Welcome to this short meditation that will help you de-stress and find ease.
Just find a comfortable seat or lie down.
If you are seated,
Maybe allow your hands to rest on your knees or your thighs.
Take a long,
Full breath in and allow the exhale to close down your eyes.
Immediately tune into the stillness that appears as you close down your eyes,
As you close down one of your senses and at the same time become more aware of the sensations from the other senses.
Let your jaw drop,
Let your face become soft,
Let your shoulders drop,
Become soft around your elbows,
Soft around your belly,
Then become aware of all points of contact down towards the ground.
Feel how you are supported from the ground and up.
Feel the security and support in all points of contact.
Now tune into where you feel your breath.
Welcome the sense of air in your nostrils.
Notice how your breath expands and allow the breath to drop all the way down into the belly.
Watching your breath as it flows in and out through your body without you in any way trying to manipulate or control it.
Allow a few deep breaths just like this,
Just resting your awareness on the steady rhythm of your breath.
Now tune into where in your body you are holding the stress.
Is it in the area around your heart?
Is it in your shoulders?
In your neck?
In your belly?
Around your hips?
Send your awareness to that area.
Drop your breath into that area.
And then as you breathe in,
See if you can extend the exhale,
And as you do,
Releasing tension from the area where you hold the stress.
Maybe finding an inhale to the count of four,
Very gently,
Without in any way straining the breath,
Exhaling to the count of five or six or maybe even seven.
Exhale fully and exhale from the area of stress,
Extending the exhale and releasing tension as you go.
Notice how you let something go,
Something that you carried or something dissolving.
As you start to feel a little bit of release,
Now explore if you can allow the inhale to create the feeling of spaciousness into that area where you just held onto so much stress.
And this feeling of spaciousness will allow the energy to flow freely here.
Allowing the feeling of physical release,
Also let go and find mental release.
Keep finding more and more spaciousness with your inhales and a deeper and fuller sense of release with your exhales.
Staying with that soft focus of your area of tension.
Now that it's soft,
Smooth,
Relaxed.
Now tune into the feeling of being breathed,
Allow the breath to flow through you completely effortlessly,
Filling up all areas in your body like your entire body is breathing you.
And if there are any other areas of tension,
This is the time to let that go.
Tuning into the feeling of how there is no longer any areas of tension,
Just you and your steady breath flowing in and out,
No resistance anywhere in your body or your mind.
You're in this sensation for a few more breaths,
Resting in the stillness,
Completely relaxed behind your eyes,
Your inner gaze still.
Exhale.
Now bring your awareness back to your physical body.
Feel your feet.
Feel your hands.
Feel the sensation of air as it touches your skin.
Become aware of the sounds around you,
All of these tangible sensations that will bring you back into the present moment.
Use a moment to become aware of yourself in space,
Returning to the feeling of your points of contact,
How you are grounded,
Secure,
At ease.
Feel into all of this,
Your physical body,
Yourself in space,
So that when you make this transition from this meditation practice,
It can be as soft and as natural as possible.
Keeping the feeling of expansion and non-resistance as you move on with your day.
