Welcome yourself to this moment,
A gift you are opening especially for you,
A time for deep relaxation.
At the end of this session,
May you find yourself a sense of greater clarity,
Of greater focus,
As well as a feeling of calm and ease.
We'll be guiding awareness from focusing on your surroundings to more of an internal deeper sense of centering.
As you practice,
You're strengthening and building your capacity of concentration.
At times,
You may find yourself becoming distracted.
And please know that this is a part of the process.
Be gentle with yourself.
Relax and guide your attention back,
Returning to my voice,
Returning to the guidance.
Gently begin by allowing the physical body to find stillness,
A recognition that you can move at any time,
But that you're choosing stillness to help the mind calm.
Feel free to close your eyes or a soft gaze,
Continuing to quiet the thinking mind.
As your body continues to relax,
Bring all your awareness to your surroundings.
You can keep the eyes soft or closed and sense your placement in the room,
Or if you're outside,
A sense of it if you're in the front,
The side,
The back of the room.
Become aware of the ceiling or the sky above you,
Aware of the floor or ground beneath A gentle reminder to yourself that you are safe and you are resting deeply.
As the body continues to relax,
A sense of calming washes over.
The body rests,
The mind can rest as well.
Gently bring all your awareness to your sense of hearing,
A curiosity to the sounds around you,
Maybe focusing on the sounds that are at a further distance away.
There's no need to label them or figure out what they are,
But a soft awareness of the sounds,
Maybe the sounds that are a little closer to the physical body,
Just guiding your focus to the sounds that are closer to the body resting,
A soft awareness allowing the sounds to be a part of your meditation.
Gently bring your attention to the physical body,
An awareness of the front of the body,
The backside of the body,
Awareness of your legs continuing to relax,
Awareness of the hips and gather all your focus to your abdomen and notice the movement of the breath as it moves throughout the body.
You may feel the belly softening and there's no need to change or shape the breath,
More of an allowing its natural rhythm.
Gently bring your attention to your arms,
Feeling relaxed,
Awareness of the spine.
Now gather all of your focus to your chest,
To your neck,
The center of the throat and to the head,
Bring all your awareness to the top of the head,
The backside of your head,
The body relaxed,
Awareness of the forehead,
Awareness of the eyes,
A sense of the eyes resting,
And then gently bring your attention to your jaw,
The hinges of the jaw relaxing and notice by bringing your awareness throughout the body,
You naturally continue to rest in a deeper state of relaxation.
The jaw softens,
The tongue relaxes away from the roof of the mouth,
Bringing all your focus to your nose,
The tip of the nose,
The nostrils.
Now fine-tuning your focus,
See if you can sense the touch of breath as it moves in and out through the nasal passages,
Allowing this natural cycle of breath,
A softness in the jaw,
The body relaxed with slight awareness of the sensation of the breath moving through the nostrils.
Continuing to build that concentration on the sensation of the breath moving through the nostrils and with curiosity explore if you notice the breath feeling warmer or cooler as it moves through the nasal passages.
Does the inhale feel warming or cooling or neither?
Or the exhale,
Warmer or cooler,
A sense of curiosity,
Continuing to build the focus and concentration.
If it's challenging to bring the focus here,
Allow the imagination to create a sensation,
An experience.
Fine-tuning your focus,
Bring all your awareness to the right nostril,
Now see if you can feel the touch of breath moving in and out through the right nasal passage,
Softening any gripping sensation or forcing something and allow curiosity to explore,
Letting go of any outcome.
The body is continuing to relax and the breath its own natural rhythm.
Gently guide your attention to the left nostril,
Maybe a subtle sensation of the breath moving through the left nasal passage,
The touch of breath moving in and out through the left nasal passage,
The mind relaxing as the physical body continues to rest and soften.
And gently bring your awareness to both nostrils,
The touch of breath entering the body through both nostrils,
The sensations of the breath exiting on the exhale,
A gentle letting go.
Sensation of the breath entering the body through both nostrils on the inhalation,
The natural cycle of welcoming the breath and softly shift your focus to the space between the eyes,
Gathering all your awareness as if being drawn by a magnet to the space between the eyes and see if you can maintain that focal point for three rounds of breath,
Awareness at the space between the eyes.
Gently guide your focus to the tip of the nose,
The hinges of the jaw,
The center of the throat,
The center of the chest,
Gather your attention to the spine,
The central channel of the body,
Awareness to the limbs of the body,
The arms resting,
The legs resting.
Guide awareness of the legs feeling heavy,
A sense of ease and deep rest.
And gently bring your awareness back to the sensation of the body breathing,
The feeling of the breath moving throughout the body,
The softening of the abdomen,
Awareness of the breath in the throat,
The nasal passages,
The whole body breathing.
Now gather all your awareness down to your hands and when you're ready,
Begin to wiggle the fingers,
Guiding all your awareness down to your feet,
The tops of the feet,
The bottoms of the feet and begin to wiggle the toes and slowly begin to shape your breath.
Breathing in a little longer and breathing out a little longer.
Continuing to expand and deepen your breath,
Observe the sense of grounding and presence in this moment.
If you're able,
Slowly bring the palms of your hands together,
Begin to rub them vigorously,
Generating a warmth and slowly cup your hands over the eyes,
Soaking in the darkness.
And when you're ready,
Slowly start to blink open the eyes,
Sensing the light coming in,
Relaxing the hands down,
Continuing to hold that sense of ease and calm as you become aware of your surroundings,
A sense of being relaxed and aware,
Deep relaxation and clarity and focus.
