.
Maybe feeling heavy.
Maybe they're letting go of some tension.
Now taking a nice,
Long,
Slow breath.
In and out,
According to your own rhythm.
Just allowing the breath to be deep and slow.
Feeling yourself slipping even deeper into a state of rest.
If the mind is busy or emotions are tugging,
Absolutely nothing gone wrong here.
Fantastic noticing.
And then when you're ready,
Just coming back again to nice,
Slow in-breath.
And a nice,
Deep,
Slow out-breath.
So that the body is slowing and the breath might be slowing.
Now becoming aware of the head and the face.
Seeing if you might now tighten the muscles in the face by squeezing your eyes shut.
Clenching your lips together.
And as you do,
Feeling the whole of the face,
Your muscles scrunch up and tighten.
Holding it there for a few seconds.
And then when you're ready,
Breathe out,
Releasing,
Relaxing,
Softening all of the facial muscles.
We'll do that one more time.
So on an in-breath,
You're scrunching your eyes tight shut.
Same with your lips.
You're tightening up all of the muscles of the face,
Making your ugliest face possible.
And then holding those tight muscles just for a few seconds.
And then on the out-breath,
Softening,
Releasing,
Letting go.
So that the whole of the face softens,
Relaxes,
And lets go.
And now on a deep in-breath,
See if you might fill your lungs with air and then open your mouth wide.
And then on the out-breath,
Close the mouth.
So a nice deep in-breath,
Filling the lungs with maximum air and opening the mouth wide.
And now on the out-breath,
Let it go out through the mouth and then closing the mouth.
So the whole face,
The whole head might now be softer,
A little more at ease.
And so it is with the whole body now.
Quieter,
Softer,
A little more at ease.
So just in the final couple of minutes of this practice,
Allowing yourself to notice that for these few minutes,
While there's nowhere to be,
There's nothing to do.
Just letting the body rest.
Noticing the breath is quiet.
And now inviting the mind itself to quieten.
So that you might just notice the breath in the body.
Maybe the slight rise or fall of the chest or the belly.
You might even notice the sounds of breathing.
Just taking these few moments to be.
Exactly as you are.
Just here,
Just now.
And in a moment,
I'm going to ask you to begin to notice any sounds that are around you.
You might notice sounds in the room that you're sitting in or lying in.
And seeing if you might just notice the sounds without getting involved in the story.
Just noticing sounds.
Maybe there are sounds from further afield,
In another room or outside the building.
You might notice sounds coming to you from my device or the device you're listening on.
You might even notice sounds in the body.
Sounds of breathing.
Sounds of digestion.
Just noticing sounds.
Becoming aware now of any air circulating around the body.
For you that might be air around the face or the hands.
Or the feet.
Just sensations of air.
And then when you're ready,
I invite you to very gently come back into the space in which you're sitting.
You might do that by nice and slowly opening the eyes or lifting the gaze.
You might begin to notice something in the room in which you're sitting.
You might begin to notice that your body would like a little movement.
And this is a great time to tune into the body right now.
So your body might like just to wiggle some toes or fingers.
Your body might like a nice long slow yawl or stretch or sigh.
Or to move the shoulders.
Or to stand up nice and slowly if you do.
So just listen to your body and seeing what it would like.
And letting the body have that.
Nice and slowly.
Taking all the time in the world.
