We are starting off in Shavasana.
You'll lay flat on your back on the floor.
If you have any lower back discomfort,
You can keep your knees bent and use a pillow or a blanket rolled up to support the knees.
We'll start off with a tension releasing exercise,
Beginning with your feet.
Curl your toes into fists and tighten through the arches,
Heels,
Ankles,
Calves,
Knees and thighs.
Lift your kneecaps,
Squeeze the buttocks together,
Holding all of that tension.
Take a deep breath and release with a sigh.
Then wiggle your toes and roll your feet from side to side to loosen the hip sockets.
Now we'll be working with the fingers.
Curl your fingers into fists,
Tighten through the palms,
Wrists,
Arms and shoulders.
Squeeze your shoulder blades together beneath you so your chest lifts up off the floor.
Holding all of that tension,
Squint your face by pulling the lips up to the nose.
Bring the eyebrows and forehead down to the nose,
Squinting all of the muscles of your face to the center.
Lift your head off the floor,
Lift your arms off the floor.
Take a deep breath and release.
Now you shake out your fingers,
Shrug your shoulders and then reposition your body so you lay flat and symmetrical.
Drawing the shoulder blades together as you turn your palms up towards the ceiling.
And we'll stretch the face lengthwise now.
Open your mouth,
Pull your lips into an O shape.
Move your teeth further and further apart until you feel the cheeks beginning to stretch.
And at the same time,
Lift your eyebrows until the eyelids pull open.
Roll your eyes up to the top of your head.
And as you stretch your face lengthwise,
Take a deep breath and release.
And take three more slow,
Deep breaths and let each breath go with a sigh.
As you feel your body slowly beginning to relax down,
Melting into the floor.
Focus your attention on your breathing and see if you can gently begin to shift the breath down deeper and deeper towards the stomach.
Breathing diaphragmatically so that you feel the stomach lifting as you breathe in,
Falling as you breathe out.
Allowing the breath to flow in a steady,
Gentle,
Fluid movement.
Without any catches or hesitations or pauses.
And each time you breathe out,
Feel your body beginning to relax,
Feeling the tension flowing out of the body carried away by the breath.
As you begin relaxing from the crown of your head down through the scalp,
Forehead and eyebrows.
Allow the eyelids to close lightly,
The eyeballs to grow heavy and soft.
Part your lips and relax the jaws,
The lips and the tongue.
Relax fingers,
Hands,
Arms and shoulders.
Relax the toes,
The arches,
Heels,
Ankles,
Calves,
Knees and thighs.
Loosen the hip sockets and relax the buttocks.
And slowly begin moving up from the tailbone,
Relaxing through the lumbar,
The thoracic vertebra.
Relax the back of your neck and soften your throat.
Releasing any tension from the muscles of the jaws,
The lips and the tongue.
Relaxing the cheeks and feeling your eyeballs grow heavier,
Softer.
As they drop away from the eyelids and sink down deeper and deeper.
Melting into the back of your head.
And the eyelids float lightly above the eyes.
As you relax the eyebrows and the forehead and let the temples grow soft and hollow.
Relax the scalp and the crown of your head.
And gradually bring your attention back to your breathing.
Allowing the breath to flow in a steady,
Circular movement.
Feeling the stomach lifting as you breathe in,
Falling as you breathe out.
And imagine that you're laying on your back by the ocean.
And as you breathe,
You can hear the ocean in the background.
Each time you breathe in,
A wave is rolling up the beach.
And each time you breathe out,
The wave slides back down into the ocean again.
As the next wave replaces it.
Listen to the sound of your own breath moving in and out of your body.
And hear the sound of the ocean in your own breathing.
Breathing in as the wave rolls up the beach,
Breathing out as the wave slides back down into the ocean.
And allow the quality of your breathing to reflect the quality of the ocean.
Letting the breath roll through the body like a slow wave.
Feeling the stomach lifting as you breathe in,
Falling as you breathe out.
And imagine the waves are growing larger and slower.
And see what the greatest volume of air you can breathe in and out with the least effort.
And with each breath,
Feel your body sinking down into the sand.
And you no longer know where your body stops when the sand begins.
Feeling yourself become one with the beach.
And then very,
Very gently begin allowing your breath to draw you back to the body.
Begin drawing energy from each breath.
Feeling your mind come back to life as the breath comes back to the body.
Begin breathing deeper now,
Actively drawing energy from each breath.
And when you're ready,
Slowly move into a symmetrical stretch.
Raising your arms overhead,
Bringing your feet together.
Opening your mouth wide and yawning as you stretch.
Stretching through the left side of your body from left fingers to left toes,
Then through the right side of your body.
Stretching diagonally from left fingers to right toes and from right fingers to left toes.
And then make up your own stretch,
Arching,
Bending,
Twisting,
Whatever feels good,
Allowing your body to guide you into a spontaneous stretch.
And when you're finished,
Draw both knees up to your chest.
Roll over onto your left shoulder.
And pause for two or three more deep,
Slow breaths,
Actively drawing energy from each breath.
And then when you're ready,
Place your right hand on the floor in front of you and roll up over your knees back into a sitting position.
I'd like to thank you for joining me for this relaxation session.
I hope you have a wonderful day.
Thank you.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Thank you.
