Good evening and welcome to this guided meditation intended to help you wind down from the day and prepare yourself for a restful evening.
Start by getting just as comfortable as you can in your position,
Perhaps laying down in bed or on your couch or somewhere that is comfortable.
Ensure that you have enough room for each arm and leg to stretch out,
Making yourself as comfortable as you possibly can.
Once you've gotten into your position,
Allow your eyes to close and for your awareness to turn inward.
Allow yourself to become present here and to feel appreciation that the day has ended.
Allow yourself to embrace the idea of being able to relax,
With nowhere to be,
Nothing to do.
Make a conscious decision to let go of the experiences and thoughts of the day.
Whether they were good or bad,
They have concluded for now.
They may resume tomorrow,
But right now it's time to just let go of these things.
Giving yourself permission to let go of work,
To let go of school,
To let go of socializing,
To let go of your home life,
Just allowing yourself to close the book for today and put these parts of your life to rest.
You might use your breath to release these things if they continue to linger,
Breathing in to invite relaxation into the body and breathing out to release these thoughts to let them go.
Let's do this two more times,
Breathing in relaxation,
Breathing out worries or thoughts about our day,
Breathing in serenity and peace,
Breathing out attachment to our day.
Now let's try breathing into certain areas of the body to invite them to relax,
Starting with your head,
Breathing as if you could inhale directly into your head and exhaling to release the working mind,
The thinking mind,
Breathing in inviting the mind and the head to relax and release and breathing out,
Surrendering the mind to rest.
Now breathing into the neck and the shoulders,
Giving them the signal that it's time to soften and release any tension they are holding.
Do the same with both arms,
Sending the breath down the right arm and the left arm,
Feeling the relaxation in both hands.
Breathing directly into the chest now as you fill the lungs to their capacity with the in-breath and sigh out of the mouth with the out-breath,
Allowing the chest to completely soften and release,
Allowing it to sink down and become heavy.
Breathing now directly into the stomach muscles and the abdomen,
Just like the lungs take a deep breath in,
Pulling in as much air as you can into your belly and sighing out of the mouth,
Allowing these muscles to release any stored tension or stress.
Do this one more time,
Breathing fully into the belly and then releasing,
Allowing it to relax.
Invite the breath to relax your hips and your pelvis,
Seeing if you can breathe into these areas and get them to unwind.
And then sending the breath down both legs,
Feeling the relaxation reach down to both the left and right foot,
Imagining that your body is entirely weightless and floating in an ocean,
With your chest faced up toward the sky and your arms outstretched as you float.
Feel the warm waters of this tranquil sea caressing your arms,
Your legs,
Your hands and your feet,
Your back,
Your sides,
Your chest,
Your neck,
Your head.
Anywhere that you can feel this water touching your body is completely relaxed.
You can start to imagine that the waves of this ocean are rocking you from side to side,
Filling you into utter and complete relaxation.
These waters are inviting you to just simply be here,
With nowhere to go and nothing to do.
When you're ready,
You can slowly begin to release this visualization,
To slowly move the fingers and toes,
To flutter open the eyes and return to your current surroundings.
Taking a brief moment to pitch your awareness down into the body,
Taking notice of how you feel now,
If you're any more relaxed or eased than you were when you started this practice.
This concludes our meditation.
I hope you have a great and restful evening.
