Welcome to your practice.
I invite you to find a comfortable position.
You can be sat in a chair for this on the floor or you could even be lying down if that's more comfortable for you.
And once you've found that posture that works for you,
I invite you to gently close your eyes and just lower your gaze to focus at a fixed point in front of you.
And begin this practice by taking some nice deep breaths in through the nose,
Out through the mouth.
Allowing the belly to be soft and feel like a balloon as you inhale.
And then allowing it to be gently pulled back towards the spine as you exhale.
Just getting a sense of letting go and grounding yourself for this practice as you exhale.
And if you haven't already,
Just breathing in and out through the nose in a rhythm that works for you.
And just take a moment to be still,
Perhaps for the first time today.
Something so simple can often be really quite tricky to do as we busy ourselves throughout the day.
But just be still.
Becoming aware of any sensations in the body.
Not trying to push anything away or criticize anything that you might find.
But just observing what's there.
Noticing any emotional qualities that might be there.
Becoming aware of what the mind is doing.
Is it busy chattering away,
Chasing thoughts or is it actually quite calm and steady?
But again,
Just observing,
Not judging anything.
And now becoming aware of the contact you're making with the chair or the floor.
Noticing how your back is supported.
Noticing the back of your legs touching the chair.
Noticing that moment of contact.
That feeling of weight pressing down.
And softening into that support.
And also noticing the contact that your feet are making with the ground beneath you.
And becoming aware of any sensations that you can feel in the soles of your feet.
Any aliveness,
Energy,
Tingling,
Maybe even the temperature.
Becoming aware of each of the toes.
The tops of the feet.
Your heels touching the ground.
And your ankles.
Just noticing the full spectrum of sensations that you might feel in these parts of your body.
And then from your ankles,
Gently trace up the back of your legs,
Up the calves to the space behind your knees.
Noticing any sensations that might be there.
And then returning to the ankles and moving up the shins now to the front of the knees.
Noticing any sensations in that lower half of the legs.
And then gently tracing from the front of the knees,
Up the top of the legs,
Into the thighs,
Up to the hips.
Just allowing this area to soften,
To relax.
And then moving from the space behind the knees,
Up the back of the legs,
To the hips.
Again,
Just allowing everything in this space to relax,
To soften.
An area that does so much work for us every day.
But right now we're giving it permission to rest.
And then moving from the hips up into the belly.
Noticing any sensations that might be there today in that space.
Noticing the movement of the breath.
Noticing if there's any tension in this space.
And if there is,
That's okay.
Just see if you can use the breath to soften that tension.
And if you can't,
That's fine.
Just observe.
And then on the next exhale,
Just moving through the body to the lower back.
Noticing the contact that it's making on the chair or the floor.
Slowly moving to the middle back.
And then with the next inhale,
Move from the middle back to the ribs.
Noticing that movement as you breathe.
Becoming aware of any sensations that you have across your chest.
And taking a nice deep breath here.
Just to let go and soften.
And with the next inhale,
Moving from your chest across the tops of the shoulders and across the upper back.
Allowing the shoulders to drop,
To rest.
Noticing any sensations that might be there.
And slowly moving down into the arms,
Tops of the arms.
The elbows,
The forearms.
All the way down into the hands and each of the fingers.
Noticing sensation,
Temperature,
Weight.
Just allowing them to rest.
And then moving up to the neck.
And then to your face.
Noticing all the different sensations that might be there.
Just moving,
Coming,
Going.
Just watching what's there.
No judgement,
No criticism.
Just curiosity.
And then moving from the forehead to the top of the head and the back of the head.
Again,
Just observing any sensations.
And opening your awareness to taking the whole of the body.
Just allowing the sensations to be there.
Just allowing the sensations to come into your awareness.
Seeing that whatever's there in this moment doesn't stop us to sit and rest with it.
And just letting the technique go.
And just resting in this space that you've created for yourself.
Now just taking a couple of deep breaths here.
Bringing some gentle movement back to the fingers and the toes.
And when you're ready,
You can gently blink open your eyes.
And just take a moment before moving.
Just noticing how you feel.
So thank you for being here with me today.
And I look forward to seeing you next time.
