Welcome to this guided meditation for relaxation and healing.
My name is Dorsey Standish and our sound accompaniment is provided by Danae Richards.
I'd like to welcome you to your practice and thank you for taking this time to nurture your mind and body.
As you're ready,
Settle into a comfortable posture for practice.
It might serve you to practice lying down today,
Or perhaps you find a comfortable,
Supported seat for practice.
As you settle in,
Allowing yourself to take any movements or stretches that might feel good to help you fully arrive and settle in.
As you move towards a posture of stillness,
Beginning to notice whether you can feel the breath in the body at this moment.
Perhaps it would serve you to take a few deeper rounds of breath,
Breathing in deeply into the bottom of the belly and exhaling slowly out through the mouth.
Take a few rounds of these cleansing breaths at your own pace.
Throughout today's practice,
I'd like to invite you to notice and allow anything that comes up for you,
Welcoming whatever's present,
Including thoughts,
Emotions,
And bodily sensations.
If we're aware of what's happening,
Then we're practicing mindfulness.
In today's session,
We'll use techniques of body awareness and visualization to help calm the nervous system and allow relaxation and healing to take place in the mind and the body.
Taking one more deep round of breath to settle as you breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Now imagine that you're standing next to a steaming hot bath.
You look around the bathroom that you're in and notice a few specific features of your environment.
Perhaps you can hear the sound of the bath water running,
Some soft soothing music in the background.
Maybe you can even smell the scent of the bath.
Perhaps it's a lavender or peppermint bath.
As you stand next to the bath,
We begin to bring awareness to each part of the body,
Noticing what's present,
And then imagining that we allow it to soften as we slide that part of the body into the hot bath.
We'll start by tuning into sensation in our feet and our toes,
Noticing any sensations that are present for you in this part of the body.
Then imagine sliding your toes and both feet into the hot bath,
Allowing any sensation to relax away.
Bring curious attention to the area of your ankle joints,
Feeling the lower legs,
The shins and the calves,
Noticing,
Allowing any sensations that are present here.
And imagining that you slip your lower legs into the warm bath water as well,
Allowing your ankles,
Calves and your shins to relax and soften.
Noticing now any sensation that's present around your knees and upper legs,
Feeling the fronts and backs of the thighs,
And allowing any sensation to melt away as you slide your whole legs now into the warm bath.
As we bring attention to the torso,
You might notice sensation around the hips,
The pelvis,
The lower abdomen,
Getting curious about any sensation that might be present for you in this part of the body,
And then inviting it to soften as you slide the lower part of your torso into the warm bath as well.
And then,
Beginning the area of your belly,
Your lower back,
Noticing your chest,
Your upper back,
Aware and open to any sensation that might be present on the torso,
Whether it's on the skin or deeper within.
And as it feels right,
You can imagine allowing your entire torso to relax into the warm bath,
Softening the front and back of the upper body.
Bring gentle attention now to the area of your hands,
Your arms,
Curious about any sensation that might be present on the body,
And then,
Slowly,
You can allow it to soften as you slide your hands and your arms and your shoulders into the hot bath.
Notice how it feels to have your torso and your lower body submerged in this warm,
Nurturing bath water.
You might notice sensation around the collar bones,
The neck,
Feeling the front,
The back,
And the sides of the neck.
Imagine imagining,
Perhaps,
That you allow the warm water to rise all the way up to the base of your head,
Enveloping your neck and your collar bones,
Relaxing away any sensations that might be present here.
Bringing your gentle,
Mindful attention to the area of the head,
Exploring sensation around the face.
You might notice sensation along the jaw line,
On the lips,
Feeling the inner and outer cheeks.
You might even notice sensation around the ears.
Perhaps you can feel air moving in the nostrils.
Notice any sensation around the eyes,
The eyebrows,
And the forehead.
If it feels right,
You might imagine washing warm water over your face,
Relaxing away any sensations that are present in these areas.
Finally exploring the area of the hairline and the scalp,
Open and curious about any sensation in this part of the body.
Whatever is present here,
You can imagine relaxing it away as you relax back into the bath,
Letting your hair and your scalp be immersed in the warm bath water.
Allow yourself to float here in this warm,
Comfortable bathtub,
Staying embodied and present with sensations in the body as you rest,
Supported,
And at ease.
Keep bringing the mind back to the feeling of relaxing in this warm bath water,
Nothing to do or accomplish,
Just practicing being and opening up to this moment.
Spending a few more moments here,
Relaxing and enjoying,
And listening to the beautiful sounds of the water.
As you rest in this feeling of peace and presence that you've created for yourself,
You might resonate with the message of this Chinese proverb,
Tension is who you think you should be,
Relaxation is who you are.
Take a deeper breath into the belly and let it out through an open mouth.
Take one more deep breath in and let it go.
Start to bring gentle awareness back to the environment that you're in,
Sensing the room around you,
Your body resting on the floor,
Chair,
Or cushion.
And as you go on throughout your day or your week,
Remember that there's this place of presence and peace that's always within you,
Waiting for you to tap into it.
Tension is who you think you should be.
Relaxation is who you really are.
Let's take one final deep breath together,
Waking up the body from the inside out as we breathe in and letting go on an open mouth exhale.
Begin to bring gentle movements back to your fingers and your toes and take any stretches or movements that would feel good as you start to bring life back to the body and bring your attention back to the room that you're in.
Thank you so much for practicing with us today.
Take care and we look forward to practicing with you again soon.
