Tonight,
You'll surrender your mind as you release what does not serve you and learn to trust the core of who you really are.
You have full permission to begin letting go now,
So take a few cleansing breaths to settle in,
Exhale with soft sighs of gentle surrender.
Let your eyes close and your body melt,
Turning from outside to in.
Gently ease your grip on the day now behind you.
My name is Jason Stevenson and it's a gift to guide you tonight.
Welcome to this transformative and transcendent practice.
If you've landed here at this moment in time,
Know that you're in the right place.
Now is your time to align with what's unfolding around and within you in the name of trust,
Confidence and inner peace.
So as you continue to settle in,
Physically and mentally,
Let your attention rest with your breath.
Notice the path your breath takes as you inhale and how it moves as you exhale.
If your breath is at all hurried,
See if you can let it slow down now.
Not with force,
But with allowance.
Sense the way your breath is supporting you and the way each exhale supports surrender.
Continue to breathe naturally as you draw your attention to the soles of your feet,
Giving them full permission to let go.
There is nowhere your feet need to take you tonight.
The place we are moving towards lives within.
Send a slow,
Loving breath all the way down to your soles,
Guiding your toes,
Arches and ankles to soften with the exhale.
Let your feet melt completely into the bed beneath you.
Now feel into your lower legs,
Sensing the way your calves mold into the mattress.
Soften through every cell and muscle here,
Guiding even your shinbone to surrender,
To give way to the mattress that supports it.
With your next breath,
Let your attention travel into your knees,
Just noticing what these parts hold.
If you encounter any tension or tightness,
Here or elsewhere in your body,
Offer it a gentle,
Loving breath,
Softening where possible as you exhale.
And if any sensations feel too intense or uncomfortable to bear witness to,
You have full agency to redirect your attention.
You can sense into a nearby body part that grounds you,
Or even into your breath.
As your knees soften,
Shift your awareness to your upper legs.
Take a slow,
Loving breath into your thighs,
Inviting your quads and hamstrings to melt as you breathe out.
Let your legs surrender as fully as possible,
And if tension or resistance remains,
Quietly ask,
Can I offer this feeling a breath of compassion?
Can I offer whatever I'm experiencing a breath of care and patience?
Let your attention rise into your hips now,
And to fill your entire pelvic bowl.
Now,
Sensing this area with care and tenderness,
Offering ease and nourishment on the in-breath,
Gentle surrender on the out-breath.
Naturally,
Your attention expands into your belly,
And just notice what's present there.
Now,
Without force or pressure,
Allow your stomach to expand naturally with each inhale,
And to soften completely as you exhale.
Notice the warmth of your belly as you breathe into it,
A subtle,
Comforting presence.
Now,
Begin to trace your spine upwards,
Vertebra by vertebra.
Let the ascension be slow and steady.
There's no rush to get anywhere.
At your own pace,
You arrive in the center of your chest,
Feeling the gentle rhythm of your breath as it moves through this place.
Notice the natural expansion as the breath enters,
And the effortless softening as it departs.
Now,
Take a few moments to rest with your heart breathing in and out,
In and out.
And as you breathe,
Quietly ask,
What is my heart ready to let go of,
Even if just for tonight?
Now,
With each in-breath,
Feel unconditional love filling your chest,
Feeding the gentle flame of self-worth and self-care.
And with each out-breath,
Allow yourself to soften,
Not pushing anything away,
But simply softening.
Moving up now,
Your attention flows across to your collarbones and into your shoulders.
Give your shoulders permission to soften as you exhale,
Releasing any weight or baggage that's not for you to bear.
And as your shoulders relax,
A current of surrender flows down your arms,
Softening the cells,
Bone and muscle of your upper arms,
Nourishing the joints of your elbows,
Bringing ease and care to your lower arms.
Your wrists are supported by your tender,
Loving awareness,
Before it lands naturally in the palms of your hands.
Feel your fingers softening,
Releasing their grip on expectation or outcome.
With your next full-breath cycle,
Let your arms melt even more completely into the mattress beneath you,
Then slowly move back up to your shoulders.
Soften your shoulders yet again with your next exhale,
Then flow into your neck and your jaw.
Let these areas soften naturally.
Now let any and all tension in your face soften with grace,
Melting away from your lips and cheeks,
Your brow and your forehead.
And as your whole head softens,
Let your mind follow suit.
What can your mind release now,
Even if just for this breath?
Hold your whole body,
Including mind,
Heart and spirit,
In the gentle light of your compassionate awareness.
And if there's any part of you that's ready to release a little deeper,
Let it go with your next few breaths.
Now,
Localize your attention once again back in the center of your heart,
And feel the way your breath flows through this area,
Nourishing your body with restorative energy as you breathe in,
Guiding you to melt as you breathe out.
Your heart,
Mind and body are restored as you breathe in,
Tension melting away as you breathe out.
Now imagine that here in your heart center,
You discover a pearl of light.
It is warm and iridescent,
Both grounding and weightless.
And as you focus on it,
Allow your breath to fuel it.
With each inhale,
The light slowly and gently grows wider.
This is a light of strength,
Wisdom,
Trust and peace.
It is a light that is always inside of you,
But that simply needs some more care and attention,
A little more devotion.
So,
As you breathe into this light,
Take a moment to set an intention.
Silently repeat,
I am ready to tend to the light within me.
I am ready to tend to the light within me.
And notice how that pearl of light grows as large as your wise and loving heart,
And how it grows even wider than that,
Soon filling your chest completely.
Breathe naturally as you witness the light beginning to pervade every cell,
Bone and muscle of your chest,
Pervading the subtle energy of your heart as well.
Allow it to soothe your emotional body,
To love what needs loving,
To quiet what needs quietening,
To offer rest to what needs resting.
Guide this process to deepen as you quietly ask yourself,
What is my heart ready to let go of,
Even if just for this moment,
Even if just a little bit?
What can my heart grow to trust,
Even if just a little more than before?
If this inquiry starts to feel analytical or triggering,
Just take a moment to notice that,
Then refocus your attention on the imagery of light.
Notice the way it shimmers gently,
A silver presence with the subtlest undertones of blue,
Green and pink,
It glistens like moonstone.
Then reconnect with the steady rhythm of your breath,
Allowing it to restore you as you breathe in,
Residual tension or stress melting away as you breathe out.
Notice it resting into the quiet cocoon of this night.
This light yearns to expand further,
So as you breathe naturally,
It begins to flow down your spine and through your rib cage.
It bestows your nervous system with a kind of cosmic love,
With the wisdom,
Care and support of the universe.
Imagine your nerve fibres strengthening,
Signalling your body's hormones to regulate.
Cortisol and adrenaline begin to decrease,
While serotonin and oxytocin increase.
In other words,
Stress chemicals in your body are winding down,
While your body's natural feel-good chemicals are rising.
You are shifting from tension and alertness to calm and connection.
Follow the light as it wraps its way all the way down your spine,
Reaching your tailbone before expanding to fill your belly and pelvis.
Envision your entire lower abdomen full to the brim with restorative,
Cosmic light,
Guiding your belly to relax,
Guiding your breath to soften.
Allow your hips and tailbone to drop gently,
Sinking a little lower into the mattress.
It is often said that our hips hold much of our emotional body,
So if uncomfortable emotions arise,
As you guide these places to soften,
Offer these feelings your care and patience.
Let thoughts and feelings come and go gently,
Without clinging on to them,
Nor pushing them away.
Liken your experience to a slow moving stream,
Flowing into the lens of your awareness,
And flowing back out.
As your attention rests on your belly and pelvis for a short while longer,
You might quietly ask yourself,
What would this part of me like to let go of?
What can I gently surrender here?
You don't have to search for any special answers.
It can also just be quiet.
Notice whatever is present,
Whatever wants to be witnessed at this moment.
When you're ready,
Envision the light expanding down your legs,
Into your quads and hamstrings,
Through your knees,
Into your calves and shins,
All the way down to your feet.
Your inner light reaches all the way down to your soles,
Guiding these areas of your body.
Relax.
So as your legs soften even more into your mattress,
Quietly ask yourself,
Can I trust that there's nowhere for me to go right now?
Can I trust this moment to hold me?
Can I trust this moment to hold me?
Notice if your mind is resistant to feeling trust in this moment,
To trusting that you're being held.
And if so,
Gently whisper to the resistance,
I know that it's hard to trust sometimes.
But here in this moment,
I am held by the surface beneath me.
Here in this moment,
I am held by my breath.
Take a few deeper breaths here,
Releasing each breath with a sigh.
Here in this moment,
There is nothing to do,
And you have all you need within you.
Your inner light,
A light of peace,
Strength,
Trust and love,
Is alive inside.
Notice the way they shimmer,
Full of peace and ease,
And let them rest completely.
Follow a trail of shimmering light,
Slowly back up your body,
Back towards your heart center.
And when you arrive at your heart,
Just breathe there.
Simply breathe.
And as you breathe,
Silently repeat,
I trust the light that lives within me.
I trust the light that lives within me.
And without effort or striving,
The light expands across your collarbones and through your shoulders.
And from your shoulders,
It pours with ease and fluidity down your arms,
Through your upper arms,
Through your elbows and into your forearms,
Into your wrists and hands.
Watch the light fill every cell,
Bone and muscle of your arms,
Guiding even deeper surrender.
And as you rest with the pale glow of your light-filled arms,
From shoulders to fingertips,
Quietly ask yourself,
What are my shoulders carrying that is not theirs to bear?
What weight of the world can I release now?
Let your shoulders melt further away from your ears,
As if reaching for your hands.
Then deepen the inquiry,
What can I soften my grip around?
What am I trying to control that I have no control over,
And that holds me back from deep inner peace?
If it helps,
You might silently repeat,
I am releasing it all.
I am releasing it all.
I am releasing it all.
The light within you is wise,
It is a symbol of your innate inner wisdom.
Let it help you surrender,
To release what you've been carrying around for too long now.
And as you surrender,
Soften any worries or rumination about your capacity to release things for good.
We're not worried about the future here,
Or even how we'll feel tomorrow.
The only thing we can do is to surrender now,
To return to the peace of this present moment.
Take a few more breaths in the presence of your luminous arms,
Envision a ripple of relaxation running all the way down them.
When you're ready,
Follow shimmering trails of light back up your arms,
Back into your collarbones,
And notice how weightless and free your arms and shoulders have become.
From here,
The light ascends into the uppermost part of your body,
Through your neck,
And slowly into every cell and square inch of your head.
Watch this light fill your entire head and mind space,
Slowing your thoughts,
Guiding you towards deep inner quietude.
Listen to the cosmic sounds that fill your head space,
Woven together with the soft shimmer of iridescent light,
And notice how they illuminate the truth that exists beneath fear,
Doubt and rumination.
Notice how they illuminate the truth that you are not defined by what you experience in mind,
Body or emotion.
Your core essence,
Your pure awareness,
Precedes all of that.
You can tap into it at any time as you are right now.
This deeper place within you,
Your luminous inner quietude,
Is the part of you you can trust.
It is the part of you that's resilient and wise beyond measure,
That has your back,
Always.
It's the part of you that you can always believe in.
Beneath the noise of mind,
Body and emotion,
This is your unshakable core.
Breathe into its luminous manifestation now,
Watching its glow expand throughout your whole body.
As light fills every cell,
Bone and muscle and nerve fibre,
Silently repeat,
I believe in my core essence.
I trust the unshakable place within me.
I am exactly where I need to be right now.
This moment is enough.
Allow your inner light to become so pervasive,
That it fills everything inside of you and the space all around you.
And just allow yourself to float there for a while.
Allow yourself to be held by the light within and all around.
As you rest here,
You become aware that your inner essence is inextricably connected to the essence of the universe.
The pulse of life flowing within you is the same pulse of life that lives in the earth,
The trees,
The water,
The stars and everything in between.
This is where you place your trust,
In the web that holds and guides everything,
That guides your breath every waking and sleeping moment of your life journey.
As your whole body bathes in light,
Your nervous system continues to rest and restore.
The day's stress hormones have settled now,
And as your rest and digest system grows stronger,
Melatonin production does too.
You are ready for deep sleep.
So take a few more slow,
Intentional breaths into your inner light.
And marvel at its shimmering presence,
As if it were the cosmos inside of you.
Because indeed,
You are made of stardust,
You are made of the eternal wisdom of the universe.
Beneath the noise of worry,
Tension and rumination,
This is your pure essence.
This is the place you can always come home to.
As your mind prepares to surrender completely,
Know that when the light disappears from your mind's eye,
Its source remains within you.
Its wisdom,
Strength and its love are always,
Always deep inside.
You can call it forth at any time.
So when you're ready,
Allow the shimmering light to slowly fade,
Turning first into mist,
Then dissipating completely.
And as it disappears,
Notice the echo of peace and silence it leaves behind.
It has reset your whole nervous system,
And your spirit too.
Anchor in the rhythm of your breath,
Feeling the way your body gently expands as you breathe in,
And releases as you breathe out.
Mind,
Body,
Heart and spirit,
You are deeply,
Deeply relaxed.
But if there is anything that remains,
Anything you're ready to soften a little bit,
Or more,
Set your intention to untangle yourself from it,
And breathe it out of your body.
You're not pushing anything away here,
You're naturally releasing your grip,
You're naturally letting it flow out of you,
The way a stream doesn't stick to one place.
And now,
Effortlessly,
You let things flow the way they're meant to,
With ease,
Trust and grace.
And one last time now,
You call your attention to the crown of your head,
And at your own pace,
You scan your body downwards,
Inch by inch,
You give your whole body permission to drift into slumber now.
Any last tension or contraction hands itself over to your bed,
Leaving your body weightless,
Peaceful,
Serene.
All the way down to your toes,
Your body grounds itself,
Tethers to the earth,
While your mind and consciousness grow lighter,
Drifting off to the timeless,
To a sweet landscape of deep sleep.
And now,
Gentle breath by gentle breath,
You transition into slumber,
Not by force,
But by allowance,
And as you do,
You remember the light that's always inside of you,
The light you can call back up to the surface at any time you need it.
May the coming hours continue to restore you,
And until next time,
Goodnight my friend,
Goodnight.
