Let your eyelids soften closed and come to your breath without trying to change it or control it.
Just allow the natural rhythm of your inhales and your exhales.
Feel the beating of your heart.
Notice where your body moves in response to your breath.
Notice what feels still.
See if you can start to invite your breath into your belly.
Rather than try to force your breath into this space,
See if you can simply evoke a soft suggestion.
Slow deep inhales.
Slow deep exhales.
Feel the boundary of your skin and the temperature of the air around you.
Notice the contours of your physical body,
The bend of your legs,
The broadness of your shoulders,
The roundness of your cranium.
To sense the aliveness in the palms of your hands,
Your fingers.
Perhaps you feel heat,
Buzzing,
Tingling.
Drop your attention into your abdomen.
Notice the energy within your organs and cultivate a deep reverence for the work they do on a moment to moment basis to keep you alive.
Honor the intelligence in this space.
Perhaps you feel warm,
Vibrating,
Movement.
Spend a few moments and connect into the life that's below your skin.
Allow your shoulders to drip out of your neck.
Slowly and gently finding more space from your ears.
Elbows feel heavy.
Hands are soft.
Let your hips rest ever more easily on the floor or the chair beneath you.
Feel your legs soften from the inside out.
Ankles melt.
Feet release.
Even your toes find a deep sense of surrender to gravity.
Continue to receive your breath in a softening belly.
Feel your breath nourish your organs,
Your tissues,
Your diaphragm.
Every inhale invites a sweet softening.
Every exhale creates a deep love for whatever is showing up for you in this present moment.
Allow your jaw to unhinge,
Finding space in the very backs of your teeth.
Let your tongue fall into the floor of your mouth,
Softening into the root of your tongue.
You can even feel that sense of release flow into the back of your throat,
Extending down into your neck.
Allow the muscles around your eyes to melt,
The space in between your eyebrows to soften.
Imagine a soft opening that occurs even in the backs of your eyes,
Behind your eyeballs.
Feel your forehead slowly relax.
You can even imagine a softening that starts in the center of your head,
Slowly weaving and winding its way outward to the circumference of your skull,
Softening all the spaces in between your cranial bones,
Membranes,
Your brain.
What would it feel like if your brain could release,
Could soften,
Could come fully present into this moment?
As you encourage softness,
Nurture a state of deep acceptance for the spaces in your body that still feel constricted.
In them loving kindness,
Sweetness and patience.
All is well.
Everything is as it should be.
You are exactly as you are supposed to be.
Feel the boundary of your skin by connecting to the air and the energy around you.
Feel the temperature.
You could even imagine a glowing light coating the entire surface of your skin,
Soaking every cell of your body in a simmering energy.
Connect to your breath and once again know that you are here in this brilliant,
Unlimited moment of right now.
Let's take three breaths together to close this practice.
Inhale through your nose and feel your lungs expand in 360 degrees.
Exhale softly out of your mouth,
Feeling the air pass through your lips.
Again inhale into your softening belly.
Feel the air move into your lungs.
And exhale out of your mouth in a way that is smooth and sweet.
Final breath in,
Nourishing your body with fresh breath.
And exhale slowly,
Gently and with ease.
When you are ready,
You can slowly open your eyes.
Allow vision to come into your awareness.
Take this sense of ease with you throughout the rest of your day or evening.
And exhale slowly,
Gently and with ease.
And exhale slowly,
Gently and with ease.
And exhale slowly,
Gently and with ease.
And exhale slowly,
Gently and with ease.
And exhale slowly,
Gently and with ease.
And exhale slowly,
Gently and with ease.
And exhale slowly,
Gently and with ease.
