Welcome.
This meditation is to bring a bit of calm in.
Come into a comfortable place,
Wherever that is possible.
So best version,
Lying down.
But wherever you are,
Whatever shape the body is in,
Take some micro movements or some macro movements and ease into the space.
Feel whatever is underneath you.
Allow the skin to expand into whatever is around you and maybe let go of a couple of exhale breaths through the mouth.
If it's possible,
Bring the right hand and spread it across the centre of the chest,
So the fingers are wide and maybe one or two of those fingers reach to the space around the collarbones.
If it's not possible to do that right now,
Just imagine placing the hand to the chest.
Similar parts of the brain are activated when we visualise,
As when we actually do.
Press the hand slightly into the chest so you can feel the edges,
Feel the warmth of the palm and begin to detect the breath moving underneath.
Whenever you feel is the right time,
Can be now,
Can be in 10 minutes time.
Allow the palms to rest somewhere.
Just using the imagination now,
Bring the hands over the eyes.
Imagine the palms pressing slightly over the eyes,
Making a cave for the brain and let go of an exhale warm through the mouth.
How have you arrived in your meditation?
What shades of the human experience are passing through?
Can you cultivate some compassion for them?
And whatever you find,
Can you also find a tiny spark of underlying joy or light or humour about the whole thing?
Let that go and take the awareness to the soles of the feet.
You might arrange the feet to be a bit wider,
Longer,
More spacious.
Let go of any muscular effort around the feet and observe the soft cushioniness of the soles,
Squashing into whatever's underneath it.
Imagine that there's a tiny lift and sink in the soles of the feet with every inhale and exhale breath.
Like the breath is gently bouncing up and down the feet.
And the breath is gently lifting you into the ground.
Slide the awareness around the back of the calves to the knees and then imagine the bones of the legs dropping into the joint spaces,
Softening.
Find the back of the pelvis and with an exhale breath,
Allow the back of the pelvis to expand outwards and downwards.
Wrap the awareness around the fronts of the hips and then let the belly,
Low belly and pelvic floor drop and soften.
Bring the awareness to the softness of the belly and let the belly drop back towards the spine.
Find the front of the ribcage,
The sternum,
The collarbones and the fronts of the shoulders and as you exhale a few times,
Let them soften back and down.
Find the back of the ribcage and the spine and as you exhale,
Let the body deflate.
Find the tip of the chin,
The long line of the jaw,
Let go of the jaw,
A little space behind the back teeth,
Softness and cushioniness there.
Find the tip of the tongue,
The warmth of the mouth,
Tip of the nose and begin to observe the breath moving in and out of the body.
And now you might visualize the breath drawing in in spirals or swirls and then leaving the body in spirals or swirls.
Stay with that image,
The breath moving in curved lines,
Perhaps you notice the wave of the tiny hairs inside the nostrils as you breathe.
If you would like to,
You could allow the breath to wave the belly upwards,
Expanding it out and as you exhale,
Allow the belly to draw back towards the spine,
Just a very slight expansion of the breath,
Particularly leaning into the exhale breath.
Watching the exhale breath move all the way to its end,
Taking your time with it.
Give the breath this curve or wave in the body.
Observe the rise and fall of the connective tissues and the soft elastic sense in the belly.
And know that even the connective tissues are not straight lines,
But made up of tiny molecules arranged in these spirals or twist shapes,
Giving the body that ability to rebound.
As you next exhale,
See the breath all the way to its end.
Inhale,
Natural rebound.
And as you next inhale,
Slowly fill the breath to its top.
When you get to the top of the breath,
Tiny pause,
Open the mouth and let go of the breath warm.
You could take one more breath like that,
Switching the narrative.
Begin to notice the quality of light behind the eyelids.
Imagine broadening the vision into the corners of the eyes,
Maybe with the eyelids still shut.
And whenever you would like to,
You might slowly blink the eyes open and come back into your day.
Thank you so much for practicing with me.
See you again soon.
