Welcome.
This is a meditation for those of you trying to find a bit of a slower rhythm.
In that spirit,
Could you come to a place with the body that feels more easeful?
So the best way to do this would be to lie down,
Maybe bringing the soles of the feet to the ground and resting the knees together.
But you could also do this seated or even standing,
Just bringing awareness.
We'll begin by drawing a longer breath in through the nose and then as you exhale,
Let the breath out through the cheeks,
Warm out of the mouth.
Let the shoulders lengthen away from the ears and take any small movements or big movements that you might need.
Maybe a scrunch of fingers and toes,
A roll of the head.
Maybe you squash the face with the hands or moving the muscles of the face over the bones.
Any movement at all that encourages the body to both widen and soften.
Whenever this feels like it's done,
Can be now,
Can be in half an hour's time.
We'll bring the palms to rest over the eyes.
Try and get quite a tight seal of the hands over the eyes.
Allow the fingertips to wrap over the top of the head and make little pools of darkness around the eyes.
Into those pools of darkness,
You could blink the eyes open or keep them closed and slide the gaze to the left corner of the eye and then the right corner of the eye.
To the left,
Up on the diagonal.
To the right,
Down on the diagonal.
Now allow the eyes to rove around.
Perhaps you deepen the gaze like you're looking into a really far away constellation and then draw the gaze further in like you're looking for a passing gaze.
Perhaps you draw the gaze further in like you're looking for a passing cloud.
You can softly close the eyes again.
Press the fingertips to the top of the head and then slowly slide them down towards the eyebrow.
Retrace your steps upwards and then your choice if you press lines,
Squiggles,
Circles over the forehead.
You could even move the head side to side.
Pull the hands slowly apart,
Pressing the heels of the hands just above the cheekbones as the hands slide to the sides of the skull.
Then squash the hands down over the ears,
Over the sides of the face and bring the heels of the hands to the jaw muscles and give them a slow circling squash.
Finally,
Pull the hands down the chest and rest the hands anywhere that feels comfy.
Take an exhale.
Notice how you've arrived in your practice.
How is the physical body?
How is the energetic body,
The thoughts and feelings?
Wash all of that information away with an exhale.
Brush the awareness to the eyelashes.
Filter the awareness through the eyelashes to the surface of the eyes,
Noticing the quality of light between or behind.
Drop the awareness to the base of the eyes and let the eyeballs rest back in the sockets.
As you exhale,
Spread awareness over the left hemisphere of the brain.
Then imagine the hemisphere widening and dropping back in the skull.
Awareness over the right hemisphere of the brain.
The right hemisphere softens and slides back in the skull.
Draw the awareness to the centre-most point of the brain,
The pineal gland.
The place in the brain where we register changes in light and dark and the turn of the seasons.
Then draw the awareness warm down the back of the throat to the shoulders,
Which soften and widen.
Observe the basket of the ribs.
Notice the rhythm of the heart.
The heart which beats from about 21 days after our conception and beats the rhythm of our life until the day we die.
Now draw the awareness down into the belly.
Find the organs of the belly.
Find a different type of rhythm.
The slow squash of smooth muscle.
Perhaps you find a liquid feeling not only in the belly but spreading out throughout the body into the lymphatic system.
The lymphatic system which doesn't have a beat but a slow pulse with the smooth muscles of the organs.
Finally,
Rest the awareness in the pelvic floor.
The tissues between the pubic bone and the seat bones.
Soften any sense of holding up or in here.
And you might allow these muscles to move naturally with the breath.
On the inhale,
The belly,
The organs,
The heart,
The pelvic floor descend and on the exhale,
They rise.
On the inhale,
The throat,
The heart,
The belly,
The organs,
And the pelvic floor descend and on the exhale,
They gently rise.
Stay with this rhythm for a few moments.
As you next inhale,
Could you take the breath slowly but fill it towards its top?
When you get to the top of the breath,
Allow the exhale to empty completely,
Keeping this quite effortless and slower than you need.
Slow fill of the breath,
Slow empty of the breath.
For one final breath,
Could you slowly fill the breath all the way to its top?
When you get to the top of the breath,
Pause,
Draw in a slow extra inhale,
And then open the mouth and let go of the breath warm.
You could take another breath like that,
Or you could simmer in the aftermath of this meditation.
When you're ready,
Bring the awareness all the way back to the centermost point of the brain,
The pineal gland.
This is a place in the brain which the French philosopher Descartes described as the seat of the soul.
Is there something that the soul might have understood that the eyes have not yet seen?
Brush the awareness to the tips of the eyelashes.
Filter light through the eyelashes to the surface of the eyes.
You could bring the palms to close over the eyes as we did at the beginning.
You could press gentle circles with the hands over the eyes.
This time you might pull the fingertips down over the forehead,
Along the bridge of the nose,
And then gently press circles around the orbit of the eyes.
When you're ready,
Slide the fingers back across the scalp,
Take any massage across face or head.
On an inhale,
Reach the arms wide and high,
And on an exhale,
Meet the ground.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
I hope to see you again soon.
