Hello everyone and welcome to this evening wind down meditation.
We've all had a full day and now we have a full night of rest ahead of us.
So to prepare our bodies and our minds for a quiet night of rest,
We will slow the breath and slow our nervous system down with some simple breathing and meditation practices.
I would invite you to find a comfortable position either on a cushion or on a chair or if you're already lying in the bed that's also fine as well.
And see if you can find the most comfortable posture.
So if you are sitting,
You feel that you have a straight back and a soft front.
Same as on a chair.
And if you're lying down,
Maybe just as you would in Shavasana,
You spread your arms out,
Move your legs to the side and start to notice your breath.
Become aware of how your breath has been breathing the whole day for you without any of your attention.
She is there for you,
Breathing in and out.
And so we bring gratitude to our breath.
Thank you,
My breath,
For always being there for me.
You are with me through the easy parts of the day and you are with me through the difficult parts of the day.
You are always with me.
By bringing gratitude into our sphere of energy,
We tend to create a more peaceful,
Calm energy.
And we slowly bring awareness to our breath by being grateful for it.
And so now slowly I would invite you to become more intimately aware with your breath right now.
Notice if you are taking short or deep breaths.
Notice if your breath is hard to find,
If you feel it in your belly or in your chest.
You might like to put a hand on your belly or your chest to feel the breath move in and out of your body.
And maybe you can invite some visualization of your breath,
Moving the breath up and down as you breathe in and out.
See if you can notice and watch it.
On the inhale,
The breath moving from the belly up through the chest into the throat all the way to the nose and exhaling down through the mouth and throat and the chest and the belly.
And you might notice that when you begin to bring awareness to your breath and to follow the breath,
You innately start to breathe a bit deeper and a bit slower,
More intentionally.
Noticing on the inhale how the belly expands and the breath moves up through the body.
And on the exhale how the breath slowly moves back down and the belly moves in towards the ribs.
And the spine.
Now we can breathe slowly together.
So if you exhale everything out.
And inhale.
Exhale.
And slowly exhale,
Breathing the breath out through the belly.
Inhale,
Belly fills up.
And exhale.
Bring the belly back in towards the spine.
Last one together.
Inhale,
Feeling the belly expand with air,
The breath moving up through the chest,
Through the throat.
And exhale,
The belly releasing,
Pulling back towards the spine.
Exhaling.
Breathing.
So we're just initiating some deep belly breathing,
Some diaphragmatic breathing to engage our parasympathetic nervous system,
Slowing our body down,
Bringing calm and an energy ready for resting.
And maybe you have thoughts coming in from the day or thoughts or ideas of projects that you need to do tomorrow.
And that's okay.
You can let them be there.
And on the next exhale,
You can let them go.
Bring your awareness back to your breath,
Moving up and down through your body.
Or maybe you feel a point of tension in your body and see if you can move your breath,
Flow the energy of the breath to this area,
Bringing healing energy.
However you feel at the end of this day is okay.
And you know that now it's okay to let it go,
To bring forward the energy of rest and peaceful energy.
Now,
As you continue to wind down with the rest of your evening,
Once you get into bed,
If you're not already in bed,
You might want to practice this again,
Placing your hands on your belly and feeling the deep,
Rewarding breaths,
Slowing your body's energy down,
Bringing you ready into rest.
But for now,
I want to thank you for practicing with me and we hope to see you again soon.
Good night.
