Welcome,
Beautiful souls.
Let's just begin by finding ourselves a comfortable position.
You can sit or lie down,
Whichever allows your body to feel the most supported right now.
If you're sitting,
Just let your hands rest gently in your lap.
And if you're lying down,
Let your arms fall softly away from your sides,
Palms facing upward.
Now if it feels comfortable to do so,
Just close your eyes.
And if closing your eyes does not feel right today,
Simply soften your gaze somewhere in the distance.
There is nothing you need to do in the next few minutes.
Nowhere to be,
Nothing to fix,
Nothing to understand.
This time is simply for you,
For your body and for the part of you that's been working so hard for so long to keep you safe.
Let that part of you rest now,
Just for a little while.
We're going to begin with our breath.
Not controlled breathing,
Not effortful breathing,
Simply noticing the breath that is already happening in your body right now.
Feel the air entering through your nose.
Notice the slight coolness of it,
The way your nostrils soften as the breath comes in.
And now I invite you to exhale through the mouth,
A long soft release.
Let the breath leave at its own pace,
There is no hurry,
There is nowhere you need to be but here.
And now let's take a gentle inhale through the nose,
Deep into the diaphragm and up into the ribcage,
Feel it expanding slightly front and back,
Left and right,
Your body is making space for you.
And as you slowly exhale through the mouth,
Let your shoulders drop just a little,
Let your jaw soften slightly and let your hands become beautifully heavy.
And let's take one more deep breath in,
Imagining beautiful light coming into your body as you breathe in,
Filling you up from the tips of your toes right to the top of your head.
And as you breathe out,
Long and slow,
Imagine you're just breathing out something you no longer need to carry in your life.
Wonderful,
You are here,
Your body is here,
That's all it takes.
Welcome.
Now I'd like you to bring your awareness to the surface beneath you,
The chair or the floor or the bed that is holding you up right now.
Notice how it supports you,
You don't have to hold yourself up,
The ground is doing that for you and it always has been.
Feel the weight of your body,
The heaviness of your legs,
The weight of your arms,
The weight of your head,
All of it held,
All of it supported.
The ground beneath you is stable,
It is solid and right now in this moment,
You're absolutely safe.
Let that land,
Not as a thought but as a felt sense in the body.
You are safe,
You are supported,
You are held.
If your body is bracing somewhere,
A tightness in the belly,
A clenching in the chest,
A holding in the throat or tension in your arms,
Wherever it may be,
Just notice it.
You don't need to force it to change,
Just let it know,
I see you,
I feel you,
I'm here.
That tightness is not a failure,
It is your body doing exactly what it learned to do,
It's protection,
It's love in its oldest form.
So gently,
Without any pushing,
Just visualize breathing into that area,
Not to make it open,
Not to do anything other than simply say hello.
Now we're going to travel slowly through the body together.
This is not an assessment,
There are no right answers,
No wrong answers,
We're simply visiting,
Noticing,
Offering a little warmth to each part of you.
Let's start by bringing your awareness to the top of your head,
The crown,
The scalp,
The forehead.
Notice any sensation there,
Warmth,
Tingling,
Numbness,
Ease,
Whatever is there is fine.
Now let your awareness travel down through your face,
The eyes,
The cheeks,
The chin,
The lips,
The nose,
Just soften it all.
Let your jaw drop just a fraction,
Allow the tongue to relax and you may even wish to part your lips just slightly and truly just relax a little deeper.
Now let's go to the throat,
This is where so many of us hold the words we never said.
Notice what's going on here and just breathe a little kindness into this area.
Whatever you've been holding here,
You do not have to speak it today,
But we're just going to feel into the area and send it our love.
And now let's move to the chest,
Your heart,
Place one hand here if you feel called to and just feel it rise and fall with each breath.
Your heart has been through so much and it's kept beating through every hard thing,
Through every loss,
Every grief,
Every time you were sure you could not go on.
And it's still here,
Still beating,
Still faithful to you.
Now let's move to your belly area,
Your solar plexus just above the navel.
This is where your power lives and also where your fear lives.
Just notice which one is louder today and just send a beautiful long slow deep breath to this area.
Now move down slightly to your lower belly,
To your hips and pelvis.
This is the home of your deepest instincts and desires,
Your gut knowing,
Your animal wisdom,
Your life force.
Notice what it feels like to bring your attention here.
Is there openness?
Contraction?
Vibration?
Coolness?
Warmth?
Whatever it is,
Just observe it and breathe love into this space.
And now let's move to your legs,
Your thighs and knees and calves,
The legs that carry you everywhere,
Every day without being asked.
Feel them heavy now,
Resting.
They don't need to carry you anywhere right now.
Just feel into that.
And now your feet.
Take your attention to the soles of your feet,
The part of you that connects to the ground when you walk and stand and sit.
This is your contact point with Mother Earth.
Through your feet,
You are always connected to something much larger and much more steady than any thought or worry.
Your feet carry the weight of your life.
And they do so with so much love.
Take a big breath now and feel your whole body at once.
How do your arms feel,
Your hands,
Your feet,
Your heart,
Your chest,
Your head?
Just breathe into your whole body as one.
One living,
Breathing,
Extraordinary being.
Having this extraordinary life.
And now I'd like you to imagine a warm golden light beginning at the base of your spine.
Soft and steady like a candle flame that can't be blown out.
As you breathe in,
The light grows a little brighter.
And as you breathe out,
It spreads slowly,
Gently up through the spine into the lower back,
Into the belly.
It's warm,
It's safe,
It asks nothing of you.
With each breath,
It rises a little further.
Into the chest.
Into the heart.
Into the arms.
And as it reaches your heart,
It expands outward.
Filling your ribcage,
Your shoulders,
Your upper arms,
Right down to your hands.
This is not something you have to create.
It's already here.
It has always been here.
This warmth,
This peace,
This capacity for safety.
It lives in you,
In your body.
And you were born with it.
Life may have dimmed it,
But it was never taken from you.
And now let it rise to your throat,
To your face.
Softening everything it touches.
Bringing a flicker of warmth and life and love into these areas.
And now let it fill the top of your head.
The crown area.
And feel now how your entire body feels safe and warm.
The warmth moving through every cell,
Every part,
From the soles of your feet into the earth.
To the crown of your head,
Up and beyond.
You are connected,
Above and below.
Held between earth and sky.
This is what peace feels like in the body.
Not the absence of difficulty,
But the presence of enough safety to rest in the middle of it.
I'm going to offer you some words now.
You do not need to fully believe them.
You just need to let them land in the body.
And notice where they are openly received or where they may need resistance.
That's all we need to do.
Let's begin.
My body is not the enemy.
It is the map that takes me home.
I am safe to feel.
I am safe to soften.
I do not have to earn the right to rest.
My nervous system is learning that it is safe now.
I am grounded.
I am here.
Now begin to bring your awareness gently back to the room.
You do not have to leave this feeling behind.
You can carry it with you.
Notice the sounds around you.
Distant sounds first and then closer ones.
The room you're in.
Notice the surface beneath you.
Take a slightly deeper breath now.
And as you exhale,
Let your body become a little more present.
A little more awake.
Nothing urgent,
Just returning.
Begin to feel your fingers.
Perhaps gently move them.
Just the smallest movement.
And your toes,
Let them flex softly.
And when you're ready.
In your own time.
With no hurry at all.
Let your eyes open slowly.
And let the light gently come in.
Well done for being here today.
For giving your body this time.
For trusting that it matters.
You matter.
So just take your time before you move.
And get on with your day.
Perhaps just sit quietly for a moment.
There is no rush to return to the world.
And whenever the world feels too loud.
Too much,
Too fast.
You know the way back now.
The body always knows the way back.
