I want you to take a really,
Really big breath in.
Let your breath expand through your belly and then open your mouth and sigh.
Doing that again,
Big inhale,
Stretch open your belly,
Expand your ribcage,
Hold and then sigh.
And then closing your lips and letting yourself find a really comfortable position.
You might choose to sprawl out,
Take up space,
Or you might choose to bring your knees in towards your chest and lay on your side,
Drawing your senses in,
Perhaps closing your eyes,
Seeking rest now,
Seeking solace from your day.
Nothing else to do but lie here and listen to my voice.
Starting to watch the rise and fall of your chest and as you closely listen,
Maybe you hear the sound of your beating heart.
You might feel the little patter of your heartbeat within your chest,
Becoming intimately aware that this motion of your heart in your chest is happening at all times,
All times,
Steady,
Unwavering,
Like the goings on underneath the waves of an ocean.
There is consistency at the base of the ocean floor,
So that no matter what weather comes by,
No matter how wild the waves choose to be on the surface,
There is always this source of calm.
We just have to be quieter to hear it,
To feel it,
And by turning down the volume of our thoughts,
By turning down the volume of our words,
Our judgments,
Everything that plagues us throughout the day to make sense of our outer world,
Once we make this voice a little smaller,
We can tune to the inside,
What calls to us most,
What's important to us,
And what quietly calls us home.
And to find more relaxation,
We'll go through a little bit of breath work and then a little bit of a body scan.
Starting here with triangle breathing,
We'll breathe in,
We'll hold,
We'll hold,
And then we'll breathe out,
Knowing that you're always welcome to modify the length of the breath,
Longer,
Shorter,
Whatever you need.
We're starting with a big breath in,
Sigh out your mouth,
And then breathe in three,
Two,
One,
Hold,
Two,
One,
Exhale,
Three,
Two,
Two,
One,
Inhale,
Three,
Two,
One,
Hold,
Two,
One,
Exhale,
Three,
Two,
One,
Inhale,
Three,
Two,
One,
Hold,
Two,
One,
Exhale,
Three,
Two,
One.
Keep going on your own time,
Pausing at the peak,
Holding the breath delicately in your throat before letting it go.
And if you find your mind wanders away,
Bring it back to this beautiful rhythmic quality of your breath,
Counting in,
Holding,
And then counting out.
Maybe there's a bit of a softening on your exhale,
Being heavy and weighted into the floor or the surface beneath you,
Paying attention to the rise and fall of your chest.
Maybe now your heartbeat feels a little louder,
Just with the quieting of the mind,
Giving your heart some more space for attention.
And then you can choose to drop this breath pattern or keep it going as we move through a body scan,
Starting down at the feet.
You know,
You might feel the muscles in your feet,
You might wriggle your toes,
Feeling them brush up against one another,
Perhaps taking note of the arches of your feet,
Your ankles,
And then imagining your calves and your shins to your knees,
Which are bent or straight,
The thighs,
Your hip creases,
And the hips,
Your low back,
The awareness of your belly,
Your spine,
Your chest,
All the way up to the base of the neck,
The shoulders,
And then down the length of the arms to the elbows,
The forearms,
Your wrists,
And then your hands.
You might give your fingers a little wiggle,
Imagining your palms,
And then once again meeting me here at the base of the neck,
Traveling up towards your ears,
The sides of your face,
All the way to the crown of your head,
And then imagining your legs whole and complete,
Your torso whole and complete,
Your arms whole and complete,
And then your head,
Your whole body,
Your whole body,
Right here,
Right now.
Keep breathing,
Sinking down and down into your mattress,
Feeling the beating heart,
Imagining the ocean,
The wave starting to slow and calm,
And calm,
Matching the energy of what lies beneath.
