Hello and welcome.
At times we may feel overwhelmed,
Overworked and stressed and something we could do to come back to a more resourced and calm place is to do a few minutes of deep relaxation.
Deep relaxation and rest are important in nurturing our nervous system,
Both our mind and the body.
So join me in the following deep relaxation and repeat it as many times as you can when you need a bit of nurturing during your day.
You may lie down or you can also do this exercise in a seated position.
Just ensure that you are as comfortable as you can be.
I invite you to start by taking a few full breaths.
Maybe roll back your shoulders and if you're lying down allow your arms and legs to be comfortable.
Let your head become heavy on the floor or in your bed.
And we'll just take a moment and we'll just take a moment to notice as the body is showing up here in this space.
Maybe feeling as your body is making contact with the floor or with your chair if you're seated.
Noticing the breath as well,
Feeling as the breath comes in and flows out.
Feel free to make any final adjustments to make your body posture even more comfortable,
Perhaps somewhat more relaxed.
And if you're finding any areas of tension in the body,
That's okay.
Perhaps just direct your attention there for a second as if you could breathe in and out of that part of the body.
Not wanting it to change,
Just noticing if the tension transforms.
So in the next few minutes we'll direct our attention to various parts of the body.
And without forcing the relaxation we may just invite these body parts to soften even if that's only one or two percent.
You may now direct your attention to your feet.
Notice the position of your feet.
Perhaps your heels are making contact with the floor.
Maybe inviting both the left foot and the right foot to relax.
And going up to the ankles,
Inviting the ankles to soften.
Directing our attention now to the shins and the calf muscles.
Sometimes we hold tension in the calves,
Just feeling into that and perhaps inviting a bit of softness into the calf muscle.
And then up to the knees,
This complex joint,
Letting our knees soften as well.
And then up to the thighs,
Allowing both the top of the thigh and the back of the thigh to relax.
No need to hold anything.
And going up further to the buttocks and inviting the buttocks to relax,
Release.
Up to the pelvis and the lower belly,
Inviting these areas to become softer.
We often hold tension in the abdomen,
We hold our abdomen in.
No need to do that right now.
Allowing the belly to become softer,
Not holding.
Allowing the lower back as well to relax,
Just sensing into a possibility for softening in the lower back.
And then up to the mid-back,
Up to the space between the shoulder blades,
Allowing these areas to soften even just a bit.
And then up to the neck,
To the tops of the shoulders,
Letting them be softer if at all possible.
Filling into the arms,
Noticing their weight and allowing the arms to become softer as well.
Allowing the wrists and the hands to become softer,
A little more relaxed as well.
A little more relaxed as well.
And then coming back to the abdominal area,
Noticing the belly as it's rising and falling with every breath coming in and leaving.
Allowing the entire belly to soften.
And coming up to the ribcage area,
Allowing this part of the body to relax as well.
And a little higher up to the heart space,
Simply feeling around.
Noticing if there's any tension,
Compression,
A sense of heat or cold.
And simply by directing our attention here,
Letting the heart space melt,
Soften a bit.
Going up to the throat space.
Sometimes we hold tension in the throat,
Almost like a lump.
So feeling into this area and allowing spaciousness to occur here.
Up to the jaw,
Letting the jaw relax.
No need to clench our teeth,
No need to push the tongue in.
Against the roof of the mouth or the teeth,
Allowing the tongue to relax back all the way to its root.
Spaciousness on the inside of the mouth.
Relaxing our cheeks,
Relaxing our nostrils,
Allowing the eyes to soften as well.
Inviting the eyeballs to sink back all the way into their socket.
Letting the eyebrows soften and allowing the forehead to release.
Just taking a moment here,
Investigating the forehead.
The forehead often we furrow the brow,
So ensuring that this space can also relax.
Just like the temples,
The temples and the ears relaxing.
And expanding our attention to the skin covering the entire skull.
Allowing the skin become smoother and softer.
Relaxing the whole head.
Allowing the entire body to relax gradually,
Slowly.
Scanning down now from the top of the head,
All along the body,
Down through the torso,
Down into the legs and all the way down to the soles of the feet.
Allowing the entire body to soften and relax.
Allowing the entire body to soften and relax.
And expanding our attention now back to the breath.
Noticing the inflow and the outflow of our breathing.
Perhaps noticing as the breath rejuvenates the body,
Cell by cell,
Body part by body part,
Maybe even slowly lengthening our breathing a bit.
Deepening the breath,
Not by force,
Simply allowing the inhale to lengthen and the exhale as well.
And noticing as the body is present in the space,
Whether lying down or in a seated position,
Noticing how the body is making contact with the floor,
With the chair.
And after another long breath in and out,
Perhaps through the mouth this time,
I invite you to slowly,
Slowly start bringing some movement into the body.
Moving the fingers,
The toes,
Maybe moving the wrists,
Ankles and perhaps turning the head left and right slowly.
You may like to give yourself a gentle stretch and just take a moment to notice how you're feeling now after a deep relaxation session.
And if you're lying down,
You may like to roll onto one of your sides,
Left or right side,
Take another breath there and eventually you may sit up and just take another full breath.
So coming back fully,
Whenever ready,
Opening your eyes and I hope you'll take this rejuvenating,
Nourishing energy with you into the rest of your day.
