18 Minute Deep Relaxation

This deep relaxation is inspired by words from Jeff Foster: 'Here's what meditation really is: touching life exactly where life is touching you.' Nothing imagined, nothing made up, this relaxation is purely your current experience. When we approach our practice in this way we have the opportunity to receive ourselves exactly as we are. There really is nothing we need to do differently. This moment, this breath, this body, this thought, this feeling, all of it - perfect.

Transcript

Hello there, This is Amanda. Welcome to this relaxation practice which is inspired by these words from Jeff Foster. Here's what meditation really is, Touching life exactly where life is touching you. So take a moment here to find a receptive and open quality to your posture. You might be laying down in your bed, You might be laying on a yoga mat, You might be leaning up against a wall, You can be seated in a chair. Find the most supportive way that you can to receive this deeply healing relaxation. You might like to cover your eyes with an eye pillow or a head wrap, You might like to cover yourself in a light or a heavy blanket. Take a moment to align your head, Your throat, Your heart and your pelvis so that your spine is in a nice sense of alignment, But that your muscles, Your muscular body can soften down into whatever support you find yourself on. Turn your attention to your most natural breath and as suggested by Jeff Foster, Receive the breath exactly as it's touching you. Noticing the varying qualities of this breath right now and the breath that follows and the one after that. Staying with each individual breath as it arrives and as it leaves. Notice at this moment if there is some way that your physical body could be made a little more comfortable. Take a moment to adjust your body and then let your body settle down, Let it settle into this relaxation. Coming gently back to your breath, And observing your breath lightly. Notice what it feels like to watch your breath lightly and lovingly receiving the breath just as it is. Allowing each successive exhale to take you a little more deeply into the support that is beneath you. Allow each inhalation to open your front body softly and gently to all of life as it is arriving in this sweet moment. And now gently guide your attention down to the tips of your toes. Tune into what you are sensing in your toe tips right now. Notice all the myriad of sensations in the tips of your toes. Sense the pulsations trickling down the necks of your toe into the core of each foot, The top of each foot, The sole of each foot, All the way to the heel. Just allowing your attention to be drawn. Gently and naturally through each foot, Receiving the life that is there right at this moment. Let your attention be drawn into your ankles, Sensing, Exploring, Exploring with curiosity the sensations alive right at this moment in your ankles. Drifting up through your calves and your shins. Noticing, Observing, Receiving without judgment, Sensations in and around your knees, The fronts, The backs, The inner knee and the outer knee. Awareness trickling upward into your thighs, Receiving the femur bones, Those big leg bones as they are. The quad muscles in front and the hamstrings in back. The life in your legs, In your feet and in your toes. Sense your attention now drawn to the tips of your fingers. Pause to feel the life, Pulsing in the tips of your fingers, Allowing your attention to drift upward along the length of each finger and thumb. Sensing the palms of your hands and their backs, The core of each hand. Let your attention drift into your wrists, Your inner forearms and your outer forearms, Your inner elbows and your outer elbows. Your inner upper arms and your outer upper arms. Sense each shoulder joint. Receive each shoulder joint exactly as it is. And now let your attention drift gently down to the very base of your spine. Notice your two buttocks, Your two groins, Your outer hips. Sense the bowl of your belly and breathe deeply into the bowl of your abdomen. Sense your belly expanding 360 degrees, Front, Back, To the sides. Sense pulsation in your belly. Notice your awareness of your inner abdomen, Let your attention drop through to your sacrum, The sacred bone in the lowest part of your back. Letting your attention swim through your lower back into your middle and upper back. And almost like a great big hug, Let your awareness wrap around your side waist, Experiencing them lightly as your attention pulls into your front body, Your chest, Your collarbones, Your throat, Meandering around the sides of the throat into the back of your neck. Letting your attention now pour into the back of your head, The two sides of your head, The top of your head, Your forehead, Your two eyebrows, Your temples, Your two eyes, Experience your eyeballs as they are, The bridge of your nose, Your nose tip, Your cheeks, Your two ears, Your two jaws, Your two lips, The inside of your mouth, Receiving sensations inside of your mouth as they are arriving moment by moment, The tip of your chin, The center of your throat, The center of your chest. Taking a few slow 360 degree breaths into the center of your chest. Receiving the whole body, The whole entire body as it is appearing in your awareness right at this moment. All pulsations, All vibrations being received in this one moment. If you would like to continue to lay and receive, You could stop the recording now. When you're ready to begin to proceed with the rest of your day or your night, Awaken very slowly, Softly and gently begin to unfurl your fingertips, Wriggle your toes, Maybe deepen your breath. You might yawn and stretch. When you're ready, You might gently lift your eyelids to receive the room that you're in and the response that your body is giving to this relaxation. I hope you enjoyed that. Have a great rest of your day or night wherever you are. Bye for now.