This is a meditation to help you calm down after a long day,
To release and let go of anything that's happened,
To calm restless thoughts and to drop into your body and into the present moment.
All you have to do is come down,
Lay down either on your bed,
On your yoga mat or on a couch.
Find a comfortable position and take a few moments to take any final little wiggles,
Moving your hands and your feet,
Adjusting how you're laying down.
Lengthen through the back of your neck.
Make sure your arms and legs are uncrossed.
Just begin to tune into the rhythm of your breathing.
You can close the eyes and just notice the quality of your breath as it is right now.
Notice if your inhale is longer or shorter than your exhale.
Notice if your breathing stops in the chest or if you can feel your belly rise and fall with each breath.
And as you bring your attention to your breath,
Just notice if anything else comes up for you.
Maybe your mind is racing,
Thoughts chasing each other around in your brain.
Maybe as soon as you focus your attention on your body,
A certain sensation or emotion rises to the surface.
I'm just beginning to notice what comes up for you as we start to drop into the body and try if you can not to judge the sensations,
The thoughts,
The emotions.
Just look at them curiously for what they are,
Exactly how you feel,
How you think,
How you are right now.
Take a few more breaths here,
Just noticing what's coming up.
And then in your own time,
I want you to take three deep breaths.
So nice,
Deep inhale into the belly and nice long exhales out.
Doing those three deep breaths and allowing each breath to calm and settle your energy and just draw you further into the present moment.
And as you finish your third breath,
Just allow your breath to come into a nice even rhythm without trying,
Without any effort.
See if you can make the inhale and exhale equally length.
And if you need to,
You can add a count to accomplish this.
Inhaling for four and exhaling for four.
Using that nice even rhythm to keep you present in your body.
And as you continue with that nice,
Deep,
Even breathing,
Start to bring your attention to your body once more.
Allow your arms and legs to be heavy,
Belly to be soft.
And start to bring your attention to your toes.
Maybe you wiggle your toes,
Roll your ankles,
Point and flex through the feet.
Just putting all of your attention on your feet.
And after a few deep,
Even breaths,
Find some stillness in your feet and see if you can consciously release and relax all of the tiny muscles in your feet.
Begin to move to your calves.
Maybe you rock your lower leg from side to side.
Maybe you clench and release the calves.
Take a few deep breaths.
Then find stillness in the lower leg.
Consciously release and relax your calves,
Your feet.
Then begin to move to your thighs.
Maybe you clench the thigh muscles,
Hamstrings,
Quads,
Your glutes.
Bringing your attention to the lower part of your body.
Just see if you can consciously relax and release all of the muscles in your legs.
And your glutes.
Begin to bring your attention to your hips.
Maybe you rock the hips side to side.
Take a few deep,
Even breaths here.
Consciously release and relax the hips,
Pelvis.
Bring your attention to your belly and your low back.
Maybe you clench the abs for a moment.
Just bring your attention here.
Noticing any tightness or tension.
And then consciously release and allow the belly and low back to be soft.
Begin to bring your attention to your chest where you can feel that rise and fall of your breath.
Bring your attention to the center of your chest,
To your heart space.
As you invite your chest to open,
Also invite your heart to soften and open.
Consciously softening the chest.
Bring your attention to your arms,
Your fingers,
Forearms,
Elbows,
Biceps.
You can wiggle them if you want.
Or just bring your attention to both arms.
Notice any tension.
See if within the next couple breaths,
You can release any tension.
Release and relax the arm,
The chest,
The hip,
The legs,
The feet.
The whole body.
Relaxed and at ease.
Safe.
Bring your attention to your neck,
Your face,
Your jaw.
If it feels good,
You can open and close your mouth.
Stretching out the jaw and the face muscles.
Find a little stillness.
Relax all the tiny muscles of your face and your jaw.
Now notice your thoughts.
They've probably calmed and quieted from the beginning of practice.
But if not,
Just noticing what thoughts are coming up for you and see if within the next couple of breaths,
You can do the same thing you just did with your body.
Notice your thoughts.
And then see if you can consciously let them go.
Knowing that the thoughts that you need will come back around.
But for right now,
You can let your mind be quiet.
Let those thoughts flow easily in and out.
The same way your breath does.
Floating in and floating out of your head.
Take a few more deep,
Even breaths.
Connected to your body.
Safe in the present.
Allowing your thoughts to flow.
Your breath to flow.
And then the last part of our gentle meditation before you go off to sleep and restart for your day is to allow your breath to return to that natural rhythm from the beginning.
Notice any small changes in the rhythm of your breath.
Does it go deeper into your belly?
Or does it inhale and exhale longer?
Easier?
Effortless?
Notice how different your body feels.
Relaxed and safe in the present.
And the ease of your mind as you allow your thoughts,
The freedom to come in and go out.
I'll leave you here to rest.
And I thank you for joining me.
