Thank you for joining for this mindful self massage and short meditation practice.
Start off by lying on your back and get comfortable.
Start to feel the support of the ground or bed beneath you.
Really feel the weight distributed across your shoulders,
Spine and limbs and supported by the bed or ground beneath you.
Rest your hands by your side for now and take deep belly breaths at your own pace.
Next let's try a short breath distribution exercise.
Bring your palms to face inward and put them in front of your face as you take a deep inhale through your nose and an exhale out through your nose.
Notice which nostril is the most active and has the most airflow.
Is it the right or the left side?
The right side indicates a more energetic system,
A fight or flight response.
If you feel more airflow through the left side that indicates an activation of the resting or digesting response.
Pay attention to which side feels the most active and try to balance the airflow with each exhale as you breathe in through your nose and out through your nose.
Now bring your palms to cover your eyes and start to bring awareness to your face muscles.
Notice where there's tension in your face and try to relax in a few key areas.
First feel the back of your eyes relax and melt.
Feel the space between your eyebrows relax and melt.
Feel your cheekbones and jaw relax and melt.
Scan the top half of your face and relax any knots and tension that you may feel.
Bring all 10 fingers to both sides of your face and slowly press into the jaw starting at the bottom near your chin.
Slowly slide your fingers up towards the temples continuing to increase the pressure as you get higher and higher.
Continue to repeat this massage at your own pace.
Put additional pressure into the muscles below and above your ears.
Repeat this five to ten times at your own pace remembering to breathe between each sequence and bring awareness to your muscles and to your fingertips.
With medium to firm pressure make your palm into a fist and continue to massage your face in a circular motion from the top of your cheekbones down towards the jaw.
Lastly place your middle finger at the lower temple on each side of the face just above the cheekbones.
This is a common pressure point and we hold a lot of tension here.
You can place your thumbs onto the jaw muscle and hold for 10 seconds.
Leaving the face hopefully more relaxed and loose start to bring your hands to rest one on the heart and one on the stomach.
From here take 10 deep belly breaths feeling the breath move through the body inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the nose.
Pay attention to the temperature of the air coming in and going out.
Start to deepen your inhale and open mouth exhale.
What do you notice about the breath?
Where does it catch?
Where does it flow?
Feel your belly pushing into your hand with each inhale and feel your heart beat.
Continue to focus inward on your body until you hear the bell which will signal the end of the meditation.
Go ahead.
You you you you you
