Staying At Home Series: Relaxation 3 (With Original Song: Our Love, These Hands, A Heart)

In these times of unrest, I wanted to offer something that might be helpful and useful, whether you're at home or helping in the community; a key worker or a politically active individual, or maybe a few of these combined. I've been doing them for a number of years in different places, and you may have been to one of them. If you are new to it, find a quiet place, lay or sit down, and we go from there.

Joe

Transcript

Hello again. Here we are Wednesday the 25th of March. How are you doing today? How's your morning been? Maybe afternoon too if you're listening to this later in the day. Thank you for all the lovely comments received about the relaxation. Nice to be in touch with friends around the world and make a few new ones. So this relaxation comes with a request. My friend Ha in Hanoi in Vietnam asked for a song that was written in a songwriting workshop a couple of years ago. Myself and some others. And it's a song called Our Love, These Hands, Our Heart. Okay, So again finding a quiet place to sit down or to lie down. Maybe today we could just think back across the morning. What emotions have you been going through, Passing through? What thoughts and feelings? Maybe it's been pretty peaceful. Maybe there's been some difficulty. But whatever's happened, Here we are. In this moment together. So for the next 15 minutes, It's an invitation as the last couple of days just to take some time to chill out. To rest your body and your mind. And maybe in some deeper way just to be in touch with a kind of inner peace that is always possible I believe. Or at least the way towards it is possible. Okay, So feet. How are they today? So attention. Attention holding the toes. Feeling the weight of the toes. Can you sense each one individually, Or have that kind of idea? Nothing to do right or wrong but just to bring your awareness to that part of the body. Maybe wiggle your toes a little bit and then let them rest. And then feeling your feet, Your skin covering your feet. Feeling the aliveness and also the rest in your feet, In your ankles. And then into the calf muscles. Hearing sounds around. Phone calls and conversations. Maybe cars. But being in touch, Allowing that to be going on around you. Feeling that centeredness of yourself in your body. And feeling the peace that's possible there. And where do we get to? The knees, Up to the knees. Just a sense that there's two joints there, Two knee joints. Feel the shape, Feel the rest in the knees. And then we move up to the thighs. The shape of the thighs. Around the thighs. Up to the bum, The buttocks at the back, The hips, The waist. Maybe at any point you just want to give them a little move. Sometimes just ease any little discomfort or tension there, Allow you to rest a bit more. And then meeting the breath at the belly. Above the belly, Center of the body, Up towards the chest. Feeling the width of the shoulders. And then down. The left arm. And then down towards the elbow and the joint there. Just resting by your side, Whether that's hanging, If you're sitting, Or just laying on the ground if you're lying down. Into the wrist. Loose wrist. And then into the hands, Feeling the palm of the hands and the fingers. A loose grip, Fingers, Lying peacefully, Gently. Not clenched, Not outstretched, Just hanging in the middle. Like a bunch of bananas. I heard one there. Meditation teachers say doing an exercise like this. And then over to the other, Bunch of bananas. In and out of the fingers, Through the palm, The thumb. And the right hand, Over the forearm up to the elbow. Top of the arm up to the shoulder. And then to the collarbone, Shoulder blades at the back. Any tension there, Sometimes tension can get caught in the shoulders. Breathing out, With your next out breath just let that drop a little bit if you need to. And then into the neck, The chin. Up to all of those, Just under the ears, Lips and teeth, Tongue. Under the eyes. The nose. Allowing the attention to touch in around the back of the head. Top of the head and the forehead. And now scanning back through the body. Again feeling that aliveness, Also feeling that rest there. And our love is an open book. Our love is an open book. Alive in these pages our love is an open book. Our love is colourful. Our love is colourful. Bright as a rainbow our love is colourful. O, Our love. O, Our love. And these hands are a safety net. These hands are a safety net. O, They will catch you. These hands are a safety net. And these hands are peaceful elders. These hands are peaceful elders coming in peace. These hands are peaceful elders. O, These hands. O, These hands. And a heart is a beating drum. A heart is a beating drum. Listen to the rhythm. A heart is a beating drum. And a heart is warm to touch. A heart is warm to touch. Warmth of the ages a heart is warm to touch. And O, A heart. And O, A heart. And O, These hands. And O, Our love. Best wishes for the rest of your day. However, However much of it there is left. If anyone has any suggestions for songs of peace and unity, Solidarity, Togetherness that might feel appropriate at the end of a relaxation, Then drop me a line and let me know.

Reviews

Your becoming one of my favorites!! Your picking reminds me of the music coming out of Austin back in the 70's, I'll be looking for more from you!!😎 Namaste...

Loved the guitar and the relaxation body scan was effective...so soothing and peaceful! Thank you!