Welcome to this deep relaxation for April.
The invitation is to find somewhere quiet where you can be with yourself without disturbance for about 15-20 minutes.
If you're new to deep relaxation,
The invitation is to lie down or sit down,
Close your eyes and first get in touch with your breathing.
If this sounds a bit strange,
You can just try this with me.
I'm going to breathe in and then we're going to breathe out.
We're going to do that three times,
Okay?
So with your eyes closed,
Breathe in through the nose and feel the breath down into the belly.
You might breathe with your mouth also and then breathe out.
Two more times breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And then just allow your breathing to become natural.
There are some nice images that might help you here,
The water lapping on the shore,
The clouds moving in and out of formation.
Also something which is very April.
You can imagine the first flowers opening,
You know that slow motion nature cinematography.
We can consider that our breathing is part of the same.
It's part of the same nature.
It happens and it rises and it falls like the waves,
Like the flowers blooming,
Like the clouds and does so peacefully if we give it the space to do so and the conditions to do so.
So with that breathing happening,
We can say in the background,
We're going to do a body scan and what that means is that you imagine you know where your feet are.
If you wiggle your toes,
You can feel where your feet are with your imagination but also with what we can say is your attention or your mindfulness.
So as we move through and imagine each part of the body,
We're just going to send that message to relax and rest.
Okay here goes.
So with the attention on the toes,
Relaxing the toes.
Then moving up the heel,
The top of the foot and the back of the foot.
Then into the ankle and into the lower legs.
And then we're aware of the muscle,
The calf muscle,
Gastrocnemius muscle.
I like the anatomical names,
I would say a few of those.
The bones,
The tibia and the fibular bones,
Making up the shin,
Up to the knee,
Ligaments of the knee and they lead onto the femur bones,
Quadriceps,
Hamstrings.
Joining to the pelvic arch,
The gluteus muscles that make up the bottom,
The organs,
The genitals,
In that area.
Flexibility of the waist,
Thanks to those adjoining muscles from the legs.
And then we move up,
We've got the spine rising to the back and we've got the,
In reverse order,
The large intestine,
The stomach,
The small intestine,
Pancreas,
Kidneys.
Relaxing that area,
Then moving up towards the rib cage and the lungs.
We can bring back some of that imagery,
Rising and falling.
We've got the air coming down the trachea,
Be aware of that,
Into the lungs.
Nails rise,
Exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide,
The oxygen moves into the heart and nourishes the organs around the body.
Carbon dioxide is returned and released.
Fear of the heart,
Oxygenated blood moves to the heart,
Just underneath the left shoulder.
The bicep,
Humerus bone down to the elbow,
The radius and the ulnus bones on the left side as we move into the wrist.
The palm,
The thumb and the fingers,
Fingertips.
Running away from the left side over to the right side.
Fingertips of the right hand and then down into the palm and the thumb.
And then returning from the forearm up to the elbow,
Into the upper arm,
Humerus bone again,
Up to the right shoulder and then coming to the centre,
Again feeling that breath coming down through the nose or the mouth.
Beware of the jaw,
The tongue and the teeth.
Beware of the lips and the nose,
Cheeks,
Ears and eyes.
Top of the head and back of the head and just feeling the whole of your resting body,
Bringing the attention to the body like this calms the mind.
Going to sing you a song now.
So you can just listen and continue feeling the sensations of the body and breathing deep.
This is a song called Peace is a River.
This is a song called Peace Like a River.
I got peace like a river,
I've got peace like a river.
I got peace like a river in my soul.
And it runs like the river and it comes like the river.
I got peace like a river in my soul.
I got hope like a river,
I've got hope like a river.
I've got hope like a river in my soul.
And it runs like the river and it comes like the river.
I've got hope like a river in my soul.
How about faith?
Faith in whatever we've got faith in.
I got faith like a river,
I've got faith like a river.
I got faith like a river in my soul.
And it runs like the river and it comes like the river.
I got faith like the river in my soul.
I got strength like a river,
I've got strength like a river.
I got strength like a river in my soul.
And it runs like the river and it comes like the river.
Strength like a river in my soul.
Peace to finish.
I got peace like a river,
I've got peace like a river.
I got peace like a river in my soul.
And it runs like the river and it comes like the river.
I got peace like a river in my soul.
I got peace like a river in my soul.
Deep breaths.
Aware of the body.
And slowly bring yourself with your eyes open back into your day.
Thank you for practicing deep relaxation with me and I'm hoping you're feeling more relaxed than you were.
