Tender Self-Care (Longer - With Muscle Tensing)

Give yourself some tender loving care. Take a break from the whole story of your life and drift into a deep and peaceful sleep. Longer version with muscle tensing. Recorded live on the 1st of October 2020.

Transcript

As we make this wind down of your day,

Let's mentally put a frame around this time and giving yourself the gift of a bit of time off,

Really taking a break from everything that is going on in your own life and everything that is going on in the world.

Let's really give ourselves a break from that.

So a time of putting down the phone,

Turning off the news,

Shutting the computer off and really giving yourself some space,

Some time and some space just to be.

And let's very quickly let your body really feel the difference between tension and relaxation.

So starting in your legs,

Squeezing the muscles tightly and then releasing and letting go.

And let the weight of your legs go.

And then raise your hips,

Squeezing the muscles and then allowing your hips to settle back down and completely release the weight.

Good.

And then press your lower back down into the bed or the floor.

And then releasing and letting go.

Feel the difference here between holding,

Contraction and tightness and that wave of relaxation that naturally arises at the very moment that you let go.

So squeezing your fingers right into your palms,

Feel the fingers against your palms,

Tense your upper arms and then spread your fingers out wide and then allow your arms to float back down and completely release the weight.

Good.

And then tense your abdomen and your chest,

Lifting your upper body a little,

Tensing your back and then lay your upper body to rest and let the weight go.

Good.

And then raising your head just slightly,

Just a little bit,

Feeling the weight and then let it go back.

Good.

And completely abandon the weight of your head so that you're not holding that weight even slightly.

And then let's take a lovely deep releasing breath together so that we're all dropping into the quietude of just being together.

So nice deep breath down into your belly,

Hunching your shoulders up and then letting your body go.

And then let's take a few more of those really slow,

Low releasing breaths.

Now this is the part of your day where you don't need to make lots of effort,

You don't need to work hard,

But just let that breath go really deep,

Low down into your belly,

Let there be a softening in the abdomen and then just give that exhalation away with a lovely long and soft sigh.

The breaths are like a doorway into the wide open,

Gentle space of just being.

So let the exhalation lead you,

Go right to the very end of that exhalation and melt into the pause,

The momentary gap before that new breath arises.

And with every exhalation let everything fall away.

This is the season for everything falling away and just like the tree gives up its leaves with no resistance,

Let yourself give it all up,

Handing everything over,

Slowing your breath right down and accepting the invitation that every exhalation offers to just let it all go.

And just for now,

Really be with the experience,

Body,

Breathing.

And as we breathe and as the energies of your day settle down naturally and as you bring your willingness to give yourself some time and space from your thinking mind,

Just dropping into that space beneath,

Deeper than the story of your life,

Where it all falls away.

Give up the weight of your body,

Just let the weight of your whole body fall into the surface supporting it,

That support rising up to meet this body and body pouring like liquid into that support,

Bringing in a gentle intention to remain present and aware even as body drops into the sweetest,

Deepest,

Most healing rest.

And any time that you check out,

Just check back in,

No judgement,

Just body breathing right now,

See if you can stay with the natural feeling of your breath,

As body breathes without any interference,

Without any controlling,

Just noticing the movement of your body as breath comes in and as breath goes out.

And as we take our journey around the body,

Being mindful of each part,

Let's emphasise the space beneath that is aware,

Bringing each part of the body into focus,

As a doorway into presence,

Welcome the feeling of your whole body,

Whole body,

The aliveness,

The touch of air on the skin,

The movement of your breath,

The tactile sensation of the clothes and blankets touching your skin,

The whole body free,

Completely free to unwind,

To empty out.

And now welcome the feeling inside the mouth,

The space inside mouth,

Without imagining it,

Just the actual feeling,

The inner walls of your mouth,

The taste,

The natural taste,

The tongue,

The throat melting into a stillness that is right here,

That you don't need to find or create,

Everything falling in to that stillness,

Hinges of the jaw softening,

To the softening of the whole face,

The bones,

The ears,

Just resting here with no anticipation,

No controlling,

No managing,

Eyes softening right back,

Held in the soft space of each socket,

Eyes melting back,

Temples,

Eyebrows,

Right eyebrow,

Left eyebrow,

Right eyebrow,

Right eyebrow,

Space between eyebrows,

Softening open and none of this is a doing,

It's an allowing,

There is nothing to do,

Could you do even less?

The feeling behind eyes,

Softening and expanding,

Welcome the sensation behind the eyes,

The sensation behind eyes,

Give it space,

See if you can stay,

Unhooking if you leave,

The sensation behind eyes,

Let it come to you and allow it to unfold,

You are aware,

You are aware as an unlocated presence,

Brain releasing its weight,

You don't need to control your mind right now,

Just let thought be free,

Let it come and let it go,

Like leaves falling from a tree one by one,

Brain sense the weight of brain,

There is nothing to understand,

Right now,

Trusting that all is well and just as it should be,

Nothing is out of place,

Not one thing is out of place,

Brain resting in the warm fluid that it bathes in,

Sensing the back of head,

Just the feeling,

Base of skull,

The whole back of body,

The whole front of body,

The space beneath,

The space above,

Behind and in front,

The whole body,

The whole body,

The whole body,

The whole body,

Just being is enough,

Nothing added,

Just being,

And now welcome the experience,

Right arm,

Right arm,

You don't need to imagine it,

Not the memory,

But right now the raw,

Direct,

Immediate feeling right arm,

Let the weight go,

Right hand,

Back of right hand,

Palm of right hand,

Can you feel the alignment and the lightness,

Let the sensation be free,

Right palm,

Thumb,

Second finger,

Third,

Fourth,

Little finger,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Armpit,

Shoulder,

Chest,

Chest,

Chest,

Right side of chest,

Right side of back,

Right side of shoulder,

Right side of shoulder,

Right side of back,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Back of knee,

Shin,

Calf,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of right foot,

The arch,

Big toe,

Second,

Third,

Fourth,

Little toe,

Releasing and letting go,

You are aware,

You are awareness itself,

Effortless,

Dropping right into the heart of yourself,

Wide open to this whole moment,

Awake and aware to it all without splitting off,

A oneness with all that is,

No separation,

And now welcoming the experience left arm,

Whole left arm,

Back of left arm,

The immediate sensation left hand without imagining it or remembering it,

But the current sensation right now,

Left hand,

Palm of left hand,

Alive tingling,

Waves of vibration,

Thumb,

Second finger,

Third,

Fourth,

Little finger,

Wrist,

Forearm,

Elbow,

Upper arm,

Shoulder,

Armpit,

Left side of back,

Left side of chest,

Chest,

Waist,

Hip,

Thigh,

Knee,

Back of knee,

Shin,

Calf,

Ankle,

Heel,

Sole of left foot,

The arch,

Big toe,

Second,

Third,

Fourth,

Little toe,

Releasing and letting go,

The whole body,

This whole body,

Alive,

Pulsating with life,

With,

Free,

To expand in all directions,

Emptying out with a willingness to release whatever is being held,

Nothing to contain,

Don't need to contain anything,

Nothing,

No agenda,

Just being here,

Now,

Wide open,

Wide awake,

Even as body softens and sleeps,

You remain,

Not the person,

Not all the roles that you play,

Not the name or the form,

But you,

You,

An infinite,

Eternal being remains.

Now,

Give up all the objects of mind,

Body and world and be more interested in what lies beneath,

With,

That which is knowing this whole moment by itself.

And let's rest together now,

As that undefended presence,

And any time that you check out,

Any time that you split off without any judgment,

Any judgement has come right back to the being,

Where you just are,

You just are.

So now you are.

Falling out of your mind again and again and again,

Just being,

You are aware,

You are present,

Conscious,

Even as body sleeps,

Just being.

And now welcome the feeling of your whole body,

The feeling of the whole body arising in you,

This wide open awareness,

Body a mass of sensation,

Waves of vibration,

Body alive,

Every cell dancing with aliveness,

Nervous system deeply at rest,

All of your internal organs and glands at rest,

Left to their natural functioning.

Everything in you,

Nothing outside,

Everything appearing in you,

Every sound,

Every sight,

Every sensation,

Every thought,

This whole moment unfolding in you as you,

In you as you,

Feel the gentle movement of your breath,

As the breath functions all by itself,

Getting a sense of the miracle,

The incredible intelligence unfolding moment by moment,

Body functioning,

Moving,

Heart beating,

Breath moving,

Breathing,

Just checking in one last time for any areas of holding or resistance,

Surrendering that last bit of trying,

Surrendering and resting wide open to now,

To what this moment wants to reveal,

And let's invite the breath to deepen,

Flowing a little deeper down into your abdomen and wide into your chest,

And just enjoying the feeling of a long,

Slow and deep breath quenching this body's need for that nourishment,

Feeling every drop of breath,

And then giving the exhalation away with a lovely long and soft sigh,

Noticing any straining at the now,

Just those energies that arise that want to get to the next moment,

They just to be seen,

Seen by an undefended presence that is not trying to get anywhere,

And just breath moving through your body like your whole body is breathing,

Every cell drinking in that nourishment and then giving it away,

Giving it all back,

Nothing to hold,

And spending these very precious remaining moments listening,

Listening to this whole moment and whatever it wants to reveal,

To reveal no agenda,

Just here now,

And now,

And what do you really,

Really want?

Saying a prayer for your life and allowing it to arise from the depths of your being,

And trusting,

Trusting the grace that is ever present,

That has never left you for one moment,

That we can come back to over and over again when we forget.

May you be well,

May you be at peace,

And may you be happy.

So thank you friends,

Thank you for showing up,

Thank you for devoting this time to stopping and dropping.

So I'm going to invite you now to either continue bathing in that sweet space where there is no problem to solve,

Or to let your body move when it's ready,

But to stay anchored in your ground of being.

Reviews

So good, sigh. Total peace. Namaste 🙏