Welcome to PAWS with Anya.
Few quiet minutes to pause,
Breathe and come back to yourself.
Today,
Wherever you are in your day,
We're going to gently set down the weight of everything that isn't yours to carry.
Let's begin.
Let yourself arrive.
Find a place where you can be still for a little while.
Sitting or lying down.
Whichever feels kinder to your body right now.
And when you're ready.
Let your eyes gently close.
There's nothing to fix in these few minutes.
Nothing to solve.
Nowhere else you need to be.
This is time that belongs only to you.
Notice the surface underneath you.
The floor,
The chair,
The bed.
Holding your whole weight without any effort from you.
You can let it.
You are already held.
Take a slow breath in through your nose.
And a long,
Soft breath out through your mouth.
Letting the day begin to loosen its grip.
Let your breathing find its own easy rhythm.
You don't need to force it or deepen it.
Just follow it,
The way you'd watched waves come in and go out.
Breathing in.
.
.
And breathing out.
With every each breath out,
Imagine your shoulders dropping a little further from your ears.
Your jaw softening.
Space between your eyebrows smoothing.
If your mind is busy,
Full of other people's voices,
Other people's needs,
That's alright.
You don't have to push any of it away.
Just let each thought pass through like someone walking by while you stay here with your breath.
Now,
Let's move gently through your body,
Softening as we go.
Bring your attention to your hands.
So often,
They're the first to hold on,
Clenched,
Ready,
Doing.
Let your fingers uncurl.
Let your palms open just a little.
As you could set something down into them and let it go.
Soften your arms.
Your shoulders,
Which carry so much.
And your whole width of your back.
Feel it widen and release.
Let your chest be soft.
Your belly rising and falling without holding.
And breathe down into your hips,
Your legs.
All the way to your feet.
Your whole body,
Supported and still.
Nothing to do here but breathe.
From this quiet place,
Let's gently notice what you have been carrying.
So many of us move through our days holding things that were never really ours.
A worry we absorbed from someone we love.
The weight of a mood that wasn't ours to fix.
The feeling that we are responsible for everyone's comfort,
Everyone's happiness.
So just for now.
Picture yourself setting a small bag down on the ground beside you.
And into it without judging any of it.
You can place the things that aren't yours to hold today.
Someone else's disappointment.
Place it down.
A task that truly belongs to another person.
Set it down.
The expectation that you must be everything.
For everyone.
All of the time.
You can lay that down to.
This isn't about not caring.
You have a good,
Generous heart.
That isn't going anywhere.
It's simply that you cannot pour from an empty cup and you are allowed to keep a little of yourself for yourself.
Quietly on your next breath out.
You may say,
Inside.
I can care for people without caring for them.
And also you might say inside,
What is mine,
I will hold gently.
What is not mine.
I can put down.
Feel how much lighter your body becomes when you're only carrying your own chair.
There's so much more room to breathe.
So much more of you left over for the people and the moments that matter.
Rest here in that spaciousness.
You have set something down,
And the world has not fallen apart.
You are still here,
Still whole.
And a little bit more free.
In a moment,
We will come back.
But you can leave that bag right where it is.
You don't have to pick it up all again.
Slowly begin to deepen your breath a little.
Let a small movement return to your fingers.
And your toes.
Feel the surface beneath you again.
And the room around you.
And when you are ready.
In your own time.
Never rushing.
Let your eyes softly open,
Carrying this lightness with you.
Whatever you walk back into,
You get to choose what you pick up.
And that choice is yours.
May you carry only what is truly yours and carry it gently.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
Whenever you need a moment of calm.
This space will be here for you.
Be gentle with yourself.
Until next time.
