Hi,
And welcome to today's practice.
So finding a comfortable position,
You can be sitting up for this or lying down.
Have a fidget,
Have a stretch,
And get as comfortable as you can in these moments.
And when you're ready,
Closing the eyes.
And beginning this practice by taking some deep breaths in through the nose,
And then slowly releasing through the mouth.
Letting the body drop,
Letting the body settle as the exhale releases.
Letting as much go as you can in this moment.
And then allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm in and out through the nose.
As you start to become aware of the contact you're making with the support beneath you,
Noticing the sensations of contact.
And if you notice any resistance to that support,
Any tension,
Just allowing it to soften as you exhale,
Surrendering to that support as much as you can in this moment.
Becoming aware of your body and noticing how it's feeling today.
What sensations are there?
Are they hanging around or just gently coming and going?
Are there any emotional qualities present today?
Not trying to change anything or push anything away.
Just reconnecting with your awareness and coming into contact with the present moment.
And keeping the awareness with the body,
Moving it to your feet and toes,
Allowing them to soften,
Allowing any tension to disappear.
And moving up the legs,
Allowing everything to soften and relax.
From the ankles to the calves,
The calves up to the knees,
From the knees to the hips,
The hips to a soft belly.
Softening the ribs as they move with the breath.
Softening the lower,
Middle and upper back.
Dropping your shoulders,
Allowing your arms to be heavy,
The hands,
Fingers softening.
Relaxing around the collarbone and the neck,
The jaw,
All the muscles of the face,
Letting them drop.
And with a big deep breath here,
Allow the whole body to soften just a little more.
Nowhere else to be,
Nothing else to do.
Just allowing the body to be still and to rest.
As you now become aware of your breathing,
Just noticing the coming and going,
And starting to breathe deeply in and slowly out in a way that's comfortable for you.
As you observe the different sensations and movement of the breath,
Inhaling into the nose,
The chest,
Down into the ribs and then the belly,
And as you exhale,
Breath rising and leaving the body out the nose.
Watching this effortless process in and out,
Coming and going,
Beginning again.
Sensing the breath as a companion,
Always with you,
Always there for you,
Always offering you access to the present moment,
However busy your internal and external world becomes.
Deeply in and slowly out.
And you can keep returning to this companion throughout the practice as many times as you need to,
As the mind inevitably wanders off,
Either falling into the future,
Turning to face the past.
This breath is your home base,
And you can always keep coming home.
And now I invite you to start to use the inhale to breathe in a positive energy,
Feeling,
Or a word into your body.
This could be kindness,
Compassion,
Love,
Joy,
Confidence,
Strength,
Resilience,
Whatever resonates most with you.
As each inhale rolls on,
Try to also cultivate the sensations and feelings of this energy or word in your body,
Allowing it to firstly fill your belly,
Lungs and chest,
And then spread to the rest of your body.
This may feel a little clunky to start with,
But I invite you to trust in the process.
Breathing a positive energy deeply in,
And then breathing slowly out.
And as you start to deepen and soften into this technique,
You may even like to have a small smile on your face,
Or place a hand on your belly or heart,
To help connect to this positive feeling,
Quality or sensation that is always at your core,
But sometimes can get dampened,
Obscured as the world gets busy and cluttered.
Use this time now to connect with those heartfelt qualities.
Deeply in,
Slowly out.
And as you continue to inhale this positive energy,
I now invite you to use the exhale to release and let go of something challenging.
An emotion,
An unhelpful thought,
A grievance,
An argument,
Anger,
Guilt,
Shame.
It doesn't have to be about a specific incident,
Or something that happened.
And just offer yourself the opportunity to let something go.
To explore what it might feel like to release something that isn't serving you.
Exhaling,
Letting go,
Releasing,
Allowing it to leave the body.
And this is our practice,
Breathing a positive energy deeply in,
And as you slowly exhale,
Letting something go.
And if your mind wanders off,
Just gently acknowledge that it's happened.
Return to the home base of the breath,
Reconnect with those qualities,
And simply begin again.
I now invite you to let the technique go,
And rest in the qualities you've been breathing in,
And rest in this space you've created.
Slowly becoming aware of the contact you're making with the support beneath you.
Noticing sounds around you.
Noticing the temperature of the space you're in.
And once again,
Noticing how the body is feeling.
Bringing some gentle movement back to your fingers,
Your toes.
And when you're ready,
Blink open your eyes.
And notice what you can see around you,
As you take in the space.
Looking with kindness,
Looking with compassion.
And seeing if whatever you're doing next,
You can take this spaciousness with you.
Moving mindfully,
Thoughtfully,
Into whatever is next.
Thank you for joining me today,
And I look forward to sitting with you next time.
