Settle into a comfortable position that allows you to be both alert and relaxed.
You may close the eyes or leave them open with a soft,
Steady gaze.
I invite you now to bring your awareness to the next few breaths,
Wherever you sense them most easily.
Might be the tip of the nose,
The back of the throat,
The rising and falling of the chest.
There may simply be the sense of the whole body breathing.
Just allow the attention to rest here for a moment.
The inhale,
The exhale.
And invite you now to bring the awareness to the eyes and the muscles around the eyes.
You might invite the brow to be smooth,
The muscles around the eyes to soften.
And see if you can bring the sense of a smile to the eyes.
A widening,
A lifting at the corners.
You might even picture your own eyes smiling.
And I invite you now to bring the awareness to the mouth and the jaw.
And to invite the same sense of a smile there.
And slight widening and lifting at the corners.
And the smile isn't to change how we feel.
You might be angry,
Frustrated,
Or fearful,
Or sad.
The smile is simply to say yes to whatever we're feeling right now.
We can smile at our grief.
We can smile at our anger.
And we can smile at our joy.
So checking back in with the eyes and the mouth.
Seeing if you can really connect the smile there.
It might be a half smile or a smile on the inside of the mouth.
Or a full smile like that you would have when you saw an old friend.
And you'll know you've connected with it when you feel it ripple down through the nervous system.
In a very real way,
A smile sends a signal to the entire body that it can be present for what's here right now.
I invite you now to bring the awareness into the shoulders.
And with the next few exhales,
Invite the shoulders to let go just a little bit more.
You might sense them dropping down and away from the ears.
Sometimes it's described as a melting of the armor or an unwinding.
Just giving the shoulders permission to slowly release.
You may notice as you do that there's increased sensation in the body and in the shoulders.
When the shoulders are tense,
It cuts us off from the feelings in our body.
And as they relax,
We tend to feel more.
You might feel the unwinding as a heat or a coolness.
You might suddenly notice new sensations in the chest and the belly.
Just breathing with these new feelings as the shoulders release.
I invite you now to bring the awareness into the heart space,
The space in the chest and the upper torso.
And just sense how it feels right now in that area.
Sometimes it's a weight,
A tightness.
Sometimes it's loose and free flowing.
Sometimes we can feel a knot or the sense of some kind of object in the chest,
A piece of metal or a hard little rock.
Just sensing what it feels like in the heart space and saying yes to whatever is there right now.
Having that feeling permission to be exactly as it is.
You may find that there's numbness.
There's very little feeling in the heart space at all.
Just saying yes to that too.
And now bringing the awareness to the belly.
These next few in-breaths,
Receiving them in a softening belly.
It may help to picture the undefended belly of a small child,
Totally receptive to each in-breath.
Completely surrender to each exhale.
Now just to sense the whole body,
Relaxed,
Breathing,
And alive with sensation.
And to reconnect with that smile and direct it back here to this breathing,
Living body.
And to stay in this space for as long as you need to be here.
