Let's take a moment now to find a place where you can lay down,
Whether it's on your bed or on the floor,
Gather what you need to make your body comfortable,
Perhaps something under your head,
Even placing something under your knees like a bolster or a pillow,
Cushion,
Make sure you're warm enough,
And even placing something over the eyes,
Whether it's an eye pillow or a flannel.
Then as you lay down,
Make any final adjustments so that you can settle into stillness.
Taking a scan over your body,
From the top of the head all the way down to the fingertips,
To the toes,
Scanning if there's anywhere that you feel like you're holding on.
Take a moment to soften into the belly,
Completely relax the belly muscles,
Like the belly's spreading.
Soften the fingers,
The hands,
The feet,
Just let the feet fall out to the sides.
And check that your shoulders are away from the ears,
Shoulder blades moving down the back,
Necks lengthening,
Chins a little bit towards the throat,
Eyes are closed.
With a soft gaze of your closed eyes,
Bring your awareness to your belly,
Watching the rise and fall of the body breathing,
Of the belly moving up and down with your breath.
Now over the next few moments,
Begin to lengthen the breath out.
So on the breath in,
The belly rises a little bit,
Something other than your normal breath.
And on the breath out,
Extending the exhale.
Then you would take another breath in,
Belly rises,
Something other than your normal natural breath,
Extending the exhale.
And keep on repeating this technique as you breathe in,
Belly rises like a bell.
Belly rises on the inhale,
Lengthen the exhale,
Perhaps drawing your lower belly a little bit in towards the spine.
Belly softens on the breath in,
And just gently draw the lower belly muscles back towards the spine on that long exhale.
We'll carry on for a few more rounds.
Sense that every exhale you're moving away from the mind,
Emptying out the mind.
Every exhale,
Letting go of any holding on.
Repeating just a few more rounds,
Belly inflates on the breath in,
Extending your exhale,
Emptying out the mind completely.
Now return to your normal effortless,
Natural rhythm of breathing.
And once again,
You're just watching the belly rise and fall with your breath,
No longer shaping the breath.
Be effortless.
Recognise now that you are not the breather.
The body is taking care of itself,
And you'll notice that you're just being breathed,
Resting,
Body being breathed.
You'll notice that thoughts come to mind,
And imagine those thoughts as clouds passing by,
Like those puffy white clouds moving past a beautiful blue sky,
Passing by.
Notice how the sky is not chasing the clouds,
Not holding on to them,
Not giving them any story,
No clinging.
They're just passing by.
You're aware of your body being breathed,
And thoughts passing by.
And you recognise that you are not just your body,
And you are not the thoughts.
Spending a few more moments now,
Just resting.
Resting in this spacious awareness of awareness itself.
You are not your body,
Not just your body.
You are not your thoughts.
You are that which is witnessing the body breathing,
Or being breathed.
And witnessing the thoughts passing by.
Connecting with that part of yourself that is always at peace,
Calmness,
Steady.
And when it feels like the thoughts are moving to the front of the mind,
Just bring your awareness back to your belly breathing,
The gentle rise and fall of the belly.
Thoughts just passing by.
Bring awareness back to your body.
You're aware of the support beneath you,
The clothes on your skin,
The temperature of the space that you're in.
Awareness comes to your breath.
With your next inhale,
Take a deeper inhale so that the side ribs expand and you're breathing up into the chest.
And on the exhale,
Just let that fall away,
Either out through the mouth or through the nose.
Ready for another inhale,
Inspiring,
Uplifting breath in.
And the healing and nurturing exhale floods your body.
Do this one or two more times,
Nothing forced,
Just think of that breath in as aliveness.
And the breath out is nurturing and healing.
Then you return to your effortless breath.
Welcome in,
Some gentle movement of fingers and toes.
You could reach the arms up behind you and stretch through the front and the back of the body,
A morning stretch.
And bending into the knees,
Roll over to a side,
Rest for a few moments on the side.
And making your way up to a comfortable seat.
Sitting upright,
But softening into the shoulders,
So let them just drop.
Take a breath in through the nose,
Out through the mouth.
Ah.
Lips come back together.
And for the next few moments,
Just witnessing your breath.
Recognising that throughout your day,
Whenever you may feel overwhelmed,
Overstimulated,
Off-centre,
Your breath is always with you.
Remind yourself to anchor back in by connecting with breath,
And when needed,
Breathing just with the belly.
Extending the exhales to help you move away from the mind and back into your body.
Now bringing the hands to meet in Anjali Mudra,
Prayer position in front of the heart.
Bring in any words of your own,
Something sacred that means something to you.
Hold those words close to your heart.
And in your own way,
And in your own time,
Take a moment to bow forward with gratitude for all of your blessings.
And you lift back up.
Gently blink open the eyes.
And moving back into your day or evening,
Or even off to sleep,
With ease and joy.
