Hello and welcome to your contract and release audio practice.
You can use this practice anytime to open up contracted energy in the body,
Allowing more flow,
Deepening your body awareness,
And really tuning into your capacity to shift the energy in your body.
So you will do this practice laying down and making sure that you are relaxed,
But you're also alive and awake and present.
So it might feel nice to do this practice on a yoga mat or on a rug instead of a bed or couch,
Just so you have a little bit more of that alert,
Awake,
Alive energy available.
So taking some nice,
Easy breaths in the body,
Starting to feel the breath move,
Feeling what it's like to lay down,
Feeling the breath,
Feeling the earth,
Feeling the air on your exposed skin,
Allowing the breath to be however it wants.
It might feel good to let out sound,
It might feel nice to allow little movements,
Starting to let your body arrive,
Really feeling how you're being held by the earth,
How there is this solid foundation underneath you.
And starting to tune into the physical sensations in the body,
Temperature,
Movement,
Pressure,
The felt sense,
These sensations inside of you right now.
And you're going to start to bring all your awareness to your right leg.
You're going to begin to slowly contract each muscle,
Each part of your left leg,
Your toes,
Your ankle,
Your shins,
Your calves,
Your knee,
Your thigh,
All the way up into the hip,
Into the butt cheek,
Feeling this contraction,
Seeing if you can really isolate each muscle,
Each part of your right leg,
Continuing to breathe,
Gathering all of this energy,
Contracting the right leg,
Taking a nice,
Full,
Deep inhale in.
And on the exhale,
Letting go of that contraction,
Softening that right leg,
Letting it melt,
Feeling any flow,
Feeling any energy moving,
Temperature,
Changing,
Tingles,
Shimmers,
Shakes,
Anything at all that you notice,
Seeing if you can really track and feel the flow of energy in your right leg.
Taking nice,
Full breaths as you feel that letting go,
As you feel that energy changing in your right leg.
And starting to move your attention to your left leg,
Very slowly starting to contract each muscle,
Each part,
Each tendon,
From your toes all the way up into that hip socket,
Into that left butt cheek,
Contracting,
Breathing,
Gathering all of that energy,
Feeling that this contraction can be even deeper,
Taking one more full inhale into that left leg.
And on the exhale,
Let it go.
Release that contraction and follow,
With your awareness,
How the energy moves in that left leg.
Using the breath to support that flow of energy,
Really feeling your body from the inside out,
Following the sensations,
Following the energy,
And bringing your awareness to your right arm,
Slowly beginning to contract all the way from the fingertips,
Up the arm,
To the elbow,
Up into the shoulder joint,
Contracting the entirety of your right arm as you continue to breathe,
Really taking your time,
Seeing if there can be a deep connection and contraction all the way through your right arm,
Gathering all that energy and aliveness.
One more full,
Deep inhale.
And on the exhale,
Let it go.
See if you can follow that movement,
That flow,
Noticing the sensations change,
Noticing temperature and movement,
Feeling the life inside the right arm,
Breathing,
Noticing the difference between the places you've contracted and let go,
Versus the places in the body we haven't gotten to yet,
Feeling the felt sense in the body,
And then gently starting to bring all your awareness to your left arm,
Contracting the fingers,
The wrist,
The forearm,
The elbow,
The bicep,
The shoulder,
Taking your time,
Really slowly gathering all of this energy in the left arm as you continue to breathe,
Contracting,
Tightening a little bit more,
And taking a nice full inhale into that left arm,
And exhale,
Let it go,
Softening it,
Relaxing,
Following that flow of energy with your awareness,
Tracking it as it moves through your left arm,
And bringing your awareness to your torso,
Starting to contract this whole middle section from your groin,
Into the belly,
The ribs,
The spine,
The chest,
The heart,
The collarbones,
Really taking your time here,
Seeing if you can contract all of these deeper parts,
The more unknown,
Unmanageable parts of us,
Feeling a deep contraction all the way into your torso,
All of these parts and pieces and places,
Continuing to breathe as you contract a little bit more,
Gathering all of this energy in your torso,
Taking a nice full inhale,
Contracting,
And exhale,
Slowly let it go,
Bringing in lots of breath,
Following where the energy goes,
What starts to shift,
Really feeling as a body,
Following the sensations and energy,
Lastly,
Bringing all the awareness into the head,
The face,
The skull,
Slowly starting to contract the little muscles in the neck,
The base of the skull,
The jaw,
The face,
The ears,
The whole head,
Once again trying to isolate these parts that we might feel like we have less access to,
Really contracting,
Tightening,
Gathering all of the energy in this place where energy can really get stuck and swirl,
Taking a few full breaths as you squeeze and contract and tighten your whole head,
One more full inhale,
And exhale,
Let it go,
Feel the energy moving in the head,
Noticing what happens,
And we'll do one full body contraction,
Starting from the base of your toes,
Slowly beginning to contract the ankles,
The shins,
The calves,
The knees,
The quads,
Feeling the hips and the pelvic bowl and the bones,
The belly,
The chest,
The rib cage,
The spine,
The shoulders,
The arms,
The fingers,
The head,
All of it,
As if you're gathering every single part of you,
Grabbing all that energy,
Contracting and squeezing,
Continuing to breathe,
Feeling each part contracting a little bit more,
Taking a nice whole deep inhale,
And exhale,
Let it go,
This time really tracking and feeling the energy moving,
Taking nice full deep breaths,
Maybe even following any impulses or movement or sound as you allow this energy to flow,
Encouraging that flow with your breath,
With your awareness,
Maybe with some movement,
With some sound,
Really letting go of any contracting,
Just feeling the feelings in the body,
The sensations,
The tingles,
The temperature,
The movement,
Feeling as a body,
Taking a nice full breath in,
Letting out some sound,
Following any other movements,
Any other impulses,
As you just intuitively follow this aliveness that's here for you,
And taking a nice full breath in and out,
Coming into some stillness if you're not there,
Just starting to notice,
Just like we began,
Feeling what's here in the body,
Noticing the sensations,
Feeling this overall felt sense,
Maybe the qualities are different,
Maybe you have a different sense of your body,
Just noticing what is here now,
What is it like to be you now,
And taking one last breath into your experience,
And this completes your audio practice.
