Welcome to your practice.
Taking a moment to establish a comfortable position,
Either seated or lying down.
Choosing what will be most supportive for your body for the duration of the practice.
You might choose to cover yourself with a shawl or a blanket to help maintain body temperature,
And to signal an added degree of comfort and even safety to your nervous system.
Taking a few more moments to make any additional adjustments to your body or blankets to increase your comfort so that you can find stillness and ease for the duration of the practice.
Once you're there,
You might choose to close your eyes or find a soft gaze a few feet on the ground in front of you.
Then inviting a full breath to come in through the nose,
And then releasing the jaw and as slowly as you can,
Sighing out loud,
Softening through the forehead,
Muscles around the eyes and the temples,
The cheeks,
And even the jaw.
At the end of that sigh,
Inviting the next breath to also come in through the nose,
Filling the lungs,
Feeling the chest expand,
And again as slowly as you can,
Softly sighing out loud,
Softening through the chest,
Shoulders,
The length of the arms,
All the way down through the fingertips.
And again at the end of that exhale,
One more breath like this in through the nose,
Feeling the belly expand,
Releasing the jaw and slowly sighing out loud,
Softening through the whole upper body and the hips,
Allowing the whole body to sink into the support beneath and behind you.
The whole body fully supported as your breath finds a natural rhythm now.
Each breath flowing fluidly,
One after the other,
In a natural gentle rhythm.
There's nothing to do here.
There's nowhere to be.
Allowing the breath to do what it needs to do.
As you begin to scan the body from head to toe and toe to head,
Just noticing what sensations in the body are calling for your attention.
If there's an area of discomfort or tightness,
You might simply acknowledge that,
Saying,
Ah,
Hello shoulder.
I see you.
Thank you for letting me know you're carrying some tension today.
And moving through the body in this way,
Noticing and acknowledging all sensations are welcome here.
All sensations are welcome.
And then again scanning the body and noticing what emotions are here with you today.
You might simply notice,
Ah,
Hello emotion.
Thank you for letting me know that you're here.
It's okay that you're here.
Welcoming all sensations,
All emotions,
All experiences are welcome.
Then gently bringing the awareness now to the very top of the head and softening through the top of the head,
The forehead,
The inner corners of the eyes,
The outer corners of the eyes,
Both eyebrows and both eyelids softening,
Softening through the temples,
The cheeks,
Allowing the teeth to separate as the jaw softens and the tongue floats in the center of the mouth,
Softening along the sides of the neck and the throat,
Softening through the shoulders,
Upper arms,
Elbows,
Forearms,
Softening the wrists,
Palms of the hands,
Backs of the hands,
And all ten fingers softening,
Both arms together,
Just soft.
As your awareness moves now into the chest,
As you soften through the chest,
Abdomen,
Upper back,
Mid-back,
Low back,
Whole torso,
Soft,
Easeful.
As your awareness moves into the hips,
Allowing the hips to soften,
The buttocks to soften,
Upper legs,
Knees,
Shins and calves,
Ankles,
Tops of the feet,
Bottoms of the feet,
All ten toes softening,
Both legs soft,
Easeful,
Both legs,
Hips,
The whole torso,
Both arms,
The neck and the throat,
All the muscles in the face and the top of the head,
Just soft,
Easeful,
Supported.
As you bring your awareness now back to the flow of the breath,
You might imagine the breath traveling in through the crown of the head,
Down into the heart on the inhale,
Exhaling from the heart through the base of the spine on the exhale.
Continuing to breathe in this way,
Inhaling through the crown of the head into the heart and exhaling from the heart down through the base of the spine,
Following the flow of the breath down the spine,
Awareness resting at the transition point in the center of the heart space,
Awareness resting at the heart,
Awareness resting at the heart.
You might imagine now that you're breathing in and out from the heart space.
Here,
Within the heart,
You might begin to sense or see or become aware of an image of you as a child,
Seeing the childlike version of you just gently resting in the space of your heart and you might envision your child self taking their first step and stumbling and noticing an expression of wonder and curiosity on the face of your child self as they begin to smile and move forward again.
The first steps and stumbles,
Steps and stumbles paired with wonder and curiosity at this new experience of movement.
As you witness this child version of yourself begin to gain strength through their stumbles,
You might become aware of a sense of encouragement moving outward from you toward your child self.
An expression of acceptance,
Understanding,
And grace.
You might see this child version of you growing and evolving with each step and stumble carrying this wonder and curiosity forward.
You might notice that through each stumble and mistake,
They recover.
You might now see yourself here in your heart space as you are,
A gentle reflection of present moment you.
You might welcome or invite the feeling that arises when you make a mistake,
Sensing it clearly,
The circumstance,
The people involved,
And sensing how the body responds.
Softly becoming aware of any tension or constriction that arises in the body and noticing where in the body it takes root.
Allowing the breath to travel here.
You might even draw upon these words,
May my breath and this feeling flow like a river.
May my breath and this feeling flow like a river.
Sensing,
Seeing yourself here as you are,
Resting in your heart space.
May my breath and this feeling flow like a river.
May my breath and this feeling flow like a river.
May my breath and this feeling flow a river.
Sensing,
Seeing,
Feeling into your heart space again.
Seeing yourself resting here,
You as you are,
Resting in the space of your heart.
You might gently call your name to yourself and offer words.
Calling your name,
I see you.
I accept you exactly as you are.
You are more than your accomplishments.
You are more than what you produce.
You are more than what you do.
I see you whole and complete.
I'm here for you as you are.
I love you exactly as you are.
Calling your name to yourself,
I see you.
I accept you exactly as you are.
You are more than your accomplishments.
You are more than what you produce.
You are more than what you do.
I see you whole and complete.
I'm here for you exactly as you are.
I love you exactly as you are.
Calling your name to yourself,
I see you.
I accept you exactly as you are.
You are more than your accomplishments.
You are more than what you produce.
You are more than what you do.
I see you whole and complete.
I'm here for you as you are.
I love you exactly as you are.
Deepening the breath.
Allowing these words to move through the body,
To rest inside the space of the heart.
Feeling into the support of the earth beneath you,
The spaciousness around you.
Becoming aware of the points of contact between the body and the support beneath you.
Perhaps the back of the shoulder blades,
Back of the hips,
Backs of the hands,
The heels.
Allowing the breath to gently guide your movement.
Gently closing your fingers into a fist,
Feeling the muscles tightening.
Then gently expand the fingers.
Exhale,
Releasing.
Gently inhale,
Closing the fingers.
Tight exhale,
Releasing and expanding the fingers out long.
Noticing this gentle pulsation and this soft rhythm of movement.
The body begins to transition.
The toes might join in the same movement.
Inhale,
Gathering.
Exhale,
Splaying out wide.
Finding this soft rhythm in the body as the breath continues to deepen.
You might find yourself moving the arms upward into a long stretch if that feels welcome in the body.
Might also feel great to stay perfectly still,
Honoring the body,
Knowing that you cannot do this wrong.
If you're lying down,
You might choose to roll onto one side and pausing there for a few moments.
Just noticing how the body feels,
What feels different from the beginning of the practice.
Gently bringing yourself up to a seated position.
Bringing both hands together in front of the heart into a prayer position and rubbing the hands together to generate some heat.
Once the hands are nice and warm,
Resting one hand on top of the heart and the other hand right on top of that.
Pausing in this gentle posture,
Feeling into the warmth of your hands on your tender heart.
Inhale and exhale with a sigh,
Gently inviting a soft grin to form on the lips,
A grin that says,
Yes.
I trust in my ability to move forward with grace and kindness for myself.
I trust in my ability to move forward with grace and kindness for myself.
Gently blinking open the eyes and bringing your gaze and your gentle grin with you as you move forward clearly,
Confidently,
With kindness and your heart back into the day.
