Welcome to this guided stress reduction meditation.
Begin by just gently closing your eyes if it feels comfortable to do so.
And then allow your body to just settle in as you breathe.
Begin to notice your breath in your body,
Noticing the rise and the fall of your body as you breathe.
Perhaps noticing the air as it enters and exits your nose.
And as you begin to breathe comfortably and easily,
See if you can just extend your inhalation,
Breathing in for just a little bit longer and extending the exhalation as well.
And fully paying attention to the cycle of the breath.
In through the nose,
Filling up the lungs,
The diaphragm expands.
Breathing out,
The diaphragm contracts and the lungs contract as well.
Noticing the cycle of breath and just allowing it to slow down.
When you slow down your breath,
You slow down your brain and this engages the relaxation response for many people.
And as you continue to breathe comfortably and easily,
Bring your attention now to the soles of your feet,
Noticing any physical sensations in the soles of your feet,
Tingling,
Numbness,
Noticing the temperature of the soles of your feet.
And bringing your attention up to your hands,
The palms of your hands,
Noticing any physical sensations associated with that part of your body,
Tingling,
Tightness.
And if your mind wanders as you're trying to focus,
That's okay,
That's what minds do.
Just gently bring your focus and your awareness back to your breathing or your feet or your hands or the sound of my voice.
And you might have to do that a couple of times and that's okay.
And then bring your attention to your surroundings.
Just notice your environment,
Perhaps feeling a gentle air current on your skin or feeling your clothing as it rests on your body,
Feeling the pressure of whatever you're sitting on.
Perhaps noticing other sounds,
The sound of my voice,
But perhaps there's ambient sounds.
And then as you return your attention to your breathing,
See if you can focus on your upper body.
This is a part of our body that we sometimes carry a lot of tension and stress.
And so noticing if you can lower your shoulders and create more space between your ears and your shoulders.
Perhaps lifting your chest a little bit toward the sky and tilting your head back a little,
Creating more space to breathe,
Perhaps swallowing to relax your jaw.
And just noticing if this opening up seems to allow some releasing.
Notice how it changes the way perhaps that you perceive the breath in and out.
And then as you just return to a comfortable position,
Bringing your awareness back to your body and just noticing how this feels after taking this little break,
This stress reduction,
Meditation break.
And then you can move around gently in your body and gently open your eyes.
I'm Kelly.
Thanks for joining me.
Namaste.
