Welcome to this meditation for self-love and acceptance.
Today we're going to practice a technique of deep relaxation.
That will be available to you when you need a sense of peace and serenity again and again in your daily life.
Whenever and wherever you need to find it,
You'll be able to draw on this tool at any time that it's in your best interest to slow down.
And to find calm and ease in your mind and body.
Find a comfortable and relaxing position.
It could be a chair.
Reclined on a couch.
Lying in a bed or even on the floor.
Just be sure that you feel comfy and cozy.
With a blanket to keep you warm.
Or pillows tucked around you to help you feel supported.
To be able to go inward,
We start by bringing the sense of awareness outward.
Expand your sense of hearing to pick up all of the sounds that you can hear.
There's no need for you to judge or even to label those sounds.
Just notice them.
Reach out your awareness to the most distant sounds.
Become aware of the sounds within the building where you lie.
The sounds within this room.
Allow your mind to rotate your awareness from sound to sound.
No judgment,
Just notice.
Pause on each sound for a moment before moving on to the next,
Sound by sound.
And moment by moment.
Bring your awareness now to closer sounds.
Observe the sounds of your own body.
The sounds within your body.
The steady rhythm of your breath.
Perhaps you can even sense the beating of your heart.
Safe in the knowledge that each of these sounds that you can hear Even the sound of my voice will help you to relax more and more.
Whether they be new or familiar,
Each sound relaxing you deeper and deeper.
Feel your body supported now,
Relaxing.
The sensation of your breath as it moves in and out of your nose.
Relaxing you more with each exhale.
Now we're going to take the time to set a resolve for your practice today.
Your resolve is here to reflect something deep within you that you feel needs attention.
A way that you may want to feel more often.
A way you'd like to feel transformed after this meditation is over.
Something in your life that you would like to change or to shift.
Allow your resolve to bubble up.
Do not force it.
If you can't think of anything,
You could choose something as simple as,
I am safe in love.
Or,
I am deeply relaxed.
Repeat the same phrase in your mind three times,
Each time reminding yourself more and more of the truth behind the intention that you are setting.
It's okay if it doesn't feel true yet.
Your unconscious mind is deep at work making your desires into your reality.
The first layer of this relaxation meditation is calm.
Notice a sensation of calm setting over your whole body.
Each of your muscles begins to relax.
Releasing tension.
Releasing awareness and responsibility for those muscles.
Allow a deep sense of calm to flow over your body.
Calm like the smooth surface of an undisturbed lake.
Relaxed at ease.
Study.
And calm.
To support that sense of calm,
We will next practice some conscious breathing.
Notice the breath in your body,
The soft and rhythmic movement of your chest,
The touch of air in the nostrils.
Observe the inhale breath without getting involved.
Notice the exhale as it leaves your body.
Starting from the number 27.
We will count these breaths backward to zero.
On your next inhale,
Say to yourself mentally,
27.
On the exhale,
27.
Inhaling 26.
Exhale,
26.
Continue counting down the breath all the way to zero.
If at any point you lose count or you reach zero.
Simply start again at 27.
Let go of the counting.
Release awareness of the breath.
And notice instead the relaxation in your face.
The face expressionless.
Feel your cheeks relax toward the floor.
The jaw.
Chong.
Throat.
Neck.
Shoulders relaxed and heavy on the floor.
Feel the front of the neck relaxing back toward the back of the neck.
The back of the head.
Scalp forehand.
Eyebrows relaxed.
Relaxing.
The space between your eyebrows,
Soft.
Focus your gaze now to the space just inside your skull,
Just behind the eyebrows.
Gaze soft in the inner darkness of your mind.
Notice your eyeballs and their sockets relaxing.
Focused inward.
Your eyelids are heavy,
Heavy,
Draping over the eyes.
So relaxed.
So heavy.
You could open your eyes if you wanted to,
But you choose not to right now.
In a moment.
But not yet.
I'm going to ask you to open your eyes briefly.
If you're using an eye pillow,
Lift it off your eyes onto the forehead for just a moment.
Go ahead now and open your eyes.
And on your next exhale,
Allow them to fall closed again.
The closing action relaxing you more.
And more.
And allowing you to sink deeper,
Into deeper,
Into calm.
Feel how deeply you embody the first layer of relaxation.
Our next layer of relaxation is carefree.
Now that you have relaxed.
Feel yourself light and easy.
As if you didn't have a care in the world.
Allow that sensation to swell.
You could picture a time.
Or even imagine a time that you felt completely and utterly carefree.
Easy going.
Relaxed.
Serene No weight on your shoulders.
Burdens fall away from you.
They cannot stay.
They fall right off.
Bubbly.
Bright,
Sunny,
Joyful,
And light.
The second layer of relaxation.
Carefree.
Next,
We'll drop another layer deeper into deep relaxation.
Your muscles are so deeply relaxed,
They simply drape from the bones.
Hang from the tendons.
Heavy,
Heavy as if made of concrete.
Heavy now.
Heavier.
You could move them if you needed to,
But you don't want to right now.
Each sound that you hear keeps you relaxed.
And helps you to relax even more deeply.
Soft and calm.
Heavy and tranquil.
The body resting and replenishing.
Grounded and serene.
The third layer,
Deep relaxation.
Deeply relaxed.
The fourth layer of relaxation is one notch deeper.
With your body heavy on the floor.
Notice the sensation of getting lighter on the inside.
Lighter and lighter.
The inside you.
Your body heavy,
Relaxed,
And grounded.
And yet your soul gets more and more light and free and floaty You could visualize yourself as a bird or a butterfly.
You might be a fairy or a hawk or a songbird.
Anything that allows you to float freely,
To soar.
Perhaps a substance that could go anywhere,
Like a mist or a cloud,
Floating over a beautiful landscape.
Free and light.
Agile and floating.
Graceful.
And free.
The fourth layer of relaxation,
Being carefree.
Allow your free self to float higher and higher now.
Higher than this building.
Higher than the mountains.
Higher than the clouds.
Higher than the atmosphere.
Allow yourself to float steadily higher,
Higher than the moon,
Beyond the stars and into the beauty and the peace and the quiet of infinite space.
The quiet peace and vastness of outer space.
As you float here,
You are surrounded on all sides by a full and complete love.
Like a beam or a wave of golden light,
Filling you up with more love and acceptance than you could ever need.
Every smell.
Every space.
Every thought.
Loved.
Accepted just for being you right now.
So much love and acceptance that it bubbles up and it spills over,
Pouring right out of you.
Emanating from every cell in your being.
Completely loved and accepted and full and appreciated for exactly who you are in this moment.
Nothing to do or not do to earn the love,
But simply to be.
Just be and notice how surrounded and how loved you are.
Nothing to do or stop doing.
Loved just for being you.
Right now.
In this moment.
You are right where you need to be.
You're doing great.
Doing the best that you can with all that you have.
And doing your best is always enough.
All of these sensations and learnings and the benefits you gain from feeling them will be taken now into your past by your subconscious mind.
To reevaluate your relationships and your history.
And to weave a new narrative.
With this new perspective.
To help you to understand your past.
To learn from it.
And to adjust how the past makes you feel in the present.
To help you to create change in your future.
To live the way you want to live.
And to feel the way you want to feel.
With the support.
And the love.
And the acceptance that you've always wanted.
Emanating right from within yourself.
Imagining yourself now vividly in future situations,
Anticipated and unanticipated,
With this resource fully activated and available to you when you need it.
The depth and knowledge.
That you are loved.
And supported.
And accepted.
Just for being you.
And now in your daily life.
By simply tuning back into your breath.
You have the skill to be able to return to this feeling of peace.
And love.
And acceptance in abundance.
Easily and effortlessly,
You can find calm.
Carefree.
Deep relaxation or freedom.
Not right now,
But soon.
I will walk you out of this meditation.
First,
Take a moment to remember how you want to feel when you're done.
Recall your intention from the beginning of this meditation.
Picture vividly a time when you embodied that feeling.
You can give it a label in your mind.
And as you imagine how you want to feel.
That feeling gets naturally more powerful and strong inside of you.
Turn up the volume on that feeling as high as it can go.
And then see if you could add 10% more.
Fully embodying that sensation.
The way you want to feel.
The way you want to live.
The you you want to be.
As you begin to bring your attention back to the noises of your body.
The rhythm of your breath.
Those sounds help the feeling to get even more powerful inside of you.
Charging up.
Powering up.
Coming forward with you from your subconscious to your conscious mind.
Notice the sounds again of the room in which you lie.
The feeling inside you even more powerful now.
The sounds in the distance helping you to reinforce how you want to feel when you return.
Looking forward now to being wide awake.
Notice again the sensations of your body relaxed on the floor,
Supported in an ease.
The movement of air on your skin.
And the touch inside your nostrils.
The weight of your flesh against the surface on which you lie.
More awake now.
Allow your curiosity about the now to start to bring little movements into your limbs,
Perhaps spreading fingers and toes.
Curious and exploring movement and sensation.
More awake now.
Breathe in wakeful energy.
Exhale any sensations of fogginess or sleepiness.
Feeling more and more powerfully that sensation of exactly how you want to feel.
Soon I will start counting you back to your awareness from 10.
Picture yourself at the bottom of a beautiful staircase.
Or a path with 10 steps.
Bright and beautiful in your path to exactly how you want to feel when you awaken from this meditation.
Ten,
Step on the path or staircase.
Nine,
Fully present in your body.
Eight,
Bringing forward your peaceful feeling.
Seven,
Breathing begins to get deeper now.
Six,
Preparing to wink.
Five,
Open your eyes.
Four,
Even more alert.
Three,
Fully focused and present in the room.
Two,
Coming back more.
One,
Fully alert.
And ready for the rest of the day.
Carrying forward that powerful sensation of exactly how you want to feel.
And exactly who you want to be.
Wide awake and feeling wonderful.
Take your time getting up from this meditation.
Our practice is complete.
And you are now ready for the rest of your day.
