This meditation is designed to take you on an inward journey to rest and replenish.
Make any final alterations to your physical position or the space that you need to,
To ensure that you can really start to tune in to today's practice.
Tuning in so you can tune out of what has been occupying your mind thus far today,
So that you can meet the present moment breath by breath.
So with that,
Allowing the eyelids to gently close if they haven't already done so,
And just letting the face relax.
Gently sealing off the lips and then continuing to be aware of your body as you breathe.
So coming straight into the experience of the breath,
And allowing the breath to be what draws you closer back towards yourself.
So imagining that you had left the body somewhat energetically or mentally come out of the body because we're up in our brains and our minds a lot,
And imagine that each breath you were taking you were just re-inhabiting your body further and fuller.
A sense of returning,
A sense of remembrance that you can just tune into the breath to find present moment.
And it might feel good to do a few arrival breaths in through the nose and then allowing the breath to release through the mouth like it was a waterfall just washing everything away that doesn't need to be there.
And the inhale breath draws you to this very moment even more.
You meet it.
The exhale washes anything away that blocks you from meeting this moment with the breath.
And then once you've had those arrival breaths just again gently sealing off the lips,
Let the breath travel freely through the nostrils.
Nasal breathing.
And how present can you get to the breath in the nostrils?
Can you sense the temperature of air coming in and going out?
Can you sense the air touching the hairs within the nostrils,
Our filtration system?
How close can you get to the experience of the breath?
Taking up further residence in your body through your awareness and through that allowing the breath to take up more space too.
So over the coming moments the breath just starts to expand a little brighter and release a little longer.
Taking breaths that feel a little bit deeper and fuller than you would usually in the working day.
May this meditation,
May this guidance take you out of the mind space you've been and into a new state of being.
A space of replenishment.
And from here we'll move a little further with breath awareness to support us dropping into a restful space.
We're going to be allowing the mind to work with the exhale breaths.
So starting from the number 10 on the exhale that you next take,
Starting to count down.
So the next inhale will be an empty one,
You just let it come in.
And then you put the number 9 on the next breath out.
And then an empty number for the inhale and the number 8 for the next exhale.
And continue down the ladder,
Down the scale of numbers until you meet zero.
And if you get lost on the way or you slip off from the task,
Just gently remember what you're doing and come back to 10.
And if you make it to 10,
Come back to 10.
Start again.
That's the practice.
Explore this now for yourself with the breath.
Noticing where you have gone and gently coming back to the counts if you drifted elsewhere.
Stay with the exhale breath.
The number just rests on the surface of the breath.
Again,
Becoming aware as to where you've gone.
And gently come back to the breath and you're welcome to dissolve the counting now.
Notice how that was for you as you journeyed through that.
Were you able to stay with the breath and the count?
Did you drift off somewhere else?
And were you able to come back?
Just notice.
And from here on we're going to be doing a progressive muscle relaxation.
I'll be guiding you with my voice to different parts of your body.
You can either make this an activity purely of the mind through visualization and imagination.
Imagining the different body parts being engaged.
Or you could choose to make this a physical experience where you do physically engage and draw in different body parts.
But I'll take you there step by step so just stay with me as we go.
To begin with just notice the whole body exactly as it is.
And let the whole body feel heavy like lead or metal moving closer and closer down toward the ground.
Nothing to hold on to.
You can start to let go.
Yet at the same time there's this light quality to your physical form like a cloud about to disperse.
Light and airy,
Breezy and open,
Yet grounded and heavy.
Notice how it feels to embody those qualities.
And I begin in the feet today.
So noticing your feet now.
Sensing them.
And then start to either physically or just mentally draw the toes in toward the soles of the feet.
Scrunching the feet in a whole feet space.
Energize and engage for five,
Four,
Three.
Take a big breath in for two,
For one.
And as you exhale soften the feet entirely.
Notice how it feels to rebound from the engagement into the rest.
Like a lake that have movement now becoming a serene still body of water.
And then gently allowing your awareness to move up through the calf muscles,
The knees and the thighs.
And either mentally or physically join me as you engage this part of your body.
If you're going there physically press the heels out from the body.
Flex the toes toward your face and engage the entire length of the legs for five,
For four,
Three,
For two.
Take a deep breath in for one.
And then slowly exhale and release the legs entirely.
Softening,
Softening bones,
Muscles,
Skin.
It's almost like the space around the legs are relaxing to the atmosphere.
And then now simply noticing the hips and the back of the hips,
The glutes and the groin.
And either mentally or physically engage this area.
Hugging the glutes in,
Hugging the hips in for five,
Four,
Three,
Two.
Big breath in and as you exhale relax the glutes,
Relax the hips,
The front of the hips,
The groin.
Let it go.
Enjoy the stillness,
Enjoy the rest in between the animation.
And from here noticing the torso and the chest,
The internal organs,
The muscles,
Cells,
The veins,
The fascia,
Connective tissues in the torso.
And over the next few moments you're either going to just mentally imagine or engage the chest.
Hugging everything in for five,
For four,
Bring it all in towards your spine.
Two,
Take a full breath in.
Exhale to relax the entire torso,
All of the organs as if they were exhaling too.
Enjoy the stillness,
Enjoy the rest between the activity.
Completely soften.
And now I invite you to become aware of your hands.
Animating the hands now by drawing the fingers in towards the palms.
Squeezing for five,
Energize.
Three,
Two,
Full breath in and as you exhale just like a flower opening,
Let the fingers soften once again.
And allowing the awareness to spread from the hands up to the forearms,
The elbows,
The upper arms.
And either again making this an activity of the mind or squeezing the fists into balls once again and then lifting the fists toward the shoulders,
Bending at the elbow,
Engaging all of the muscles through the arms.
For five,
Four,
You can do this stronger.
Three,
Two,
Inhale and exhale.
Let the arms slowly unravel and soften back down.
Feel the sensations present,
Notice what's here and find stillness once again.
It's just like when we see a ripple on the surface of the water and it's that final ripple that spreads out through the body before that lovely stillness returns.
Just a couple more ripples to wash through the body through activity.
The next place we drift our mind to is the face.
Ears,
Head,
All the facial features,
The brain,
Neck and throat.
And then for the next few moments scrunching the face,
Squeezing the face in toward itself.
Eyes squeeze,
Cheeks squeeze,
Everything squeezes for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
Inhale fully and then exhale slowly to soften just like melting butter.
The face relaxes and spreads.
And for the very last part of the animation,
I invite you to engage the entire body.
Entire body switches on.
Final bit for five,
Four,
Three,
Two and one.
Let it go.
Exhale to soften.
Enjoy the deep stillness that you can receive after all of that animation.
Rest into the relaxation now.
Let the mind drift to wherever it needs to go.
Gently bring your awareness back to where you are present here and now.
Starting to breathe a little deeper once again.
And maybe you start to wiggle the fingers,
Wiggle the toes.
And if it feels good,
You might take a full body stretch,
Awakening the body after your replenishing session.
Take all the time you need to blink the eyes open and return to the space,
Feeling refreshed through rest.
