And wherever you find yourself,
Breathing in,
Long and slow,
And breathing out,
As you slowly release,
And let go,
Once more,
Breathing in,
Feeling the chest expand,
Pausing,
And then as you breathe out,
Letting the body meld into the air,
All this doing you've been doing,
You can let go,
Moving again to simply being,
Nothing to do,
Nothing to achieve,
Just resting,
These muscles which have worked so hard to hold you up,
Can be released,
Can let go,
And sensing those parts of your body which rest on the air,
And we're going to move into a deep relaxation practice now,
Starting by sensing those points that rest on the air,
Perhaps the legs,
The back,
The head,
Sensing those points of contact,
Not the idea,
But the felt sense in this moment,
How does your body feel,
Releasing awareness of here,
And bringing your awareness to the gentle rise and fall as the body breathes,
The waves of movement through the body,
And letting the breath find it's natural rate and rhythm,
Just noticing how it feels to breathe,
That sense of movement,
And stillness,
Releasing awareness of the breath,
And we're going to bring our awareness to this body,
Starting at the toes,
Noticing the toes,
Sensing how the toes feel,
Noticing the soles of the feet,
The tops of the feet,
The whole of the feet,
And if this is numbness,
That's okay,
Noticing that,
Perhaps your body feels cold,
Hot,
Upstairs,
No sensations,
But noticing that,
Driving awareness from the feet to the ankles,
To the calves and the shins,
Releasing the lower legs,
And noticing the sense in the knee,
And the thighs,
Noticing if there's any tightness,
The hips,
The pelvis,
And the whole basin of the pelvis,
Noticing the lower back,
And if you come across any pain,
Any discomfort,
Letting that be part of your practice,
Welcoming that,
Noticing,
Perhaps breathing into this,
It's already here,
May as well notice,
Guiding your awareness to the mid-back,
Upper back,
And the shoulders,
The abdomen,
The chest,
Sensing in,
Noticing the arms,
And the hands,
The position of the hands,
And letting go of the hands,
And noticing the neck,
And the throat,
The forehead,
The eyes,
The nose,
The cheeks,
The jaw,
And now imagine you could breathe into the whole of your body,
Breathing down to the tips of the toes,
And back out again,
As you hold the whole of your body in awareness now,
Whatever way works for you,
Bringing awareness to this whole body,
As you breathe in,
And out,
And releasing awareness of the whole body,
And we're going to work our way back down the body now,
From the face,
We're going to do something slightly different,
We're going to offer a relaxing,
A letting go,
As we go,
So starting with the jaw,
Allowing the jaw to release,
Relax,
Letting the lips release,
The cheeks let go,
Letting the nose relax,
The temples relax,
The eyes,
And the space around the eyes,
Allowing them release,
The eyebrows,
Letting go,
The space between the eyebrows,
The forehead,
Releasing,
Relaxing,
The scalp,
Letting go,
The throat,
And the neck,
Releasing,
The shoulders,
The hands,
And the arms,
Allowing a letting go,
Allowing a relaxing,
The chest,
The abdomen,
Releasing,
At the upper back,
Letting go,
The mid-back,
The lower back,
Relax,
The pelvis,
The basin of the pelvis,
The hips,
Releasing,
Letting go of any tightness,
Of any holding,
The thighs,
The large muscles of the thighs can let go,
The knees,
Releasing,
And each out breath,
The calves,
Shins,
Can relax,
The ankles,
The tops of the feet,
Releasing,
The bottom of the feet,
Letting go,
The toes,
Relaxing,
And holding the whole of your body in your awareness now,
And allowing a releasing,
Letting your whole body relax,
This body which so often is holding on,
This body which remembers,
Which holds tightness,
Which is ready to keep us safe,
Letting your body know it's safe,
Doesn't need to be on alert,
Your body doesn't need to be ready,
Your whole body can relax,
Can release,
Can let go,
Taking a long slow breath in,
And as you breathe out,
Letting go a little more,
And bringing your awareness now to the toes and the feet,
And clenching the feet,
Tightening the feet as tight as you can,
And then breathing out,
Letting go a little more,
And bringing awareness to the legs and tightening all the muscles of the legs,
Glutes as tight as you can,
And then breathing out,
Letting go,
Bringing awareness to the hands,
Making them into fists as tight as you can as you breathe in,
And breathing out,
Letting go,
Coming to the arms and tightening the arms,
The shoulders,
The hands as tight as they can,
Tight,
Tight,
Tight,
And then breathing out with a sigh,
Letting go,
Coming to the abdomen,
Tightening the muscles here as you breathe in,
Breathing out,
Coming to the chest as you breathe in deeply,
Feeling the chest expand as those muscles contract to breathe,
And breathing out,
Letting go,
Coming up to the neck,
The shoulders,
Breathing in,
Tightening the shoulders,
Lifting them up,
Breathing out,
Letting go,
Now coming to the face,
Breathing in and screwing up the face,
Tightening the eyes,
The lips,
The cheeks,
Engaging all the muscles as tight as you can,
And breathing out,
Releasing,
Letting go,
And now coming to the whole body,
And as you breathe in,
Tightening the whole body,
The feet,
The legs,
The glutes,
The tummy,
The chest,
The arms,
The hands,
The face,
As tight as you can,
Engaging all the muscles,
And then as you breathe out,
Let go,
Simply let go,
Knowing you don't need to hold any of this anymore,
There's nothing you need to do,
Nothing you need to achieve,
Just being,
And with your next out breath,
Letting go a little more,
Letting the earth hold the weight of your body,
Noticing how heavy the body is,
And sensing those points where the weight of the body is supported by the earth,
Noticing those points of contact where the body is held by the earth,
And resting for a moment or two,
In this letting go,
In this simply being,
Noticing these points of contact,
Or perhaps this gentle rise and fall as the body breathes,
Nothing to do,
Nothing to achieve,
Just being,
Just being is enough,
If the mind wanders off,
Nothing's gone wrong,
This is the nature of the mind,
Gently and kindly coming back to just resting here,
And we're coming towards the end of our practice now,
And knowing that you can always come back to this resting,
And every day you can always release,
Knowing you can come back to this safe place,
This place of letting go,
You may even like to set an intention for yourself,
To move more into being,
To shift that balance of life from doing to being,
We need both,
But sometimes the balance is slightly off,
Sometimes we need to support ourselves to find that simply being mode,
Taking a long slow breath in,
Pausing,
And slowly releasing,
And letting go of this practice,
Letting go of this resting here,
Perhaps bringing some movement back into your body,
To the fingers and the toes,
And you might like to gently move the hand and place them on the body,
Maybe on the abdomen,
Maybe on the heart,
And simply thanking yourself for being here,
Showing up,
For giving yourself this space,
And thanking also all those around the world who are practicing right now,
Who are caring for themselves,
Who are holding space for one another to practice,
Knowing this practice will flow out without us needing to do anything,
Will affect all those around us,
And thanking also all those who came before,
Who learned,
Who shared,
Taking another deep breath in,
And out.
