Relaxing And Sensing To Discover Your True Self

Beginning with a generous focus on relaxing with a body scan and attention to breathing this relaxation then moves into a contemplative space where you can explore your perspective around your true self. In the deeply relaxed space you will be guided to consider different ways of thinking and noticing how these thoughts are sensed. The dialogue will explore different perspectives in a holistic way- touching on the mind, body and spirit.

The recording was done in a natural setting with some sounds of wind and birds along with some gentle background sound (EMDR Music / Bilateral Stimulation Music) by Liborio Conti.

Transcript

So just take a moment to get comfortable,

Preparing for this relaxation with me.

My name's Andrea,

And I'll be talking you through and guiding you for the next few minutes.

During this time,

You can have the luxury of switching off from anything else that you're doing,

Not worrying about what needs to be done or what has been done,

Simply relishing in the present moment,

Tuning into your awareness and knowing that you can go about the rest of your day or evening with more clarity and perhaps a bit more focus.

Take the time now to switch off anything.

Find a quiet space where you won't be disturbed.

Find a comfortable place for yourself.

You might be sitting in a comfortable chair or reclining or lying down with some pillows and cushions.

Take a moment to adjust yourself in the space so that you're comfortable.

Know that if you need to at any time,

You can shift and move,

Stretching,

Working through the space.

And start by just giving yourself permission to switch off thinking.

And transition into feeling,

Sensing,

Tuning into awareness,

Allowing the body to relax easily and gently.

Start by just noticing any tension through the body.

Beginning with the top of the head,

The face,

Noticing any expressions that you're holding onto,

Releasing your expression,

Allowing the face to relax.

Noticing your head supported by your neck and allowing the neck to just relax,

Let the head be held by the cushions or the chair,

Releasing your hold,

Just recognizing the support around your shoulders and down the arms,

Letting the arms unwind,

Resting hands in some place on your lap or at your sides,

Trying to stretch out as much as you can without twisting or letting things overlap,

And just noticing the contact of the surface with your back all the way from your neck down through the middle back into the lower back,

Hips and pelvis,

Resting gently,

Letting go of any resistance or tension that you're holding onto,

Relaxing and releasing the body.

And just noticing your mind following my guidance,

Focusing on the awareness,

Any sensations that are coming up in your body as you bring your attention into the neck and the throat,

Into the chest and stomach,

Noticing movement as you breathe in and out,

Noticing the sensation of the breath as it passes down your throat into your chest and stomach,

Noticing the quality of the breath,

The pattern of the breath,

Inviting the breath to bring a sense of refreshment and restoration to the body as you continue to breathe and relax,

Just noticing the hips and pelvis,

Top of the legs,

The big muscles in the top of the legs,

Relaxing and easing,

Releasing any tension,

Just noticing the knees,

Surprisingly you might find that the knees could be locked,

Just letting go of that tension or holding,

And relaxing the knees,

Noticing and bringing awareness into the lower part of the legs now,

All around the lower legs,

Relaxing and releasing through the ankles,

All the way into the feet and the toes,

Just noticing the body,

Noticing any sensations and allowing yourself the chance to relax and let go of that tension for right now,

Just knowing that these moments of release and restoration often grow into longer moments,

Parts of the day to most of the day,

Perhaps not all of the day,

Since most of us have things that cause us stress or tension,

Might be a bit unrealistic,

But for right now these moments are contributing to your well-being,

Just planting that thought in your mind that even if it's a few minutes,

It's allowing the body to relax and reset,

The more that we practice this resetting,

The more our body is able to restore and feel rejuvenated rather than exhausted,

Just noticing the quality of your sleep,

When you relax and release throughout the day,

Rather than being exhausted and sleeping hard and fast,

You might feel that you ease into your sleep and feel more refreshed the next day,

And reassuring yourself that you can do this at any time of your choosing,

For as long as you want,

You can go through this exercise again and again,

And each time bringing your focus through different spaces,

Perhaps scanning the body is one way of slowing down,

Calming the mind,

Bringing awareness into the body,

You can focus on your breathing,

Noticing the breath as you breathe in,

Noticing the inhalation and the exhalation,

And even the little pause or the turnaround between those inhalations and exhalations,

And back again,

Noticing the quality of the breath,

Noticing if you're breathing in through the nose,

If you can feel that breath moving through the body into the chest and all the way into the stomach and the belly,

Deeply,

Not worrying about how deeply you breathe,

Just perhaps playing with it a little bit,

And just noticing if you can make any small changes to your breathing,

Without overthinking,

Without forcing or driving it in any way,

Simply naturally guiding the body,

If anything,

You can focus more on the breath out,

Letting the air out with a deep exhalation through the mouth,

You can even make a sigh,

Sometimes this is a good release,

Just letting things go,

Sort of a metaphor in our lives as well,

Our breath out is releasing things that we don't need to hold on to,

Perhaps you can think of one thing right now that you'd like to let go of,

And with that,

Your next exhalation,

Releasing it,

Realizing that in this moment,

It's not important,

Perhaps it's not going to be important for most of your day,

But it could be consuming your mind unnecessarily,

Sometimes even the biggest things don't require lots of thoughts,

We just keep thinking about them over and over again,

When we could simply let go of the thinking until we need to take the next action,

Again letting that exhalation be like that real letting go,

And if you're finding that it's hard to let go of these things,

Try not to overthink that either,

Lots of people think that during a relaxation or a meditation,

You need to empty your mind,

And this can be really difficult and unrealistic,

It's being aware of what's going through the mind,

And seeing if we can make any change,

To be more at ease with our thoughts,

With our body,

Both the mental and the physical self,

And also just bringing into it our spiritual self,

You might take a few moments just to notice yourself in this space,

You in the world,

You in this place right now,

What's most important to you,

In this relaxed space you can bring whatever you like into your mind,

You might even have an image for that,

An image for what you believe,

An image for who you are,

An image for the space that you're in,

Letting these images come through,

Just noticing them,

Perhaps they're meaningful or they resonate with you,

Sometimes they could just come out of the blue and be a little bit silly or absurd,

Just noticing them,

Letting the images mean whatever they might for you,

Nobody can tell you what they mean,

We all have our own experiences,

We all live in different circumstances,

We can just be who we are,

Without somebody telling us who we are,

What we think,

What we think means,

Just letting those thoughts and images pass through you as you relax,

Letting them change if they need to,

Noticing yourself again and the awareness that you have in these spaces,

The physical body,

The thoughts in your mind and the creative thoughts in your mind,

Your imagination,

Perhaps in this relaxed space you can feel the essence of who you are,

Lots of people say that in relaxation is our true nature,

Which can be refreshing,

We often go through our day doing things the way other people want us to or the way we're supposed to,

The way we should,

Rather than just being who we are,

Just letting yourself experience that,

Being who you are,

Thinking what you want,

Believing what you do and it being perfectly okay and perhaps inside the space,

The safe space,

You can explore those feelings more and more and bring back to the outside world,

What you think might be important or what you might think could work in your life,

In your circumstance or situation,

How can you be a little bit more physically,

Mentally and spiritually like this person you envision in this relaxed place,

In this ideal place,

Exploring those thoughts and images,

Exploring the sensations in your body when you think of them,

Noticing if there's tension or if there's release,

Noticing yourself and your body responding to different thoughts,

You might bring to mind something you're very uncomfortable with,

A situation,

A person,

A relationship,

Just sense that in the body for a moment and where you feel it,

What is the feeling,

You might not be able to verbalize it but you can sense it and then flipping that thought into a space that you feel very comfortable,

An ideal situation that you envision for yourself,

Just notice the energy in your body shifting and changing,

How does that feel,

What is the sense of that comfortable space,

Noticing and feeling,

Trying not to judge the two,

Just being aware of how they affect the essence of you,

You might bring this wisdom into every day as you travel through your day,

Becoming more in tune with these sensations that you have in your body,

These sensations might also evoke feelings,

Thoughts in your mind,

Sometimes we think about uncomfortable situations and sometimes they can bring about anger,

Shame,

Guilt and sometimes these ideal feelings can bring about great happiness or joy,

Pride,

Just notice how that feels,

Each of those different feelings is experienced and sensed through the body and just noticing if we can bring that awareness into our everyday,

Everyday world,

Letting yourself experience those different aspects of the self,

We all experience the good and the bad,

Extreme happiness and extreme sadness,

It's being aware of those feelings,

How they sit in our body,

How we sit with them in our body,

We often say that joy is fleeting and we say that pain and sadness can loom,

Thinking about those descriptions,

Are we allowing ourselves to hold on to those emotions,

Can they be freed,

Can we extend that joy and happiness in our lives more and more,

If we're simply aware of how we can do that,

How our perspective can change that,

And just noticing the thoughts that you have in this relaxed space and some of these questions or statements that have been coming through the guidance of this relaxation and you might bring back with you in the everyday world,

You might want to journal,

You might want to create some sort of a picture,

Image artfully,

Creatively,

To remember what you've been thinking,

Keeping it with you,

I know some people that write their ideas down on post-it notes and keep them in their different spaces to remind them,

Sometimes we need that for some time,

Even if it's just a little picture to remind us,

Doesn't have to be the instructions,

And so bringing back whatever is important for you,

Just one more time acknowledging this relaxed space that you are in right now,

Knowing that you can come back here at any time that you choose,

As long as you want,

As many times as you want,

There's no prescription for this meditation,

Use as needed,

Come back when needed,

And become more aware of the outside world now,

Your body in the space,

Moving and stretching,

Starting to realize the present reality,

Becoming awake and fully aware once again,

And just getting ready to go about the rest of your day or evening,

Best that you can,

I look forward to you coming back again to this or other relaxations with me.