So if you're wanting to as I said,
Allowing your eyes to close And as we begin to close our eyes if you want to remember you're in control you can open and close them as much as you want We're going to start just by with three deep breaths and on the out breath in particular I just want you to just extend the out breath just a little bit longer than the in breath And as you're breathing in and breathing out you're just sort of beginning to feel the breath as well And some of that wonderful science points to you know that out breath,
You know often sometimes when we've done something difficult Finished a project we make that noise noise that's because that out breath is such a Again science based relaxing part of that that sort of releasing that Actually stimulates a system within us a very ancient system That is relaxing and hence why we continue to do that And importantly throughout this little practice Just not trying to get too carried away if you get a little bit emotional if you are feeling anxious today And just trust a little in the practice now a Lot of us spend often the last minutes of our day just replaying in our minds some of the things that we did wrong All the things that we didn't do The people we let down the arguments we had people who may have judged us or Things that we forgot to do and feeling a little guilty or sad angry about the interactions And so we just really need to be careful about how we set ourselves up in the morning and how we Finish off our day because that subconscious part of us Can make such a significant difference to Our lives And the basic core of our existence we are kind-hearted compassionate beings we're just layered with the conditioning the judgments and criticisms of a society that often Too often can breed comparison when actually we are More the pure manifestation of existence itself this inextinctible fire The limitless the magnificent And as we just comfortably sit in our chairs What we're going to do is just run through the body and we're going to imagine just sort of Relaxing each part as you move from the top of our head all the way down to the tip of our toes and Remember throughout this practice it doesn't need to be perfect if you've got a busy mind today And you just this is just helping to manage that busy mind,
And that's amazing,
Too But I want you to see if you can just bring a little bit of gentle attention and by that I mean just some awareness to the sensations Just on the top of our head now we may Feel the hair maybe that's all we can feel the air conditioning is on maybe we can feel a gentle breeze And so it's sort of the top of the head and the forehead eyebrows this sort of area And then just want you to see if you can sort of breathe out and And just let go you know that letting go breath And just see if we can let go of this this part of our body And then next the sort of more lower part so bringing our attention into the eyes and those the mouth is the jaw And it's anything that we can feel It doesn't matter how much or how little it's just that noticing and Then again just as we bring our attention to this area Just breathe out and relax And as we're relaxing just seeing if we can just soften our jaw a little bit not trying to clinch our teeth Noticing as we move through the body any particular parts that feel tense or stressed next into the neck and the shoulders And each part we're just holding a little bit of attention they're holding a little bit of awareness Feeling into these sensations We don't need to compare whether they're some are better than others And we're just noticing the neck and shoulders and then read out let go relax And sometimes we don't feel a relaxation sometimes we do And next is the arms so from the shoulders all the way down to the fingertips again Just noticing Noticing anything that we can feel Maybe it's just down in the hands.
Maybe it's in the elbows Maybe it's the pressure of the arms against the sati or however you are sitting And then again just breathing out that letting go relax the arms if you can just doing your best And now the torso so from the shoulders all the way down to the hips And just holding a little bit of attention in that area and then just relaxing And then we're just relaxing And just holding a little bit of attention in that area and then when you're ready just Breathe out and relax again Doesn't matter how well you're doing with the practice doesn't matter if you have to move about Doesn't matter if you've got a busy mind Just seeing this is just practice Doesn't matter how well you're doing with the practice Doesn't matter how well you're doing Finally it's just the legs so from the hips all the way down to the tips of our toes Again it doesn't matter how much or how little we feel Maybe we can just feel our feet and our knees Again just breathe out relax let go One more thing we're just going to bring in just try and feel as much of the body as we can just from the head all the way down to our toes As much as we can And then one more breath out this time really long slow and just imagine the whole body just sort of melting away into the couch Wherever you the seat wherever you are just breathe out long and slow and let go And now just as you're resting again remembering doesn't need to be perfect this is all just a bit of practice I just want you to imagine in your thoughts just imagine you all of a sudden appearing in front of you You could just imagine yourself standing in your mind or sitting the mind is incredible in its creativity But you're just imagining this you stood in front of you and this person this you opens their arms up and you just take a bit of an embrace from this person this you And I just want you to imagine visualizing yourself taking an embrace And as you take this embrace from yourself you just hear a little whisper in your ear from you saying I wish you love and happiness And this voice continues on it just says I forgive you for being anxious I forgive you for putting me down about it And you're very welcome just to say these little lines in your head or just imagine this other you saying them to yourself But I forgive you for the choices that you have made yesterday and today and I forgive you for feeling sad about it Please be patient with me I know I will get better that everything will be okay that we will never have no one we will always have each other And I forgive you for feeling guilty I forgive you for being impatient I forgive you for hurting And I forgive you for being emotional it's okay to be upset And I love you you are truly amazing And then as this voice it just begins to get a little louder it reminds you that I can do it Anxiety is like breath it comes it stays and then it goes And I can realize that just like my breath that changes in every moment that every moment is an opportunity to see through fresher eyes It's an opportunity for compassion And I can realize that just like my breath flows out of me so will this anxious feeling And I can realize that these anxious feelings are not permanent I remember my happy times and whilst I'm not holding on to them I know these will come again soon This anxiety this sensation it's not me it's not the true me I know me And then as we begin to say to ourself in our thoughts not allowed as I breath in I breath in calm And as I breath out I smile And as I breath in I breath in calm And as I breath out I smile And as I breath in I breath in calm And as I breath out I smile I just want you to keep going with that just breath in saying calm in your thoughts And breath in even if you can't bring a smile to your face just imagine maybe a smile traveling through the body as you just sort of breath out And let go In calm and out smile And as we begin to harness that anxious energy into something a little bit more positive Fueling that fire of compassion rather than doubt Just imagining that big heart of yours just nourishing and strengthening And as we're sitting together I just want you to imagine that it's all these others these seven or eight others just all sat together In rooms all around Jersey and Australia All coming together to practice compassion a real gift to ourselves and ultimately to others Seeing this as an opportunity to meet this confusion maybe anxiety whatever is happening with compassion for ourselves I'm just going to finish just with a little quote as I like to do with this practice It's from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross Now the most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat have known suffering have known struggle and have found their way out of the depths These persons have an appreciation a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion gentleness and deep loving concern Beautiful people do not just happen You're just hearing the bell and just in your own time is going to open your eyes As you're opening your eyes I just want you to start going back to that idea of breathing in calm and smiling So just in your thoughts you're saying calm and breathing out and smiling Again just getting in touch with the body calm and smiling
