I'll invite you to go ahead and get comfortable.
For our practice today,
You can do this seated or lying down,
Either is fine.
And for this one,
If you're seated,
It can be helpful to have something behind the back to support the back.
You just want the neck to be long,
So stacked above the body,
Spine straight,
Just so that the organs are stacked so your breath can flow fluidly.
So you don't want your head down and you don't want it too far up because both will constrict the flow of breath.
If you're lying down,
I invite you to put something beneath the knees or beneath the head just to take pressure off the spine and to support the neck as well.
Going ahead and getting settled into your position.
And if you have available a blanket or a shawl,
I invite you to place that over you or wrap it around you.
One,
It gives a little bit more warmth for when our body temperature drops in practice.
And two,
It invites the nervous system to feel a little bit safer.
This is really important when we're going in to do any work with any kind of emotional experience.
We want the nervous system to feel really,
Really safe.
We're going ahead and getting settled in,
Making any final adjustments.
And once you're there,
Going ahead and closing your eyes as that invitation to go inward,
Noticing the engagement with the external environment and coming into the space.
And then taking a full breath in through the nose,
Pause at the top of the inhale and then open the mouth,
Exhale,
Softening through the forehead,
The muscles of the eyes,
Even the jaw.
And then taking another full breath in through the nose,
And as you audibly exhale letting out a sigh,
Softening through the shoulders,
The chest,
All the way down to the fingertips and then letting go.
One more breath like this,
Breathing in full through the nose,
Feeling the chest and the heart expand,
Hold for just a moment,
Open the mouth,
Sigh and exhale,
Softening through the abdomen,
The hips,
Feeling the hips sink into the support of the earth beneath you.
And gently allowing the breath to find a natural rhythm,
Just feeling the body sinking into the support beneath you with each exhale,
The whole body fully supported.
As you soften through the top of the head,
Forehead,
Both eyes,
Cheeks,
Jaw,
Softening through the neck,
Shoulders,
Upper torso,
Abdomen,
Softening through the length of the arms,
Softening through the upper back,
Mid back,
And low back,
Feeling both hips softening,
Feeling heavy,
Upper legs,
Knees,
Ankles,
Tops of the feet,
Soles of the feet,
And all 10 toes softening.
Feel the whole body,
Front and back,
Softening and sinking into the support beneath you,
Feeling fully supported.
As you gently allow your awareness to rest on a sound off in the distance,
Just noticing and accepting,
Allowing the sound,
And then gently allowing the attention to float to another sound in your environment,
Just allowing your awareness to travel from sound to sound to sound,
Resting briefly at each one,
And then gently bringing the awareness into the body.
You scan the body from head to toe,
And toe to head,
And noticing any sensations.
You might notice the sensation of the air touching the skin,
The temperature of the air as it flows into the nose.
You might notice an area of tension,
Simply notice and welcome each one,
And then moving your awareness to the next.
You might say,
Ah,
Good morning,
Tight shoulder,
Welcome,
Moving the awareness to the next sensation that is calling for your attention,
And noticing any emotions that may be present right here with you today,
Just greeting them,
Always welcome,
As you gently now bring your awareness to the flow of the breath,
Just following the breath as it travels from the base of the spine all the way up to the crown of the head on the inhale,
And the crown of the head to the base of the spine on the exhale,
Inhaling root to crown,
Exhale crown to root,
And as thoughts appear in awareness,
No worries,
You might observe that natural activity of the mind as you bring your attention gently back to this flow of the breath traveling up and down the spine,
Effortless,
Peaceful,
Sensing into the whole body,
Fully supported,
The whole body,
Fully supported,
As you bring your awareness to rest in the space of the heart,
Feeling the breath moving in and out through this heart space,
As you invite in a recollection of something that you may be holding onto at this time,
A relationship,
An old way of being,
A change that you are resisting or fearing,
Simply noticing and allowing that attachment to be present in your awareness,
Holding awareness of that thing,
Noticing how the body responds,
Noticing the belly,
The shoulders,
The jaw,
The tongue,
Gently exhale,
Full and steady,
Soft and long,
Softening the tongue,
Softening the jaw,
Shoulders,
Belly,
Exhale,
Let everything that wants to go,
Go,
Let everything that wants to come,
Come,
Feel into the support of the earth beneath you,
Exhale,
Softening,
Let everything that wants to go,
Go,
Let everything that wants to come,
Sensing into your heart space,
Sense yourself letting go of your grasp on this thing,
This idea,
This preference,
Sense yourself softening,
Allowing life to flow,
Sense the open palms,
As you gently repeat into your heart,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be ease and flow,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be ease and flow,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be ease and flow,
Sensing into your heart,
And letting go,
Feeling the heart soften,
The shoulders soften,
Seeing yourself,
Gently allowing a release,
Trusting the okayness of acceptance,
Directing these phrases into your tender heart,
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I live with ease and flow,
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I live with ease and flow,
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I live with ease and flow,
May I trust my resilience,
May I trust my resilience,
May I trust my resilience,
May I trust,
May I trust,
I trust,
I trust,
I trust,
Resting awareness in the heart,
Feeling the vibration of these words,
Move through the whole body,
Fully supported,
Allowing the breath to deepen,
Sensing the easeful flow,
Each inhale,
Gently gathering in through the nose and the exhale,
An easeful,
Natural release,
Sensing the emptiness at the bottom of the exhale,
It allows the fullness of the next breath to enter,
Effortless,
Easeful,
Effortless,
Easeful,
Taking a very big,
Rich inhale in through the nose,
Feeling the body expand with the breath,
Open the mouth,
Sigh as you exhale,
Feeling the body,
Sinking into the support again,
Making contact,
Awareness of the contact of the body and the earth,
The back of the head,
Shoulder blades,
The hips,
The heels,
Sensing into that support,
Gently becoming aware of the space around the body,
Sensing the body in space,
Again,
Becoming aware of the fabric on the body,
And the sounds around you,
One's off in the distance,
Noticing that your awareness can travel from one sound to the other,
Noticing,
Touching and letting go,
Touching and letting go,
Noticing this effortless ability to notice and let go,
Here you might feel a desire to reach the arms overhead into a very big stretch,
Even pointing the toes,
Inviting a deeper,
Long cat stretch into the body,
If you're lying down,
You might feel a desire to draw the knees into the chest and rock side to side,
Massaging the base of the spine and the sacrum,
If you're seated,
You might just rest the hands gently on the lap,
Palms face up,
And that posture of receptivity,
For those of you lying down,
You might roll over to one side and pause there for a moment,
Just feeling the body in transition,
And noticing the ability to let go of position to position,
Through subtle movement,
Releasing the past posture,
And you take the hand closest to the sky and press it on the earth in front of the heart to help you come back to a seated position,
Where we'll all meet,
Seated with eyes closed,
And the next inhale,
If it's available to you,
Reaching the arms way up overhead,
And gently bringing them down,
Placing one hand on the heart and the other on top of it,
Holding here,
Just holding your hands gently on your heart,
Repeating the following,
Let everything that wants to go,
Go,
Let everything that wants to come,
Come,
Let everything that wants to go,
Let everything that wants to come,
Let everything that wants to go,
Let everything that wants to come,
And bring the hands together,
Rubbing them together,
Generating some heat,
Letting them get nice and hot,
And just placing them over the closed eyes,
Just feeling that warmth for a moment,
Letting yourself receive that,
As you then let the hands gently move into the scalp,
Pressing in,
Giving yourself a little massage,
Massaging into the forehead,
Perhaps even the scalp,
Or around the temples,
Might even go down to the jaw,
Or along the neck,
Giving yourself a little massage,
Noticing that the mind doesn't need to be involved here,
The body and the hands know what to do,
That they're already in communication,
That you know what pressure is right,
You know where the touch is welcomed,
Or desired,
And you know how and when to move on from one position to another,
And that it's okay,
And when that feels complete,
Bring the hands back down to the legs,
Taking a full breath in through the nose,
Open the mouth,
Exhale with a big sigh,
Tucking chin to chest,
Pausing for just a moment here,
As you invite a soft grin to form on the lips,
A gentle smile that says,
I'm okay,
That welcomes you here,
Back home,
Into this body,
This space,
This community,
You gently open your eyes,
And come back to center,
Welcome back,
