Hello,
Hello,
Hello and welcome.
If you've pressed play on this practice,
I suspect I know how your day is already going.
Perhaps it started reasonably enough and then it ran away with you.
The messages,
The demands,
The things that landed on you that were never in the plan.
And now it's somewhere in the middle of the day,
Your chest feels tight,
Your head feels full and there's still so much of the day left.
I'm glad you paused,
Truly,
Because this practice is exactly for this moment and it only needs a few minutes of your time.
You can do this by sitting at your desk,
In a parked car or anywhere you can be mostly undisturbed.
Eyes closed if that's available to you or a soft gaze if it isn't.
We'll be doing some gentle tapping partway through,
And you're welcome to tap along with me,
Or you can simply listen and breathe.
Both are perfect.
So first,
Let's take one slow breath in.
And a long breath out.
Just one,
Well done.
Let's begin.
Here's an image I'd like you to bring to mind.
Imagine today has been a page and today the page has filled too fast.
It's scribbled edge to edge.
Things crossed out,
Things squeezed into the margins,
Arrows everywhere.
And when you look at it,
There hardly seems room for anything else.
And yet more keeps coming at you.
Now notice what your body does when you see that overcrowded page.
Perhaps the chest tightens,
Perhaps the shoulders have crept up towards your ears.
Perhaps the breath has gone shallow,
Sitting right at the top of your chest.
This is what a full page feels from the inside.
There's nothing wrong with you for feeling this.
A busy day writes itself onto the body as well as onto the mind.
But here's the truth we lose sight of in the middle of a day like this.
You don't have to read the whole scribbled page at once.
What's behind you is already written.
It doesn't need re-reading right now.
And what's ahead hasn't been written yet.
The only line that needs you is this one,
This breath,
This moment of pause.
So let's clear a little space,
First in the body and then on the page.
We'll tap lightly with two or three fingertips,
About the pressure you'd use to tap along to a piece of music.
And I'll guide you to each point.
So taking full responsibility for yourself,
Your health and your well-being,
And your actions,
Let's begin.
Feeling your feet flat on the ground and the weight of your body on the support.
Repeat each phrase after me,
Out loud if you can,
Or silently if you're somewhere public.
So finding the eyebrow point,
Which is at the inner end of the eyebrow near the nose.
Tapping lightly on the eyebrow point.
Say after me.
My page has filled so fast today.
Side of the eye,
On the bone at the outer corner.
And say,
Scribbled from edge to edge.
Under the eye,
On the eye bone,
Say.
And my body is feeling every line of it.
Under the nose,
I notice this swirl of thoughts and tightness.
The chin and the crease.
And it's okay.
Today simply got busy.
Dropping down to the collarbones.
Into the ridge underneath.
And say,
I now choose to pause.
Right here.
Right in the middle of it.
Under the arm,
About a hand's worth underneath the armpit on the side of the body.
Say.
I let the swirls slow down and settle.
Top of the head and the crown of the head say.
I find the space that's still left in my body.
Taking two or three deep breaths.
And we'll do a second round now,
Steadier and clearer.
So going back to the eyebrow point.
Serve to me.
There is still space on today's page.
Side of the eye.
I don't need to chase what's behind me.
Under the eye,
It's already written and I let it be.
Under the nose.
I made this afternoon fresh.
Calm,
Clear and steady.
Drop into the collarbones.
I choose what gets written next.
Under the arm.
One thing at a time.
One line at a time.
Top of the head.
And so it is.
And taking your arm down.
And taking a deep breath in.
And letting it go.
Perhaps with a sigh,
If a sigh wants to come.
Letting the shoulders drop away from the ears and letting the jaw and clench.
Now before you go back,
One small practical moment.
From everything still waiting on your page,
Let just one thing come to mind.
Not the whole list,
Just the next line.
The one thing you'll turn to first when this practice ends.
That's your next line,
Not the 12 after it,
Just that one.
The rest will wait their turn the way lines on a page always do.
And notice before you open your eyes how you feel now compared with a few minutes ago.
Perhaps the swirl has slowed down.
Perhaps the chest has a little more room.
Perhaps the change is small and small is enough.
You paused in the middle of a racing day and that changes how the rest of it gets written.
So when you're ready.
Gently opening your eyes,
Bring yourself back into the environment,
Feeling your feet on the floor.
And step back into your afternoon,
One line at a time.
You're doing better than you think.
Take care.
