Hi there,
This is Julia.
This is a short practice to help you feel refreshed,
Alert,
And ready for your day.
Start by sitting up nice and tall.
Broaden your collarbones,
Drop your shoulders back and down.
Lengthen up through your spine,
But then soften into the rest of your body.
Open your eyes really nice and wide,
Blink them a few times,
And then if you're comfortable,
Allow your eyes to close.
Right away,
Feeling into your entire body,
Noticing the parts of yourself that are making contact with whatever you're sitting on.
Feeling the temperature of the space that you're in,
Noticing if there are any sounds that you can hear.
And then give yourself permission to just settle in a layer deeper,
So any tension or stiffening can just gently melt away.
Again,
Sit up nice and tall and then take a really deep breath in,
Filling up your lungs,
And then letting it go all the way out through your mouth.
Again,
Gather up a deep and full breath in all the way to the very top,
But this time hold your breath just for three,
Two,
One.
Let your breath go with a big sigh.
Notice and feel your whole body settling.
One more time,
Take a deep full breath in.
See if you can gather up as much breath as possible.
Hold three,
Two,
One.
Let the breath go all the way out,
And as you exhale,
Just allow the corner edges of your mouth to creep upwards,
Even if it feels silly just finding a gentle smile.
Sometimes just the act of smiling can trick our brain into thinking that we're happy.
Sometimes if we hold this smile long enough,
We actually begin to feel happy.
Now think of just one single word that you would like to theme your day with.
Whatever you connect with can be peace,
Focused,
Energized,
Calm,
Trusting,
Safe.
Find your word,
Anchor it in,
Silently repeat it to yourself a few times.
We're gonna take three more deep breaths,
But this time when you exhale,
Instead of just sighing,
Allow yourself to really release,
Maybe even using some voice and sound.
Of course,
If you don't feel comfortable doing that,
You can just set that aside and let out a comfortable exhale,
But if you're in a safe space,
Really go for it.
So when you're ready,
Breathing in all the way up,
Letting it go,
Big sigh,
Use sound,
Let it go.
Again,
Breathing in,
Maybe a little quicker filling up,
Big release,
Let it go.
One more time,
The deepest breath you've taken so far this morning,
Filling up your lungs,
Letting it all go.
Maybe one more time,
Lifting the corner edges of your mouth,
Finding that soft smile,
Reconnecting to the word that you are theming your day with today.
And when you're ready,
Gently opening your eyes.
I hope that you have a great rest of your day.
