Hello and welcome to this deep relaxation,
I've called it peace in a time of hate.
Let's put it in context,
We have some big marches happening today in the UK.
Some marches for ceasefire in Ben Palestine and the aim of this deep relaxation is not to comment on that politically although I do have my views which you can find on my website.
I put a prayer up this week which explains my feelings on that,
Which is much in line with many organisations calling for peace at this time and recognising the context in which the violence is occurring.
No matter our background and our opinions on this,
There are some fundamentals which I draw on with this relaxation and that is the need of our bodies for peace and recognising that as Thich Nhat Hanh says,
If we look into weapons,
Into war,
We see the human mind as the creative force which can be productive and can be destructive.
This is a relaxation,
A non-violent relaxation.
Relaxation is non-violent.
We're going to move through the body,
I often start with the toes but we're going to start with our heads and move down through our hearts into the rest of our body,
Calming the mind and the body as we go.
I'll sing you a song at the end.
So with the guitar,
Breathe in and breathe out,
So breathing in and then breathing out on the second chord.
So here we go,
Breathing in,
Feeling that breath in the body and then breathing out.
And one more time,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Just feeling the body resting on the ground,
Held by the earth,
Feeling the resonance of our body with the earth.
The ground from which we came and which we will return to,
The ground of life.
And then allowing our attention to come to the top of our heads and just breathing into our brains.
It sounds like an unusual sentence maybe but I'm thinking cool fresh air,
Like opening the window on a room,
Allowing fresh air in.
We can literally do that through our nose.
Allowing that fresh air in,
Calming the mind and if our thoughts wander,
I know for me if my thoughts wander,
To bring it back to the breath and back to the body brings an instant sense of calm that can be built on.
So around the temples,
We've got the eyes,
Under the eyelids closed,
Or if the eyes are open that's fine as well,
Just softening the gaze.
Then we've got the ears and the nose again,
Then we've got the cheeks,
We've got the teeth and the tongue,
Then we've got the neck and the jaw,
So allowing your head and your mind the permission to rest for these next ten minutes.
Aware of the shoulders,
The collarbone,
We're going to go down the left side until we get aware of the humerus bone,
The bicep and the tricep muscle,
Down to the elbow.
And then from there we've got the radius and the ulna bones,
Down into the wrist and the palm and the fingers and the thumb of the left hand,
Just allowing the arm to rest.
Finding the fingertips of the left hand and then feeling the resonance on the right hand,
I don't need to touch,
Just one set of fingers to the other set,
Moving that mindfulness across.
And then finding the fingers and then we've got the back of the hand,
The palm of the hand,
Into the wrist again,
Over the right hand and then moving up to the elbow and then the top of the arm and the shoulder again,
Just in your own time over the next ten seconds or so.
We can be aware of the ribcage and the chest,
We've got the liver under the ribcage on the right side,
Cleaning the blood that comes back towards the lungs and on the out-breath carbon dioxide is released and the in-breath oxygen comes in over to the left,
To the heart and down through the body,
Feeling the harmony,
The peace in the body,
Again and again allowing ourselves to rest,
Investing in our future peace.
And then we have the spine down,
The kidneys,
More cleaning of the blood,
The stomach and intestines,
Pancreas,
The beautiful arrangement of the body in harmony and then beyond we've got the intestines that go down towards the pelvic arch,
The muscles,
Gluteus muscles at the back,
The genitals,
We've got the thighs and then we move down the legs,
The hamstrings and the quadriceps,
Down to the knees,
Just resting all those muscles as much as you can,
Femur bones to the knees,
Then we've got the calves and the shins as we take in the ankles,
Around the ball of the foot,
To the sole of the foot and then we've got the toes,
All the bones in the feet,
33 bones in each foot,
Feeling appreciation for our balancing point.
So breathing with the body I'm going to sing you this song called Peace.
Peace to the newborn baby,
Peace to the sinners and the saints,
Peace to the one not yet born,
Peace to the weary and war-torn,
Lay your head down to rest,
Hmm,
Lay your head down to rest,
Peace to this blessed day,
Peace to the ones that say,
Hmm,
Peace to this blessed morn,
Peace to the weary and war-torn,
Lay your head down to rest,
Lay your head down to rest,
Hmm,
It's the deepest yearning of my heart,
To lay down these arms and offer a rose for peace,
Take down these walls built by my pride and know that peace begins with me,
Hmm,
Peace,
Peace,
Peace,
Peace.
It's a song from the Plum Village tradition.
So in your own time just rolling over onto one side,
You can place your hand somewhere on your body that needs some affirmations and care and support,
Could be your chest or your arm,
Your shoulders,
Could be with a gentle touch or a bit more firm pressure like a palm or a fist,
Whatever feels good.
I'll play the guitar for another 30 seconds and then we'll fade out.
Best for the rest of your day or if you're going to sleep,
Sleep well.
