Take a moment to settle your body.
Find a position where nothing is expected,
Where you don't have to hold any shape or any conversation or anyone else's expectations.
Let the weight of the day soften away from you,
Moment by moment.
This practice is a resting place for your system,
Especially when you've been tangled in other people's opinions,
Reactions,
Or emotions,
Especially when you've been pulled into that drama that isn't yours.
Here you get to rest from all of that.
Let your eyes soften or close.
Let your jaw unhinge and fall open just a little.
And take one easy breath in.
And take one easy breath in and a long breath out.
We'll open with a few gentle rounds of box breathing.
Inhale for four.
Exhale for four.
Hold for four.
Exhale for four.
And hold for four.
Again,
Inhale.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale.
Two,
Three,
Four.
And hold.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Now take one more round at your own pace.
Let the breath become quieter,
Softer,
Falling back into its natural rhythm.
Now here we introduce our sankalpa.
This is the quiet truth you are planting inside the body and mind.
So right now that's going to be,
My breath is mine.
Say it silently once.
Whisper it once in your mind.
Let the meaning of it soak into your ribcage like the first light beginning to glow from your inner world of your heart waking up.
My breath is mine,
Is mine.
Now bring your awareness to your feet.
Imagine a warm,
Steady grounding cord descending from the soles of your feet down through layers of soil,
Past stone,
Into the cool,
Dense body of Mother Earth.
She receives your stress neutrally.
She receives your judgments without reacting.
She absorbs every resentment without holding it against you.
Now let the cord to her anchor you deeply.
Let your pelvis grow heavy and heavier.
Let your ribcage loosen.
And now gently we move into the body.
Bring awareness to your right foot,
Then your left foot.
Right calf,
Left calf.
Right thigh,
Left thigh.
Now feel the whole lower body held and supported.
Now release the pelvis and belly settling down.
Right hand,
Left hand.
Right forearm,
Left forearm.
As we move into the right upper arm,
Just bring your attention there and feel this area release.
Left upper arm.
Now moving into the heart space,
Breathe here.
Feel the gentle rise of the sternum.
Engage the throat in softening.
Unhinge the jaw.
Release the cheeks.
Your temples relax.
Your crown feels tingly.
Now feel the entire body together.
All of you,
All at once,
Melting into the ground beneath you.
Now,
Listen for sounds close by.
What do you hear right next to you?
Is it the sound of your breath?
Now listen for sounds far away,
Maybe noise on the street outside the window.
Bring your attention to farther away and then back to close by.
Let every sound you hear bring you deeper and no need to judge it or identify it,
Just listen.
Now imagine the subtle shift of the air around you as if a corridor of ancient stone is forming up into your awareness.
It is a safe place for you.
Your body is still here resting,
But your inner world begins to open in vivid imagery and then you hear footsteps echoing in the distance.
Your body is still here resting,
But your inner world begins to open in vivid imagery.
You sense footsteps echoing softly in the distance.
Maybe yours.
Maybe simply the temple itself remembering you.
The air is cool and damp.
There is a faint mist drifting across the floor.
Somewhere you hear running water slipping along carved channels in the rock.
Light filters in through unseen cracks.
Either pure sunlight or a shimmer of electric blue starlight,
You decide,
It's your temple.
You choose what feels right for it.
You step or simply glide into your inner temple.
A place made of lava rock and wet moss with ancient sculptures that feel deeply familiar.
This place reflects you.
Your solitude,
Your strength,
Your truth.
The walls seem to breathe with you.
They recognize you.
They welcome you.
Your presence is enough.
As you move,
The temple's architecture becomes more elaborate.
As if it's building itself around you in real time.
And you feel utterly safe here.
Utterly unseen by the world outside for just a moment.
Untangled.
Feel those heavy ropes that wrap around you.
Not harmful.
Just tight.
Like your commitments.
Like your judgments and your resentments.
The remnants of expectations you carry.
Opinions you've internalized.
Criticism you absorbed.
See these tensions as threads of yarn.
They're soft at first.
And then loosening.
Loosening more.
You feel the yarn ball unraveling now.
Thread after thread releasing its hold.
A fog begins to lift off your skin.
A gentle peeling back of what was never yours.
A cloak then slides off your shoulders.
Falling quietly to the ground.
No need to brag.
But instead give thanks.
There is a slow build.
A growing spaciousness inside your ribs.
And then a sudden clarity.
A breath that feels unmistakably yours.
A moment of truth.
And the temple brightens as if agreeing with you.
Feel warmth then spreading throughout your chest.
Feel the weight rising through your pelvis.
Your ribcage loosens even more into the back muscles.
The inner temple seems to smile back at you.
A knowing ancient recognition.
Your breath returns fully into your own body.
And silently or out loud repeat your sankalpa.
My breath is mine.
Let it echo inside you.
My breath is mine.
Imagine these phrases whispered from the walls themselves.
Bouncing off the hallways echoing.
Gently in a cave of truth.
My body is whole.
My body is whole.
My spirit is whole.
My spirit is whole.
Together.
Together.
What belongs elsewhere dissolves now.
Now.
I soften to what is.
I soften to what is.
I stand alone and courageous.
I stand alone and courageous.
I am invincible by divine right.
I am invincible by divine right.
My breath is mine.
My breath.
My breath.
Let each affirmation ripple into your bones.
And a soft light begins to gather in your heart.
Warm.
Steady.
Intelligent.
It expands outward.
Growing.
Surrounding your body in a protective glow.
Your aura now sealed in gold.
Nothing can penetrate without your permission.
Nothing but love.
You feel whole again.
All of a sudden you feel unhooked.
You feel like yourself.
You feel off the hook.
The temple sends you one final blessing.
And that is you belong to you.
You belong to you.
Now gently return to the breath.
One last round of box breathing.
Inhaling for 4,
3,
2,
1.
Hold 4,
3,
2,
1.
And exhale 4,
3,
2,
1.
Let a quiet Aum form inside the chest.
Vibrating through the heart light.
You may whisper it.
Or simply feel it resonate in silence.
Namaste.
