And so go ahead and just start by taking a few deep breaths in through the nose and out of the nose.
And as you exhale,
Just remember to allow the body to rest.
Allow any tension to fall down towards the earth and just let the body continue to sink down.
And if you find that there are spaces or places in the body that are very tense or still attempting to be held up by muscle,
Take a deep inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
So what we're doing right now is just connecting to the breath,
Connecting to the body,
And just noticing whatever we notice right now.
So in a little bit,
We're going to shift our breath and we're going to engage the belly,
The side body,
And the chest.
So take two more breaths on your own and after those two breaths,
Just move to the full bodied breath.
Take five of these breaths on your own.
One more breath.
And if you feel as though you haven't finished with the breath cycle,
You're welcome to continue that breath now.
If you have finished,
We will go ahead and start a body scan.
So starting at the top of the head,
Just notice what you feel.
From the top of the head,
Bring the attention down to the eyebrows,
Down to the eyes,
And notice if there is an opportunity to relax this space.
And from the eyes,
Down to the nose and cheeks,
And notice if there is an opportunity to relax this space.
From the nose and cheeks,
Down to the mouth,
To the jaw,
To the chin,
And notice if there is an opportunity to relax.
Moving down to the ears,
Notice if there is an opportunity to relax.
And allow the back of the head to relax a little bit more as well.
Notice how the whole head feels.
And if there is any opportunities to relax it,
Do that now.
From the head,
Move the attention down the back of the neck and the throat.
And you can stop right along the collarbone.
And just notice what you notice here.
From the collarbone,
Move to the shoulders,
The shoulder blades,
And the upper back,
And the chest.
And if there is an opportunity to relax,
Do that now.
From the shoulders,
Allow your attention to move down the arms towards the elbows,
From the elbows towards the wrist,
From the wrist down to the hands,
The fingers,
The thumbs.
And just notice what you notice here.
And take every opportunity to relax.
From the hands,
Bring the attention up to the elbows,
Up to the shoulders,
To the chest,
And the upper back.
And slowly start to bring the attention down to the belly,
And down the spine to the lower back.
Allow the attention to also move down the sides of the body to the rib cage.
And just notice how this feels.
Notice and take every opportunity to relax the body a little bit further.
And really just take this opportunity to notice how the top half of the body feels.
So with the attention at the belly,
At the lower back,
And the upper back,
Bring the attention down to the waist,
To the hips,
To the pelvic area,
To the butt.
And just notice what you feel.
Notice if there is any tension,
And if there is,
Take this as your opportunity to relax.
From the pelvic area,
From the hips,
From the waist,
Bring the attention down to the thighs,
Down to the knees,
Down the calves,
Down the front of the legs,
To the ankles,
From the ankles to the tops of the feet,
And finally to the bottom of the feet.
And take the next 10 breaths on your own,
Just allowing the breath to move through the body.
And if you find that there are any spaces or places that still hold tension,
Just take an inhale through the nose and release through the mouth.
Three more breaths.
Take this opportunity now that you are connected to the breath,
Now that you are connected to the full body,
Now that you are as relaxed as possible.
And on the inhale,
A firm peace,
And on the exhale,
Just allow any frustrations,
Any stress to release.
Inhaling peace,
And exhaling release.
And on the exhale,
Just allow any stress to release.
And notice what it feels like to have the body full of peace.
Notice what it feels like when you put yourself first.
And bringing the attention back to the belly,
Just notice the quality of breath.
And slowly start to move the hands,
Fingers,
Toes,
The feet.
Start to move the face,
Maybe smiling,
Maybe gently moving the eyes while still closed.
And just start to bring the body back into the space.
Start to notice the surface that you're on.
Start to bring your mind back into the room,
Remembering where you are,
Remembering what's around you.
You can gently come over onto your side.
And if you can continue to keep your eyes closed,
Please do that.
And when you get here,
Just take the next few moments to prepare yourself for a seat.
So moving as gently and as gracefully as you can,
Bring yourself up into a comfortable seat.
When you get here,
You might make sure your spine is straight.
You might bring the palms into prayer.
Just do whatever feels right for you in this moment.
And take the next few moments to just show gratitude to yourself in some way.
This might be a simple thank you.
This might be a short prayer for your needs.
But take this time now.
And on your next inhale,
Inhale as deeply as you can and hold the breath once you reach the top.
Once you reach the top,
Take a few more sips of air and release the exhale through the mouth with a sigh.
Do this breath two more times,
Inhaling through the nose,
Filling up the body with air as much as you can.
And at the very top,
Taking a few more sips of air in and releasing through the mouth with a sigh.
On your next inhale,
Inhale as deeply as you've ever inhaled in your life.
And at the top,
Take in a few more sips of air,
A few more sips and exhale with a sigh out of the mouth.
