Let The Day Out Of Your Body

Your jaw has been doing something all day that you never asked it to do. So have your shoulders, and your belly, and the space between your eyebrows. Ten minutes, seated practice. Three cyclic sighs, a couple of minutes of long, slow out-breaths, then an unhurried pass through seven places that hold tension - noticing each one first, and only then letting it go on an out-breath. This is a short scan given a lot of time rather than a long scan rushed. Good at the end of a working block, or when you’ve finished for the day but your body hasn’t noticed.
Direction: down-regulating.If anything feels wrong, breathe normally.

Transcript

10 minutes to let go of what the day has left in your body. This one brings you down, So it's for when you're wound up or you're holding tension, Not for when you're feeling flat. There's nothing to achieve here and it isn't a performance, You can't do it badly. Find a seat where your back is supported, Both feet flat, And your hands somewhere you can forget about them. If you want to take your glasses off or loosen anything that's digging in, You can do that now. And one thing before we start, If any instruction feels wrong in your body, The breathing especially, Just leave it, Breathe normally, Open your eyes, Stay with the sound of my voice, Nothing here is compulsory Start with your eyes open, Let them move around the room without hunting for anything. Notice maybe the furthest thing you can see. And then something close. Let your eyes land somewhere unremarkable and stay there for a moment. Now, Before anything changes, How wound up are you? 0 to 10. First number. Don't argue with it. Now let your eyes close if that feels comfortable. If it doesn't, Let them rest half open or just gaze down. And let's do three breaths in a particular shape, A full, Deep inhale in through the nose, Trying to fill the belly first, And then a second smaller one on top. Expanding the lungs a little bit wider and then a long exhale out of the mouth as if you're blowing out through a straw. So full inhale. An extra inhale on top. And out through the mouth. Again, In through the nose. Extra inhale on top and out slowly Taking the exhale long. Prone. How relaxed. And once more. Top up on the top, And let this exhale be the longest yet. All the way out. And now let your mouth close. We're going to be breathing through the nose from here. We're doing one simple thing the out breath longer than the in breath unhurried never forced normal inhale for a second or two maybe three And a long, Soft exhale for four to six seconds. If the exhale through the mouth feels more comfortable for you than through the nose you can exhale through the mouth as well to a normal inhale. Long exhale. Keep that going in your own pace. If your mind has wandered off, You haven't lost anything, Come back on the next exhale. Normal inhale, Extending the exhale. Now we go looking for what the day left behind. Your body has been holding things all day without asking you. And we're going to find some of it and let it go on the out-breath each time. Notice first, Then release in that order. Start with your jaw just notice it don't fix anything don't feel like you need to change anything just notice is it holding anything and on your next exhale you can let the jaw go, Soften at the teeth come apart slightly. And your tongue is probably pressed against the roof of your mouth. Let it rest there. Then the space between your eyebrows and around your eyes. A lot of concentration gets stored here. Next exhale, Let it soften. Your shoulders. Notice where they actually are, Not where you'd like them to be. And on the outbreath, Just let them drop, Not back, Not square, Just down. Your hands, Maybe open the fingers slightly. And let the weight of your hands go into whatever they're resting on and your belly. Most of us hold it in all day without ever deciding to. So on the next exhale let it go completely. Let it be soft. Even if you don't love how that feels and your feet on the floor. They're not holding you up right now. The chair is doing that. So let them be heavy. And now stop looking for anything. Nothing left to release, Nothing left to check. Just sit, Your breathing carries on without you. Let it be in the background, Like traffic outside And gently start coming back. Feel the chair under you, The floor under your feet, Maybe the temperature of the room. And one last time, From 0 to 10, Where are you now? Whatever moved, You did that. Not the recording, You. The recording only told you where to look. Take your time opening your eyes. And if you want to do the full version of this recording at the end of a long day, You can look at the track Put The Day Down, Which is a 20 minute practice.