So what I'm going to invite everyone to do here first and foremost is actually just to stand up.
We're going to find calm,
But sometimes there's a layer.
Sometimes there's a layer of something from earlier in the day or earlier in the week that's sitting in our system.
So welcome to everyone who's just showing up.
Welcome to everyone here.
Let's begin this practice by standing up,
Getting into a space that feels like your feet are beneath you.
We're going to close down our outer eyes.
Stand up nice and tall.
Feel your feet planted firmly beneath you and just begin to bounce on the balls of your feet and shake your hands gently.
While doing this,
Connect to your breath.
Begin to take bigger,
Deeper,
Longer inhales and same with the exhale.
Just one minute here.
Bouncing on the feet,
Breathing deeply,
Shaking the hands.
Shake it all out.
Brush it all off.
Think of it as like a nervous system rinse and begin to exaggerate the movement slightly.
See yourself as like a dog shaking when it gets out of water.
Give it a good,
Give it a nice good shake.
30 more seconds.
Beautiful.
Now just come back to a space of stillness.
Standing with your feet firmly rooted beneath you.
Spine upright and vertical.
Hands by your side.
Checking in on your physical body.
Notice what you're feeling.
Notice what sensations are present in the body right now.
Just doing this inventory,
Like honestly checking in,
You know,
How am I feeling physically right now?
It's only Tuesday,
Whatever day of the week it is.
How am I feeling?
Now when you're ready,
Just come back to a comfortable seated position.
Getting yourself prepared for the breath work portion here.
Placing your feet firmly on the ground beneath you as you find a comfortable seated and or lying down position.
Two part breath work.
We're going to do a clearing phase and a calming phase.
The clearing is going to be short,
But potent.
It's going to be these double inhales.
So breathing in twice through the mouth and then a big deep sigh,
Exhale.
Really making sure to use your voice.
The hum from the vocal cords is going to tone the vagus nerve.
It's going to help soothe the entire system.
So the double,
The fast double inhale,
Big sigh of relief,
Like whatever you're going through,
Whatever you've been struggling with,
Whatever is on your mind or weighing on your heart.
Imagine that it's been resolved,
That it's been alleviated.
So here we go.
Moving into the clearing round together,
Beginning the sequence in three,
Two,
One double inhale,
Big sigh,
Double in big sigh,
Ah,
Double in sigh,
Double in clear in clear in clear in clear ah,
In clear in clear in clear five more in clear in clear ah,
In clear in clear inhale clear and this time inhale all the way to the top.
Pausing here,
Holding up the top,
Bring your awareness into your body.
Find complete presence with all of the sensations that arise.
And remain here for 20 seconds.
And together,
We're going to exhale in three,
Two,
One with a hum,
Letting go all the way to the bottom.
And when you reach the bottom,
Pause here,
Holding for 10 seconds,
Basking in this complete emptiness.
Empty of breath,
Empty of fear,
Empty of worry,
Anxiety,
Completely empty.
And together taking a big deep breath in,
In three,
Two,
One,
Inhale belly,
Chest,
Pause,
Take one more small sip in at the top and connecting to who you want to be today,
Connecting to how you want to feel.
Let that first word bubble up in your mind,
Holding it for three,
Two,
One,
And release.
Letting go control of the breath,
Switching over to nasal breathing.
I'm going to inhale through the nose,
Exhale through the mouth or whatever configuration you have access to,
Or that allows you to relax and calm.
That means in through the nose,
Out through the nose or in through the mouth,
Out through the mouth.
Best case scenario,
It's in through the nose.
The rest is up to you.
We're going to do just a couple minutes of circular breathing.
Now to slow things down,
Inhale five,
Exhale five,
Beginning in three,
Two,
One,
Inhale through the nose for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
Exhale through the mouth for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
Inhale five,
Exhale five,
Inhale five through the nose,
Fill the belly and exhale five.
Let your shoulders drop down.
Bring all of your awareness to relaxation and to presence feeling every cell unwind,
Slow down and relax.
Inhale five,
Exhale five,
Inhale five,
Exhale five,
Inhale,
Exhale inhale,
Exhale.
Allow the exhale and the inhale to merge and meld into each other where one ends.
The other begins.
Inhale five,
Exhale five,
Inhale,
Exhale,
Inhale,
Exhale,
Inhale.
Now continuing this pattern of in for five and out for five at your own pace,
Taking charge of your own breathing for the next two or three minutes here.
Just really driving home the fact that you are capable that the breath is your tool that comes with you everywhere.
Learn to use it,
To default to it,
To incorporate it into your life in a way where it's ever present and you always have this tool to influence your nervous system,
Your mind,
Your heart to move emotion in such beautiful and powerful ways.
So continue this breathing of in for five and out for five at your own pacing.
If that means you speed it up or slow it down slightly,
Listen to your body and take this time now.
Just a gentle reminder that if your mind begins to wander,
Just to softly usher it back onto your breath or onto the sensations in your body of relaxation,
Feeling the spaciousness,
The softness,
The openness,
As you slow your breathing,
Your heart rate follows nervous system,
The electrical system,
Your chakra system,
Whatever you want to call it,
Aligns,
Unwinds,
Decompresses,
You feel relaxed.
One more minute.
And now on the next exhale,
Letting go of your breath altogether,
Releasing total control as you allow yourself to be breathed by something bigger than you,
Giving you now the opportunity to sit back in your seat of consciousness,
Your seat of awareness,
And just witness your body.
Witness your thoughts,
Witness your emotions as they belong to you and they move through you,
But they are not you.
They move into and out of your awareness.
They move into and out of this body.
Okay.
Engaging with this spaciousness.
Now sit back in the seat of witness and just first observe your physical body.
Notice the way it's breathing,
Where there's tension or where there's softness,
Spaciousness,
Tingling.
Notice all the sensations in the body,
Bringing your awareness to your mind,
To your mental body,
And just watch as the thoughts scroll by,
Floating by like clouds in the sky or leaves drifting through a river,
Not attaching,
But just witnessing,
Noticing they are not you.
They're just passing by your awareness.
And lastly,
Placing a hand over the chest,
The heart space,
Bringing your awareness into your emotional body,
Taking a deep breath in,
Big sigh out,
And checking in with your heart.
How are you feeling?
What emotion is present right now for you?
Making space for whatever it might be.
There is no wrong way to feel.
The beauty with emotions is that they are so intelligent,
Carrying with them wisdom and guidance.
So make space for it as it's simply an energy moving through you that wants to be heard,
Wants to be seen,
And perhaps wants to be expressed.
So just notice it now,
Maybe even label it if you can give language to it.
And lastly,
Just taking a moment of gratitude now to thank yourself for showing up here today,
For engaging in this practice,
For slowing down,
Returning to your breath,
To your heart,
To your body,
Maybe even saying thank you out loud,
Not to anyone or anything in particular,
But just say thank you.
Thank you.
A gesture of gratitude and appreciation to all things,
Including yourself.
Give yourself a little high five internally.
And when you're ready,
Come back into this space.
Open up your eyes.
