Hello again.
You're already on day five.
Keep up the good work.
Today we're going to do something a little different.
I want you to start by shaking out your hands.
Shake out your left hand and now shake out your right hand.
Now pull your shoulders up to your ears and then release them down.
Do that one more time.
Shoulders up and release.
Now do a few gentle neck rolls if it feels good for your body.
Breathing in as you roll your head back and to the left and breathing out as you roll your head down and to the right.
And now switch directions,
Syncing up the breath with the movement.
Sometimes a little movement in the body can help reset us when we're feeling stressed out.
Great.
Now find stillness and close your eyes.
Invite your body to soften and relax.
Give some special attention to the areas where you personally hold tension and stress.
Now I'd like you to bring your attention to your mouth.
With your attention on the sensations of your mouth,
Begin to smile.
Start by putting a big silly grin on your face.
It's okay if it feels fake.
You'll still get the positive benefits of the smile even if it doesn't seem genuine.
And oftentimes pretending to smile can lead to a real smile.
You can relax the smile a bit now or keep a big goofy grin if you like.
Either way,
Continue to feel the essence of a smile in your face.
Notice how the feelings of the smile spread out into your face and perhaps down your neck and even into your chest and stomach.
Now continuing to smile with your mouth,
Imagine that your neck could smile.
What would it feel like if your neck could smile?
What about your chest?
Invite your chest to smile.
I know this might seem silly,
But play along.
Continue to smile with your mouth as you invite your stomach to smile.
Let your stomach be soft and happy.
By the way,
If this exercise is making you want to laugh or giggle,
Please do.
There's actually a thing called laughter meditation,
And if you find yourself practicing that technique,
Please go right ahead.
Continue to move through your body,
Inviting different parts of the body to smile.
Feel your entire body begin to light up with this happy,
Full-body smile.
Great.
Now let go of any effort.
Allow this full-body smile to do the work for you.
Take some time to simply feel good and enjoy the positive,
Happy,
And yes,
Maybe a little silly,
Experience of smiling.
Beautiful work.
You can open your eyes.
Until the next session,
Practice smiling.
Smile with your mouth,
But smile with other body parts too.
This practice of the full-body smile can really help to decrease stress and increase the sense of joy and well-being.
I'll see you tomorrow for session six of freedom from stress.
Tomorrow,
We'll be combining several of these techniques to create a real stress buster.
