So make yourself really comfortable.
Gathering around you the things that you know you need so you can lie in comfort and support.
Having a sense that you can parachute down out of your day to come to lie down on the earth in a nest.
Softening your eyes closed so that you can take your awareness inside to your internal landscape and in your mind's eye imagine that you have a circle around you.
And this circle can be made of anything you like,
Your favourite trees,
Your favourite plants or even your favourite people so that you can have a sense that you are surrounded in sanctuary,
In comfort,
Safety and support.
Perhaps taking a breath in through the nose and as you breathe out releasing a sigh out of the mouth so you can release all of the day's excess energies out of the body down into the earth and just know that right there beneath you is the earth reaching up to meet you to hold anything that feels like it's too much.
Rumi says that between wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field and I'll meet you there.
Well here is that field,
A place where there isn't anything that you need to do,
There's no one that you need to please and there's nowhere that you need to be,
A place where your breath can hold you and my words are like your guide.
So perhaps noticing how the breath travels into the body,
Noticing the quality of your breathing and see if you can begin to invite a deeper breath in to move into the belly.
So as you next breathe in the belly expands,
The ribs expand reaching the breath all the way up to the collarbones and as you breathe out you can soften down into your nest in the earth.
At the end of your next exhale see how it might be to allow there to be a little pause just like you're resting in the winter time of the breath when nothing needs to happen and the new breath into the body is just like the spring bringing in the hope and the possibilities into the body and the full height of your inhalation is where you've arrived in the summer time of the breath.
So sensing the expansion of the breath across the chest,
The full height of your inhale and as you breathe out it's just as though you're moving through the autumn of the breath,
The letting go until you finally arrive again at the end of your exhale in the winter time of the breath.
So watching your breath flow in this cyclical fashion through the spring,
Summer.
Every breath in bringing in the space,
The expansion,
The lightness.
Every breath out a release,
A letting go.
And if it feels good to you to invite a smile on the lips perhaps turning up the corners of the mouth to invite and welcome in your experience exactly as it is,
To knowing that everything that arises is welcome and perhaps expanding that sense of smile across the chest as if the heart could smile with your next breath in.
Sensing how the heart smiles and the chest expands with the next breath in and the breath flowing into the heart space upon an ocean of gratitude.
Gratitude for all the thoughts and all the actions that have taken you right here,
Right now to this moment.
Giving yourself the gift of rest.
And whilst you rest in the moment where you are,
How have the pace of your days been?
The kinds of conversations you've been having?
And the quality of your sleep?
And with that in mind,
What needs the greatest care right now?
Just imagine you could bestow yourself a gift of kindness and support and sewing those sub words into the heart space so that you can come back to them any time you like.
And perhaps having a sense how these words are creating a glow in the heart so you can be heart warmed with appreciation for all that you are and to invite appreciation to flow around the body like a warm smile.
Placing a smile into the palm of your right hand.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
Little finger.
A warm smile wrapping around the right wrist.
Left hand.
Right shoulder.
Weaving this smile in between the ribs of the right side of the rib cage.
And to the right waist.
The right hip.
A warm smile of appreciation weaving its way between the toes of the right foot.
Right toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
And fifth toe.
Planting a smile into the sole of the right foot.
Bathe in appreciation from the smile from the heart.
And sweeping awareness underneath the breastbone into the heart space.
Feel how the heart opens and closes with the breath.
And the chest rises and falls with the breath.
Sensing the expansion of the heart across the chest.
And radiating it out into the left side of the body.
Into the palm of the left hand.
The left hand thumb.
Index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
And little finger.
A warm smile of appreciation wrapping around the left wrist.
Left elbow.
Left shoulder.
Weaving its way in between the ribs of the left side of the rib cage.
And to the left waist.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Planting a smile into the sole of the left foot.
The whole left side of the body.
Bathe in a warm appreciation.
Placing awareness onto the base of the spine.
Sending a smile up the spine.
Weaving its way around each vertebrae of the spine.
To the mid back.
Upper back.
Space at the back of the neck.
The crown of the head.
A smile into the space between the eyebrows where the dreams appear at night.
Smile on the right eyelid.
Tip of the nose.
Right cheek.
Chin and jaw.
Whole of the face.
Bathe in a warm smile.
Sending this smile down the throat to pour in the space between the collar bones.
Back underneath the breastbone into the heart.
Reconnecting the warmth and smile in the heart space.
And sending this smile all the way down into the belly.
To just imagine that you could gaze down at yourself as if from a bird's eye view.
Seeing yourself lying in your nest.
In a field.
Surrounded by your favourite things.
Bathed in a warm glow of appreciation for all that you are.
And feel how the breath flows between the belly and the heart.
So as you breathe in,
The breath flows up to the heart space.
And as you breathe out,
The breath flows back down to the belly from the heart.
Almost like a greeting.
And if it's helpful,
You can imagine a golden thread connecting these two places of wisdom.
And as you breathe in,
You see the breath travelling from the belly up to the heart along a golden thread.
And as you breathe out,
Breath flowing from the heart back down to the belly.
And choosing which place to rest in.
Could be the heart,
Could be the belly.
The place where you know you hold your wisdom.
And just imagine that you could offer yourself a gift that would bring you the greatest joy and the greatest delight.
Something that will support you and encourage you as you move forwards into the next season.
And what might that be?
If you find it hard to imagine those words,
Then perhaps offer it to yourself as if you're offering it to a small child.
Feeling how the whole of the front of the body is wide open and expansive to the sky above you.
At the same time,
You're rooted and connected down into the field beneath you.
As if so many rootlets are connecting you and reconnecting you down into the earth.
So knowing how it is to feel so rooted and grounded and yet so open and spacious all at the same time as you find yourself in this place where the earth kisses the sky.
Begin to deepen the breath as you breathe out,
Taking a sigh out of the mouth.
Welcome for whatever is coming next in the rest of your day.
And just know that you can come back to this place,
To this field and sanctuary any time that you like.
And all that you need is your breath to take you there.
Begin to bring some gentle movement into the body.
Stretching in any way that feels really delicious to you.
Knowing that this practice is now complete.
