Hello,
Friends.
We are coming together to create an afternoon practice here.
And so I want you to go ahead and assume a comfortable position.
And this can absolutely be laying down.
If you just finished your meal,
Your wonderful,
Delicious,
Nutritious lunch,
Then I'd suggest that you lay on the left side,
Your left side,
It helps us to digest our food.
And then just allowing the body to become still for a moment,
Whether you're in a seated position,
Leaning up against a wall or laying down in some way.
Let the body become still.
And the thing that we're going to move is our awareness through the body.
So we want the body to become as still as possible,
Not so still that you feel anxious or stressful when you have an itch or you have to move your fingers or your toes,
But still enough that you don't feel like you're doing something big with the body.
And you might close your eyes.
If you don't close the eyes,
Find that soft gaze we reference a lot,
Soft gaze toward the floor if you're seated or maybe to the ceiling if you're on your back,
Some other soft gaze toward a table or a chair in the room if you're on your side.
And then we'll just take a big breath together.
So let's draw in a breath through the nose,
Big inhale and full exhale.
We then become connected to the breath.
Feel the next few breaths come in and go out of the body.
And just by noticing the breath,
We often notice different parts of the body.
Sometimes the chest or the belly or the shoulders or the back.
And so your attention might not only fall on the breath,
It might fall in a particular place of the body.
And that's really the work that we're going to do here today.
We're going to use our focus,
Our awareness to scan throughout the body.
And I want you to imagine that every time I call out a place on the body and your attention shifts there,
I want you to imagine that that attention,
That awareness,
That focus can actually soften that place of your body,
Can actually be that thing that invites relaxation into that piece,
That part.
So we're going to start at the top of the head and work our way downward.
That groundiness sometimes helps to create a little bit of a centering,
A little bit of a calming effect in the body.
And so I want you to start by bringing your awareness just above the head,
Not the tippy top of your head,
But that space above the head.
See if you can just bring your attention,
Your full focus there.
And then start to bring it to the top of the head.
Maybe you notice your hair.
Bring your attention to your forehead and your eyebrows,
Your eyes,
And your nose.
Bring your attention to the place between your nose and your upper lip,
And then the lips,
Moving to the ears,
And the cheeks,
And the jawline.
Bring your focus to the chin,
The awareness running down all sides of the neck,
Following it out to your right shoulder,
Right upper arm,
The right elbow,
The right forearm,
The right wrist,
The back of the right hand,
The palm of the right hand,
Thumb,
First finger,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Pinky finger.
Then bring your awareness to the left shoulder,
Upper left arm,
Left elbow,
The left forearm.
Bring your attention to the left wrist,
The back of the left hand,
The left palm,
The left thumb,
First finger,
Second finger,
Third finger,
Pinky finger.
Then bring your attention to your chest.
Feel your breath within the chest.
Feel your heart.
Bring your attention to your lower ribs,
To the upper belly.
Bring your focus to the belly button,
And the lower belly.
Bring your awareness back all the way up between the shoulder blades on the back side of the body,
Upper back,
Middle back,
Lower back.
Bring your attention to both hips,
To the pelvic region,
To your glutes.
Bring your attention to the right thigh,
The right knee,
The right calf muscle,
The right shin,
The right ankle,
The top of the right foot,
The bottom of the right foot,
First toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
Bring your attention to your left thigh,
The left knee,
The left calf muscle,
The left shin,
The left ankle,
The top of the left foot,
The bottom of the left foot,
First toe,
Second toe,
Third toe,
Fourth toe,
Fifth toe.
And then feeling all at once,
All of the pieces,
All of the parts from the top of your head to the very tips of your toes.
Imagine that the awareness can bring relaxation throughout the entire body.
Feel the soothing effect of the awareness from your head to your toes,
The slowing down of your breath,
Tenderness of your heart.
And then take a very big breath all the way in.
Breathe it in through the nose and out of the mouth.
And you might just pause here.
You might take a little extra time to sit with the breath,
To sit with the lingering effects,
To sit with the way that you feel.
But when you're ready to move and to go out and do what you have to do this afternoon,
Keep a little bit of this awareness with you of the body,
Of the breath,
A little bit of that invitation to relax against what can be sometimes the harsh,
Harshness of the world.
Hoping you the very best the rest of your day.
Namaste.
