Welcome.
You may begin today's practice by looking around your space,
Noticing any items,
Colors,
Sounds that draw your awareness in your environment.
Consider what might make your space feel more supportive or nurturing.
Take some time to set up your space now.
I invite you to bring any item into your practice today that you personally find grounding.
You likely already have something that you intuitively find grounding or calming nearby,
Such as a certain blanket or pillow,
Something that feels good to hold like a rock or a fidget toy or perhaps a sentimental item.
Consider all five senses when bringing in grounding resources,
Such as sounds like nature soundtracks or ambient music or smells like diffusing your favorite oil or perhaps massaging this oil onto your temples or wrists.
My personal grounding favorites are lavender oil and an eye pillow.
Take some time to bring in and integrate these resources that are grounding for you and your nervous system.
Please know that rest is deeply personal and you always have choices in your practice.
You may follow along with any guidance that aligns with you or at any point in the practice,
You may choose to follow your own inner guidance.
This may include moving your awareness away from the body and out into your space,
Working with the grounding object you've chosen or whatever you personally find supportive.
You are your own greatest teacher.
Let your body settle into whatever position you find yourself in and then see if you can become even five percent more comfortable.
If it feels right for you,
In your mind's eye,
You may envision yourself in a circle of protection and nurturing.
This can be created out of anything your heart desires,
Stones,
Candles,
Flowers,
A bubble or perhaps loving ancestors.
Choose what feels grounding for your nervous system.
Now I invite you to notice your body,
Your energy,
Your mood.
Notice if there's something there that may not perhaps belong to you.
If there is something there,
Notice this with a sense of curiosity and compassion.
Is there a certain place it's located in the body?
A color?
A weight or a temperature?
Once you've connected with this,
I invite you to visualize this in any way that makes sense for you.
A color,
A light,
Water,
And visualize this moving down through the body,
Making its way into the earth.
Perhaps it moves like rain falling into the soil and letting this rain move through the body dropping down into the earth until the body is no longer carrying that which does not belong to it.
Now I invite you to bring your awareness to and notice where most of your energy goes throughout your day-to-day living.
Be it external such as your responsibilities,
Caring for others,
Work,
Relationships,
Or internal such as things you may worry about,
Memories from the past or planning for the future.
Without judgment,
Just taking a mental note of these things that occupy your time and energy.
We acknowledge and honor each of these that arise.
In the here and now,
You've carved out time and space just for you.
I invite you to call back your energy from every person,
Place,
Thought that you may have kept a part of yourself or your energy with.
Imagine your energy being called back from each of these to yourself,
To your body.
If you're a visual person,
You may imagine this as a color.
If you're more of an auditory person,
Perhaps a vibration,
Whatever makes sense to you.
Call all of your energy back to yourself,
To your body,
Noticing all the edges of your body,
The container that is your body,
How the air makes contact with your skin or the fabric of your clothes and how they make contact with your skin,
Noticing where your body makes contact with the earth.
The head becomes heavier,
The eyebrows soften,
The jaw relaxes,
Tongue rests on the roof of the mouth,
Shoulders drop,
Any tension throughout the stomach is free to release,
Pelvic floor is soft,
Noticing how the earth supports your body.
As you notice this support,
See if it feels okay to release further into this support,
Perhaps with each inhale noticing contact with the earth and on each exhale further softening into the earth.
If it's accessible to you,
Bringing your awareness to the breath,
Letting the natural rhythm of the breath move freely,
Simply observing.
You may stay here and simply observe the breath expanding,
Contracting or you may try the Ujjayi breath if it feels comfortable for you,
At any point you may return to simply observing the natural breath or one of the grounding resources you are using with your practice today.
On your next exhale,
Slightly open your mouth,
Imagine like you are fogging a mirror.
Now trying this again,
Breathing in through the nose and with a closed mouth,
Fogging the mirror again.
There is some audible sound with this breath,
Like soft ocean waves.
See if you can slow down and lengthen the exhale.
You may practice this Ujjayi breath or just listen and observe your own breath as it is.
Give yourself permission to do what works best for you right now.
You may stop for another breath,
For another scale to be poured.
And wherever you're at,
Letting your breath return to its natural,
Easy rhythm.
And just noticing what it's like to have all your energy called back to you.
And let this settle into your awareness.
From this place,
I'll invite you to connect with your sankalpa or your intention for the practice.
Listening to yourself,
Your heart,
And seeing what arises.
Trust the wisdom that arises from within.
You may phrase your intention in a brief first person statement.
If you would like to use a general intention,
You may use,
I am at ease and open to insight.
Whatever intention you choose,
Repeat this to yourself three times right now.
Sankalpa is the seed you are planting in the rich soil of your subconscious.
Its growth is already being nurtured.
Its growth is already being nurtured.
If it feels okay for you,
Following my guidance as we move awareness through the body,
Remembering at any point you can return to whatever grounding resource you're using today.
Bringing awareness now to the inside of the right cheek.
Inside of the left cheek.
Right side of the tongue.
Left side of the tongue.
Roof of the mouth.
The gums.
Teeth.
The whole mouth.
Corner of the right eye.
Right eyebrow.
Right forehead.
Right side of the head.
Right ear.
Right jaw.
Cheek.
Temple.
Awareness of the right side of the face.
Corner of the left eye.
Left eyebrow.
Left forehead.
Left ear.
Jaw.
Cheek.
Temple.
Awareness of the left side of the face.
The whole face.
The whole head.
Right shoulder.
Right upper arm.
Lower arm.
Wrist.
Palm of the hand.
Top of the hand.
Right thumb.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Fourth finger.
Fifth finger.
Right side of the body.
Left shoulder.
Left upper arm.
Lower arm.
Left wrist.
Palm of the hand.
Top of the hand.
Left thumb.
Second finger.
Third finger.
Fourth finger.
Fifth finger.
Left side of the body.
The entire neck.
Front of the shoulder girdle.
Back of the shoulder girdle.
Back ribs.
Front ribs.
Upper abdomen.
Lower abdomen.
Lower back.
Pelvic floor.
Right groin.
Left groin.
Right hip.
Right thigh.
Lower leg.
Ankle.
Top of the foot.
Sole of the foot.
Big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Fifth toe.
Space between the toes.
The whole right foot.
The whole right leg.
Left hip.
Left thigh.
Lower leg.
Ankle.
Top of the foot.
Sole of the foot.
Big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe.
Fifth toe.
Space between the toes.
The whole left foot.
The whole left leg.
The whole left side of the body.
The whole right side of the body.
The whole back side of the body.
The whole front side of the body.
The whole body.
The whole body.
The whole body.
Now bringing awareness back to the breath.
Natural easy breath.
Exhaling ease.
Exhaling the body becomes heavy.
With each exhale the body becomes heavier.
Grounding safely into the earth.
You may choose to bring the ujjayi breath into your exhalations or simply noticing the heaviness of the body with each exhale and the ease with each inhale.
Exhale then it is to feelpod and open.
Out.
All is well Beginning to notice the sensation of health.
The sense of heaviness in your body.
The sense of gravity anchoring your body to the earth.
The weight of your bones,
Heavy like boulders.
Your muscles and tissues like thick clay earth.
Notice where it feels the most heavy in your body.
How does the heaviness draw your awareness?
Now evoking the sensation of lightness in your body.
Lightest clouds floating high above the earth.
Notice where you feel the most lightness in your body.
How does the lightness draw your attention?
Moving back to heaviness.
The bodies waded into the earth like a heavy trunk of an ancient tree rooted,
Grounded.
Back to the lightness.
The body floats like a gentle fog rising from the earth on a still morning.
Now holding both the heaviness and the lightness together.
Where is the heaviness in your body?
Where is the lightness?
And holding both the heavy and the light in your awareness.
Now feel and sense into the following.
Seeds sprouting.
The smell of fresh herbs.
A smooth stone.
Crackling campfire.
Large tree trunk.
Stoic elephant.
Bare feet in sand.
Holding dark rich soil.
The earth.
The earth.
The earth fades into an endless dark night sky.
The darkness is as far as the eye can see in every direction.
Like a blank canvas of the mind encapsulating all the different parts that comprise of yourself.
Including your vast unconscious mind.
There is nothing to do here.
We are simply being rather than doing.
Perhaps something arises such as shapes,
Colors,
Memories,
Emotion,
Sensation.
Perhaps there is nothing at all.
We simply notice what is with a sense of curiosity and compassion.
Simply notice.
Simply be.
And we'll now move into some brief unguided time.
The entire room is being graduated into one room and kind of very.
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