A warm welcome to this short meditation today,
Where you will connect with your body and your breath,
Helping you to calm any racing thoughts,
Worries or tension within you.
Find a comfortable position where you can sit or lie down,
Whatever works best for you.
Allow your arms and hands to rest on your lap,
Your stomach or on the floor.
If,
Throughout this,
Your mind does wander at all,
Then please know that is completely normal.
If or when you notice it,
Just bring your attention back to your body,
My voice and the exercise.
So,
When you are ready,
Just allow your eyes to close.
Let's begin by taking a nice,
Slow,
Deep breath in through your nose and release your breath on a long exhale through the mouth.
Again,
Slowly in.
As you breathe out,
Try to do so through pursed lips,
As if blowing a kiss or through a small straw.
With each breath,
Just allow your body to become heavier as we settle into our meditation today.
As we go deeper into this practice,
Just try to extend your out-breath even further.
A long,
Slow exhale,
Particularly through pursed lips,
Has been shown to slow the heart rate,
Relax the body and quieten the mind.
Slow breathing like this will also help to activate your parasympathetic nervous system.
And this nervous system,
Among other things,
Is responsible for calming down the body after or during a stressful situation,
Gradually reversing the fight or flight response.
Continue to breathe in this way in your own time and enjoy the sensation of inhaling peace and exhaling stress.
Let your out-breath be long and let your body sink ever so slightly into the surface beneath you.
And now,
Just allow yourself to breathe naturally again,
Noticing any new feelings or sensations in your body.
Let us scan down the body now and simply observe.
Bring your focus to the top of your head,
Perhaps feeling warm or even numb.
Or you might not feel anything in particular and that's also okay.
Remember that there is no right or wrong,
We are just noticing our body in ways that we don't normally do and being curious today.
Bring your focus to your eyes and notice any feelings or sensations here.
Focus on your cheeks and simply observe.
Focus on your lips and your tongue.
Focus on your jaw now and,
If you need to,
Just give permission for your jaw to release even more.
Bring awareness to your neck and your shoulders.
Observe and feel without judgement.
Let your focus trickle through your arms,
In your biceps and your triceps,
Down your elbows,
Your forearms and your wrists.
Focus on your hands,
The back of your hands and your fingers.
Bring awareness to your chest.
Observe how it expands and softens with each breath.
Notice your heart beating and this wonderful life coursing through you.
Focus on your stomach and your abdomen.
Let go of any pressure or tendency to hold in today.
You and your body can be completely free.
Observe your breath rising and falling.
Bring your awareness to your lower back and your hips,
Noticing any sensations here.
Allow your focus to trickle down your legs now,
Starting in your quads and your hamstrings.
Moving through your knees,
Into your calves and your shins and down into your ankles.
Observe and release.
Focus on the tops of your feet,
Notice any sensations here.
Move this focus to the bottoms of your feet and finally into your toes.
Take a moment now to just feel your whole body and allow your attention and awareness to drift wherever you would like it to go.
Gently observe each area before moving on.
You are deeply connected to your body and you are embracing peace.
And gradually bring your focus back to your breath now and just observe this gentle rising and falling sensation.
And this time you are not controlling anything,
You are allowing your breath to simply be.
In order to connect even deeper to your natural breath,
You can count each breath in and out from 1 to 10.
Again there is no need to force your breathing here,
Just count as it happens.
Once you reach 10 you can start the cycle again.
Now you can start to bring your awareness back to your whole body and to the space around you.
When you are ready you can allow your eyes to open as you take in your surroundings once more.
This meditation practice will be here for you should you ever need it again.
It is simple and effective and I hope you feel more calm and connected to your body and your breath.
If it helps you could take a minute or two now to note down any observations or discoveries you had during this session.
Thank you for joining me today and I'll see you again soon.
