Find a comfortable reclining position with support under your neck,
Your head,
And your knees.
This can be done on the floor or in bed or any other place that makes you feel supported and comfortable.
Close your eyes.
Take a moment to check in with your body.
Notice how your body moves with your breath.
Is the breath lifting your chest or shoulders?
Is it dropping down into your belly?
Paying attention to where the breath sits in the body helps us strengthen our ability to allow tension to relax out of the body and thus releasing pain.
Going a little deeper into the breath,
Try and notice now how long the inhales are and how long are the exhales.
Noticing the rhythm of your breath,
See what happens if you spend just a little more time on your exhalations.
When we bring more time and awareness to our exhale,
We're strengthening our body's relaxation instinct,
Which again will help it to release pain.
As you continue to bring your awareness onto your breath,
Building that awareness of where the breath is sitting in the body,
Building that awareness of lengthening your exhales,
Without working too hard,
Try and feel your chest and your shoulders soften and allow the breath to drop deeper into your belly,
Feeling the belly rise on the inhale and fall on the exhale.
Just let your breath slow down and smooth out.
This slow,
Relaxed breathing helps us create a foundation of relaxation in the body,
Which is going to help us to release pain.
And now take a moment to notice where your body is making contact with the earth.
If you're sitting,
This might be through your feet or through your thighs or your hips.
If you're lying down,
You might feel this through your whole body.
And on the next exhale,
Let your body melt down into that support,
The support of the floor,
The chair,
Whatever is holding you up.
Use your exhales to relax down into it.
Be dropping a little deeper into the floor,
Allowing your body to rest back against the back of the chair.
Allow the earth underneath you to support you so that your body doesn't have to do as much work.
Let it go.
And as you feel your breath deepen and your body relax,
Now take a moment to just check in.
Do you feel pain or discomfort anywhere in your body?
If so,
Try directing your breath into that area or those areas.
Just feel the body gently expand,
Open and stretch on your inhales and then soften and relax back in on the exhales.
You can imagine that with every inhale,
Those painful areas or tender spots are being massaged,
Like they're being stretched open with every exhale,
The pain melts out of the body.
Breathing into the areas of discomfort as you exhale,
Let it melt away.
If your mind starts to wander,
Just bring it back to that basic breath awareness,
Just the feeling of noticing where and how your body moves as you breathe,
Slowing that rhythm down and noticing how the slow deep breathing is affecting the pain in your body.
Visualization can be helpful as well.
Maybe every inhale you imagine kind of that painful spot that you can locate it in your body,
Zoom in on it.
And with every exhale,
You can just imagine that it's kind of melting away,
Maybe like ripples in the sand as a wave recedes back into the ocean,
Smoothing out the body,
Smoothing out that pain.
Or you can imagine it like a ball of light that as you inhale,
You zoom in and find that zone,
That spot,
That painful tender area.
And as you exhale,
It's just going to shrink down,
Let it get smaller or maybe let it dissolve away completely.
Continuing to let your breath slow down,
Continuing to feel the pain wash away,
Or even if the pain isn't changing,
Just allowing your body to relax into it,
To find some level of acceptance,
And trying not to hold ourselves so tightly,
Using your exhales to let tension relax,
To let your body melt and let go a little bit deeper.
Feel free to continue to breathe in this manner.
You can stay with it as long as you like.
Or if you feel that it's time to bring your body back into the world around you,
You can wiggle fingers and toes,
Maybe find any organic stretching,
Moving that feels good to your body,
Imagining like how a cat stretches after it's been napping,
And allowing that organic movement to just naturally grow into whatever kind of moving feels like it would feel good.
Simply opening your eyes,
Continuing to stay present with the breath,
Present with the sensations of the body,
And take a moment of self-compassion to just wish yourself a relief from pain,
To wish yourself more comfort,
And to wish more love into your life.
