Let's spend a few moments melting away any anxiety and stress you might have in this moment.
Finding a comfortable place where you can pause for a few moments to check in with yourself.
Allowing the eyelids to feel heavy until they find the darkness behind your eyes.
And turning awareness directly to the breath.
As you inhale,
Your belly will expand fully like a balloon.
And as you exhale,
Your belly will release,
Pulling the belly button towards the spine,
Slowly breathing in air,
And slowly finding a release.
You can say in your mind's eye,
I am aware of my inhale as you breathe in,
And I am aware of my exhale as you release,
Noticing if anything's coming up,
If anything is triggering you,
Sounds of the room,
Thoughts of what you have to do after the practice,
And gently pull the awareness back to the breath,
Slowly filling up the belly,
And slowly releasing,
Finding the present moment with the inhales,
And finding the next present moment with the exhales.
We inhale and exhale 20,
000 times a day.
Unconsciously,
The body does the work.
But when we find moments to bring awareness to the breath,
Those moments,
Those conscious breaths,
Allow you to change the state of the mind,
The heart,
And the soul,
Melting away any anxious thoughts,
Any stressors,
Any fears,
Doubts,
And worries,
Slowly inhaling,
Filling yourself up,
And on your exhales,
Releasing any tension,
Allowing the body to feel light and heavy on the floor connected to the earth.
And notice what you feel.
Do you feel the floor beneath you or the chair?
Are you laying down and you can feel the support of the earth?
Or maybe the bottom of your feet.
Your souls are planted on the earth.
And just notice that connection.
Notice the exchange of energy between yourself and mother earth.
And slowly inhale,
Filling yourself up,
And exhale and melt deeper into the connection,
Into the feeling.
And on your next inhale,
Bring awareness to the nose.
Do you smell anything in the space?
Maybe sage or incense that you lit before the practice.
Maybe aromas of the outside world.
Just notice,
If you can,
Find any smells connecting you to the space you're in.
And breathing through it,
Filling up the belly,
Expanding yourself fully,
And then letting everything go.
And on your next inhale,
Noticing if you can hear anything in the space,
The hum of your air conditioner,
The sounds of other people in the space,
Maybe sounds of your belly digesting food.
Just notice the sounds of the space as you allow the belly to expand.
And as you exhale and settle into the noise,
Knowing that the practice is finding the silence and stillness in the chaos,
So noticing everything and then releasing your resistance to them through the exhale,
Allowing your belly to expand fully,
And letting more tension go on the exhale.
Slowly filling yourself up and slowly finding a release.
And on your next inhale,
Noticing the darkness behind the eyelids.
Maybe it looks like static from a television or you see little colors.
Just notice what's behind the eyelids as you allow yourself to expand the belly on an inhale.
And on an exhale,
Releasing your attachment to what you see,
Allowing things to appear,
But letting go of the control,
Embracing the present moment,
And bringing the awareness back to the breath.
I am aware of my inhale and I am aware of my exhale,
Guiding a few rounds of breath on your own.
And if you feel ready and settled,
If the body feels a little more free of tension,
You can start to find a bit of movement in the fingertips and the toes.
If you need to stay in the practice for a bit more,
You can do that too.
But if you've decided to move on,
Maybe rolling out the wrists and the ankles,
Moving the head side to side,
Guided by the inhale and guided by the exhale.
And on an inhale,
Reaching your hands above your head,
Stretching your hands like it's the first stretch of the morning,
Taking up space.
You deserve to take up so much space.
So take it up.
And on an exhale,
Allowing the hands to fall to the side and just checking in with the body and noticing the heart,
Noticing the mind and noticing the soul,
Noticing how you feel a little more at ease and settled and taking with you that at any point you can bring awareness to the breath and find the present moment.
It's the only time we can find the present moment is thinking about this inhale and this exhale.
Ah.
You can allow your eyelids to open to find the light of the room.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
I hope you were able to release a bit of tension,
Stress and anxiety.
And I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day.
