Relaxing The Body & Mind

This meditation was recorded by Adele Stewart,

MBSR teacher,

Live on Zoom in Woonoona,

January 2021.

So finding yourself a comfortable seated position,

Perhaps on a chair or a meditation cushion or a kneeling stool.

Starting off by really noticing your arrival for the meditation.

Keeping in mind that the meditation has started now.

This arriving and settling is very much a part of it.

Just take the opportunity to notice your whole body settling into its chosen posture.

Perhaps seeing if you can tap into a feeling of steadiness and stability.

Really noticing the base of the body.

From the buttocks down.

Seeing if you can have that sense of a nice stable base.

Particularly noticing the sit bones.

And if it feels appropriate,

Maybe even manually spreading out those sit bones a little.

Actually using your hands to really help that nice stable base.

And noticing the upper body rising out of that stable base.

Reasonably erect.

But without being too rigid.

That nice balance and emergence of the upper body.

Perhaps an analogy could be having the upper body like an antenna.

Ready to pick up all that comes in.

All the senses in action.

Paying particular notice to the position of the head.

Sometimes when we've got the computer or our device in front of us,

Our head can have a tendency to go forward.

So perhaps pulling the chin back a little.

But not having the head lean back.

Having that lovely centered,

Balanced sense of the head on the neck.

Perhaps having a sense that you have arrived.

Settling in.

For the rest of the meditation.

Noticing now the general state of the body.

Perhaps we'll scan through the body.

A part at a time.

Taking the attention to the top of the head.

Noticing if there's any tightness or tension in the scalp or the face.

Perhaps in the forehead or between the eyebrows or the temples.

Perhaps you may even be able to soften.

Just release any tension there.

You may need to strive here.

Just a really light touch.

Perhaps noticing if there's any tension around the mouth area.

Are the lips tense or clenched?

Are the teeth clenched?

Or the jaws?

Seeing if it's possible to just breathe and soften and let go of any clenching.

Perhaps bringing an actual little smile to the lips.

Noticing the effect of that.

Noticing if there's any tension in the base of the skull now.

Or in the neck.

Perhaps you might even need to move and stretch a little bit here.

Ever so slowly and mindfully.

Noticing.

Perhaps some nice mindful stretches.

Loosen that tension a little.

Moving now to the shoulders.

How are the shoulders being held?

Are they perhaps hunched forward or up near the ears?

Again,

Maybe some subtle movement here of the shoulders might help to just soften and release them a little.

And noticing the arms and hands.

Softening any tension there.

Noticing the posture of the hands.

Again,

Maybe you might like to spread the fingers out gently.

And then notice how they curl back into a soft,

Comfortable position.

Moving back to the shoulders now.

Just noticing are they a little bit softer?

Can you breathe in and out and soften them even a little bit more?

And moving the attention now into the chest and the upper back.

Perhaps that smile on the lips could be brought into the heart.

Just noticing the effect of the smile in the heart area.

And the shoulder blades.

What feels right there to allow a little softening,

Little letting go.

Moving down to the abdomen.

Very commonplace to have some clenching,

Some pressure,

Some tension.

Seeing how it is to relax that belly,

Let it go.

Same with the lower back.

And in all of these areas,

If there is a little residual tension,

That's fine too.

If there is,

There is.

Moving down into the pelvis and buttocks now.

Noticing any tension in the buttocks.

Perhaps having a sense of spreading those sit bones out a little further.

Perhaps there might even be some tension in the pelvic floor.

Pelvic floor responds to stress by tightening.

And although it's great to have a strong pelvic floor,

You want to have that flexibility,

Being able to have it strong and also nice and soft.

Just seeing if it's possible,

Perhaps on a breath out,

Just to soften that pelvic floor.

Like a trampoline descending.

And moving down to the legs and feet.

Any tension in the muscles of the legs.

It's possible to just release that a little.

Perhaps you might notice your toes are a bit scrunched up.

Perhaps even spreading them out and then releasing the toes.

Just noticing now.

Perhaps there's just that tiniest bit more ease than there was at the start.

Does that help with the feeling of steadiness?

Perhaps if you do have that little bit of ease,

You might even feel some gratitude for that.

Really enjoy that sense of ease in the body.

Taking the attention back to the chest area.

Ever so lightly.

Like a leaf dropping into a pond.

Dropping the attention into the breath.

Nothing complicated here.

Simply being with the breath.

As it comes in and out.

Just noticing where the breath feels easiest to be with.

Perhaps having a more spacious awareness.

Noticing the breath in the belly.

In the chest.

In the throat.

In the nostrils.

Perhaps its effect on the whole body.

No need to change or manipulate the breath at all.

Just allowing the breath to breathe itself.

Staying with the whole of the in-breath,

The little gap,

The whole of the out-breath and the little gap.

And of course,

All of our minds will get distracted.

There'll be thoughts.

Just a reminder that this is completely normal.

It is part of the practice.

Just noticing the thoughts.

And perhaps with that little smile on the lips and in the heart.

Just ever so gently bringing the attention back to the breath.

Over and over if necessary.

Perhaps for some of us there might be a real satisfaction in being with this breath in the present moment.

Perhaps noticing is there some pleasure,

Some contentment,

Some satisfaction.

Perhaps even a joy simply being in the present moment.

Following one delightful breath after another.

And of course,

This is not your experience today.

Please be very kind with yourself.

Meditations vary from person to person,

From day to day,

From mood to mood.

Being with the ebb and flow of the breath.

And just being with the breath.

If you find at some point that your mind has really gone off onto a long story,

Hopped on that train of thought,

As soon as you do notice,

Knowing that you're mindful again,

Perhaps you could notice what was the physical body like from those thoughts.

Is there any subtle tension that built up again?

And perhaps just relaxing that tension if possible.

Because if we can relax the physical tension under the thoughts.

You can have that little bit of letting go and release.

It's much harder to have a tense mind if we have a relaxed body.

Then that spell break structure first Realms were liquid.

You you you you just noticing now the position of your body does there need to be a little correction of the upper body that we're a little more upright has the head slipped forward or back making any subtle movements to correct that posture noticing the effect on the body,

Heart and mind you it's difficult to stay with the breath sometimes just the very gentlest labelling can help for a little while maybe as simple as in,

Out,

In,

Out dropping that when it's no longer supportive you you you you as we're nearing the end of the meditation,

Perhaps even feeling some gratitude that you're sitting meditating that you're breathing that you have a body which may not be perfect but mostly serves you very well taking a little snapshot now of the body,

Heart and mind,

How it's doing at the end of this meditation just to finish off,

I'm going to read the poem,

Mindful by Mary Oliver every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight,

That leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light it is what I was born for,

To look,

To listen,

To lose myself inside this soft world,

To instruct myself over and over in joy and acclamation nor am I talking about the exceptional,

The fearful,

The dreadful,

The very extravagant,

But of the ordinary,

The common,

The very drab,

The daily presentations oh good scholar,

I say to myself,

How can you help but grow wise with such teachings as these,

The untrimable light of the world,

The oceans shine,

The prayers that are made out of grass you