Settling in.
Resting back and settling in.
Taking a big full belly breath in and then exhaling letting go.
A big full belly breath in and then exhale letting go.
A big full belly breath in and then exhale letting go.
Feeling that with every exhale you can settle in a little more.
With every exhale you rest a little more deeply into the ground.
We use those extra deep breaths to help us to settle.
Going on a journey through the body.
Breathing into the feet and breathing out let the feet be heavy.
Breathing into the legs.
Breathing out let the legs be heavy.
Breathing into the pelvis and breathing out let the pelvis be heavy.
Breathing into the lower back.
Breathing out let the lower back relax.
Breathing into the belly.
Breathing out let the belly go.
Let the belly take up as much space as it would like.
Breathing into the upper back.
Breathing out let the upper back settle,
Nestle into the ground.
Breathing into the chest.
Breathing out let the chest relax.
The chest sink down,
Sink open.
Breathing into the shoulders.
Breathing out that the shoulders drop,
Shoulders drop away.
Breathing into the arms.
Breathing out let the arms be heavy.
Feel if by letting go of the arms the shoulders can relax and release a little more and perhaps if the shoulders relax and release a little more there's more space in the chest.
The chest can fall a little more open.
Let's breathe into the hands and fingers and breathe out let the fingers let go.
Let the thumbs curl in.
Let's take a deep breath into the neck and the throat.
And allow the neck to relax as you give the weight of the head to gravity.
Feel if you can give more of the weight of the head to the ground so that the neck can relax and release.
Breathe into the jaw and breathe out let the jaw open.
Let the bottom jaw fall away from the top jaw.
Let the jaw relax.
Breathe into the mouth.
Breathe out let the mouth,
Inside of the mouth,
Soften and relax.
The upper palate can soften upwards.
The lower palate softening down.
And allow the tongue relax to relax from the tip all the way down to the root of the tongue.
And feel that as the root of the tongue relaxes so does the point where the back of the mouth becomes the beginning of the throat allowing there to be softness.
Breathing into the lips.
Breathing out let the lips peel away from each other.
And feeling perhaps as the lips soften.
As the lips on a purse.
There's a softness in the skin and the muscles of the lower half of the face.
Breathe into the eyeballs and breathe out let the eyeballs rest back into the sockets.
Breathe into the point between the eyebrows and breathe out relax.
Breathe into the forehead and breathe out let the forehead relax.
Breathe into the temples and breathe out let the temples relax.
Breathe into the inside of the head as if you could breathe space to the inside of the head.
And breathe out let the weight of the head go.
Breathe into the brain and breathe out let the muscle that is the brain relax and soften.
Breathe into the mind as if the breath could give more space to the mind.
And breathe out let the way the mind seems to grip to the thoughts relax.
Breathe into the spine.
Breathe out let go.
Coming into the whole body lying on the ground.
Feeling that with every inhale there's space.
And with every exhale there's letting go.
I'll read a poem by Rainier Maria Rilke called Gravity's Law.
How surely gravity's law,
Strong as an ocean current,
Takes hold of even the strongest thing and pulls it toward the heart of the world.
Each thing,
Each stone,
Blossom,
Child is held in place.
Only we in our arrogance push out beyond what we belong to for some empty freedom.
If we surrendered to Earth's intelligence we could rise up rooted like trees.
Instead we entangle ourselves in knots of our own making and struggle lonely and confused.
So like children we begin again to learn from the things because they are in God's heart.
They have never left her.
This is what the things can teach us to fall patiently to trust our heaviness.
Even a bird has to do that before she can fly.
Can the exhale be a surrendering?
With every exhale can we surrender a little more,
A little more and a little more?
Every inhale can be an invitation to spaciousness,
To lightness,
Every exhale to letting go,
Dropping in,
Breathing in space,
Breathing out ease,
Breathing in space,
Breathing out ease.
We're going to reanimate the body with some extra deep inhales and exhales.
Let's take a big full belly breath in and exhale out of the mouth let go.
Big full belly breath in and exhale let go.
Big full animating in breath and last big letting go.
Feeling for how you might like to come back to movement.
Maybe moving the fingers or toes,
Maybe rolling out the head,
Maybe offering massage to some part of the body that needs some attention or maybe just resting and breathing.
Feeling what you need and offering that as you slowly slowly transition to movement.
