Coming to find a comfortable place to lie down for this practice.
You may want to place a small cushion underneath the knees.
Ease the lower back.
You might like to put a small pillow underneath the head.
Or an eye mask or an eye pillow to gently close down the eyes.
Allowing your body to come into Shavasana.
Letting the feet fall in a way that is comfortable and relaxed.
And allowing the arms to rest gently either side of the body with the palms facing up.
Allowing the whole body to soften into the floor below you.
Beginning by taking a few nice deep breaths in through the nose.
And then exhaling that out completely through the mouth,
Making a nice,
Long sigh.
Repeating this two more times.
How allowing your face to relax.
Letting the eyes become heavy.
You may even notice the sensation of the eyeballs sinking back into the head.
Letting go of any tension in the jaw.
Relaxing the tongue and the throat.
With each exhalation,
Can you allow yourself to sink a little deeper,
Letting go just a little bit more with each exhalation?
Giving your whole body permission to be completely relaxed.
As we begin the practice,
Just inviting yourself to stay still during the practice.
To stay awake and conscious.
Bringing to mind a resolve for this practice,
An intention,
Or some potential change that you would like to bring to life.
You can phrase this as if it's already happening.
For example,
I'm in the process of… I'm grateful for… I am moving towards,
Or just simply,
I am.
Bringing a statement to mind that shapes your intention for this practice.
Once you have that intention,
Just repeating it quietly three times to yourself.
You'll now be guided to allow your awareness to move lightly and quickly from one part of the body to the next.
As you hear me name the part of the body,
Just gently directing your awareness to that place.
And following my voice with as much focus as you can.
Begin on the right side of the body.
Bring your awareness to the palm of your right hand.
To the thumb of the right hand.
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
The little finger.
The right wrist.
The right lower arm.
Upper arm.
The shoulder.
Your whole right arm.
Now taking your awareness to your right foot.
Right big toe,
Second toe.
.
.
That toe.
Fourth toe.
Little toe.
The right ankle.
Right shin.
Bye.
The whole right leg.
Gently guiding your awareness to the left-hand side,
Bringing your awareness to the palm of your left hand.
The left thumb.
Index finger Middle finger ring finger.
The little finger.
The left wrist.
The lower arm.
Upper arm.
The shoulder.
The whole left arm.
Taking your awareness to the left foot.
Left big toe and second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
A little toe.
The left ankle.
The left shin.
The thigh.
The whole left leg.
Now bringing your awareness to the front of the torso.
The pelvis.
The lower belly.
The waste.
The upper abdomen.
Chest.
Gently guiding your awareness further up to the neck.
Right.
The chin.
The mouth.
The lower lip.
I'll pull it.
The right nostril.
The left nostril.
The right cheek.
The left cheek.
The right ear.
The left ear.
The right eye.
The left eye.
The right eyebrow.
The left eyebrow.
The forehead.
The point between the eyebrows.
The top of the head.
The whole torso and the head all together.
Now taking your awareness to the backside of the torso.
The sacrum.
The lower back.
Upper back.
Guiding your awareness up to the back of the neck.
The back of the head.
The whole back of the torso and the back of the head together.
Now integrating your awareness to take in the whole body together.
The whole body together.
Gently guiding your awareness towards your breath now.
Beginning to notice the belly as it rises and falls with each inhalation and each exhalation.
Noticing this cyclical pattern of the breath with your full awareness.
As you inhale,
Begin to notice the subtle sensation in the nostrils as you breathe.
After you inhale.
Noticing the space before you exhale.
Beginning to notice the subtle sensations in the nostrils with each exhalation.
Beginning now to observe all four parts of the breath with equal attention and interest.
Noticing each inhalation.
Each pause at the top.
Each exhalation.
And each pause at the bottom.
Now cultivating an awareness of opposites in the body.
Beginning to imagine that your body is growing heavy.
With each exhalation,
The body gets heavier and heavier,
And you feel yourself sinking more and more deeply into the earth.
Imagining your body is made of stone.
And feeling the density and the weight increasing as you keep getting heavier and heavier.
Now cultivating an awareness of lightness,
Imagine that you're becoming lighter and lighter with each exhalation.
Each exhalation allows you to feel more and more weightless.
You start to feel as if you would be full of air and light and buoyant.
Experience this sensation as a lifting away from the earth.
Sense of floating in the air.
Allowing yourself to come back to the earth.
And now imagine that you're growing warmer with each exhalation and each inhalation.
Feeling your temperature increasing.
And now allowing the body to feel cooler,
Visualize that you're growing cooler.
Freshness.
Coming cooler and cooler inside of you.
Allowing this freshness to keep you in a place of awareness,
A place of consciousness.
Now returning back to a comfortable temperature.
And to a place where you feel supported by the earth beneath you.
Begin to visualize yourself standing at the start of a path.
A path made of white gravel.
That stretches out in front of you and weaves into an old oak forest.
You begin to walk along this path.
And enter into the forest.
You notice how it feels refreshing to come into the shade and the cover of the trees in the forest.
As you continue along the path,
You notice how you're surrounded by birdsong.
You can hear the joyful calls of many different birds in the forest surrounding you.
As you continue,
You can hear the stones of the white gravel path crunching underneath your feet.
As you walk forward,
You sense how the path starts sloping downhill in front of you.
Slowly becoming narrower.
Until it turns into steps that are made from wooden planks.
You continue walking down the steps,
Allowing them to gently ease you down the hill and deeper into the forest.
As you continue down,
You notice that there are ferns and mosses that cover the forest floor.
You take a deep breath in and enjoy the cleansing sensation of the fresh,
Cool,
Earthy air in your lungs.
The path now takes you to a small clearing on the side of the hill.
You notice how the forest canopy opens up and allows some more sunlight to trickle in.
You step off the path and onto the soft grass.
Noticing how it feels under your feet.
In the middle of this clearing,
You notice that there's a grand old oak tree.
A grandmother tree.
Hundreds of years old.
Its bark is textured and its limbs are long and null.
You sense that this tree has a special energy.
You walk up to it and place both your hands on the trunk,
Feeling the texture of the bark underneath your hands.
You immediately notice how the energy of the tree grounds you and makes you feel very connected to the earth and all that is around you.
As you stand there,
You enjoy the warmth of the sun on your back.
And you start to notice other beautiful details in the clearing.
The tiny lilac wild orchids growing in the grass.
The orange butterflies that dance past.
Continued song of the birds.
You look down now and notice that there are acorns on the ground.
Acorns that have fallen from the oak tree.
You pick up one of the acorns and turn it around in your fingers,
Noticing the smooth surface and the jagged cap as you roll it between your fingers.
For a moment,
You feel an intense sense of awe as you realize this beautiful,
Wise,
Old oak tree also began its life as one of these small acorns.
As you turn the acorn over in your hand,
You notice that there's a small message engraved on it.
And you sense that this message is especially for you.
Its wisdom distilled from the grandmother oak tree.
You open up your palm and you read the message on the acorn.
You allow its meaning to sink into you like a seed of realization.
You place the acorn in your pocket.
And sit down at the base of the oak tree,
Your back resting on its sturdy trunk.
Gently closing down your eyes,
You let the warm spring air and the sunshine diffuse gently over your body.
As you sit here,
You allow memories that bring you joy to move through your mind and your body.
Allow yourself to witness these sensations of joy as they arise,
Sitting in the seat of the observer.
Continuing to let these joyful memories wash over you.
Simply observing how it feels to savor these sensations.
As you observe yourself.
Contemplate for a moment this sense of self.
Who is the one who is aware of these feelings and emotions?
Who is the one who observes them?
And turn the inquiry inward and ask.
Who am I?
Can I observe the observer?
Now allowing the perceived barrier between yourself and all that is to dissolve.
Allowing yourself to be held in a deep sense of interconnectedness with all that is.
Giving yourself permission to merge into the wisdom and consciousness of all that surrounds you.
Allowing yourself to sit here a while longer,
Feeling at one with the tree supporting your back and the nature that surrounds you.
Now time to gently guide yourself back into your body.
Into the room that you're physically in.
Starting to become aware of any sensations that you currently have in the body.
Points of contact with the Earth.
Feeling of your clothing or anything covering you.
Becoming aware of the space around you.
The location that you find yourself in.
And taking a moment to reconnect with your sankalpa,
The intention that you set at the beginning of the practice.
Just repeating that to yourself three times.
Gently guiding your awareness to your breath.
Noticing how the belly rises and falls.
Starting to find some small movements in your fingers and your toes.
And allowing your full self to return to this space.
When you feel ready you're welcome to Lengthen the arms above the head and take some gentle stretches.
Or rolling over onto your side.
And resting there for a few breaths.
Before you gently press yourself up.
To a comfortable seat.
Allowing yourself some time to come back into the moment and into this space.
You may want to take some time to journal or capture anything that came up for you in this practice.
Thank you for joining me.
