Find a quiet position,
Let your body settle in whatever way feels right.
Take a deep inhale,
Fill up your chest,
Your ribs,
Your belly,
And now let it all go.
One more time,
Slower,
Inhale,
Fill yourself up,
Exhale and let it all go.
Now close your eyes,
Jaw soft,
Shoulders relaxed,
And for these 20 minutes,
No one to be calm,
Nothing to fix,
Just breathe.
The breath moves in and out like a tide that doesn't ask anything of you.
No pressure to change,
No need to perform,
You are just here.
Now gently bring the breath into the body as if it were an invitation to come back.
Bring awareness to the crown of your head,
Feel the space above it,
The quiet sky holding you.
Let the silence drift down into your scalp,
Forehead,
Eyes,
Jaw.
Let the breath soften your throat,
Your shoulders,
Your chest.
Your shoulders have carried so much all those years,
Let the weight slip away like armor melting off your bones.
Imagine someone peeling off the names you've worn,
One by one,
Until the skin underneath it can breathe.
Let your belly rise and fall,
No holding,
No hiding,
Just here.
Now feel the body as one field,
As one whole presence,
And let go just a little more.
Let your hands unclench from the need to fix,
To perform,
And just be.
Let the breath keep you company,
Let the ground carry the weight.
You are here,
You are enough.
You've arrived now in the quiet,
The place beneath the language.
From here,
You may notice the faint echo of voices you didn't choose,
Words that shaped you before you had the tools to say no.
You are too much,
You are too quiet,
You need to be different.
Some voices didn't speak,
They came in silence,
In stares,
In absence.
Let them rise and pass,
Like birds across the sky.
No need to hold,
No need to follow,
No need to resist.
There was a part of you that tried to become what they needed,
The peacemaker,
The achiever,
The one who held it together.
It wasn't weakness,
It was brilliance,
It was survival.
You can honor that part of you.
It protected you when you needed it,
Until now,
Now you can let it rest.
You are not in those moments anymore,
You are here,
Witnessing them from your center.
Breathe gently now,
As if each breath carries permission,
Permission to dissolve every name that never fit.
There is a place inside you that remembers who you are.
It may feel quiet,
It may feel unsure,
But it's still here.
Let the breath guide you there,
Let that voice rise.
Feel the costume unstitch itself,
Thread by thread,
From your edges.
Underneath it all,
What remains?
Inhale softly now,
Hold,
Exhale slowly now,
Feel what's left,
After all the rules fall away,
I'm not who they said I was.
Let that truth settle,
Let it become breath,
Let it become presence.
Let your breath deepen,
Not force,
Just steady.
You are the one choosing what stays and what leaves.
Exhale and let it go.
You do not owe your identity to their memory.
Inhale,
Feel yourself centered.
Hold.
Exhale,
Release their expectations.
Imagine a cord tied to an old story.
Inhale,
Notice it.
Exhale,
Let it loosen.
No need to push,
Just let it soften.
Inhale,
My body belongs to me now.
Hold,
Their words lose their grip.
Exhale,
My skin remembers only its own name.
Inhale,
I return to myself.
Hold,
I take back my name.
Exhale,
I release what I am not.
You are not the words they use.
You are not the mask they glue to your skin.
You are the breath that outlasts their echo.
I am not what they called me,
Not the names,
Not the shame.
I am not the silence they put me in,
Not the role that made them comfortable.
I am not theirs to define.
Exhale.
I am breath.
I am fire.
I am fire.
I am light breaking through.
I am the unbreakable core.
I am the name I choose.
I am the truth I reclaim.
Inhale,
I remember who I am.
Hold,
I speak it now.
Exhale,
I set myself free.
Say it softer now,
Just to yourself.
I am not their story.
I am not their story.
I am not their story.
Let yourselves absorb this.
You walk through memory and silence,
Through shadow and breath,
And you came back for yourself.
Not to prove,
Not to fight,
But to remember.
So say it one last time.
I am not who they said I was.
I am the voice I found inside.
I am free.
I was never theirs to own.
I choose who I am.
I claim the name no one gave me.
I was never meant to be controlled.
I have always been my own.
And I have always been enough.
Let your breath soften.
Let your body settle.
Take one more breath.
Not for anyone else.
This one is just for you.
Let it rise.
Let it rise.
Let it stay.
Let it go.
This breath is yours.
This name is the one you give yourself now.
When you rise from this stillness,
Carry only what's yours.
The breath,
The presence,
The name you choose.
Leave the rest here.
Stay here for a moment longer.
No more water.
No more rolls.
No more noise.
Just breath.
Just truth.
Just you.
You as you've always been.
As you never were allowed to be.
Until now.
