As we begin,
Make yourself comfortable in either a seated or lying down position.
If you feel comfortable,
Close down your eyes.
With your spine long,
Steady and also at ease.
Your body straight,
Yet comfortable.
Allow the crown of your head to guide your head upwards.
Smooth out the lines of your forehead and between your brows.
Allowing the skin to soften and release.
Relax your eyes at the outer corner and the inside corner.
Releasing all the muscles around the eye that you use to focus and squint.
Gently lay your eyes down in the soft bed of the eye socket.
Release the muscles of the temples and cheeks,
Resting them in a neutral position.
With your lips touching,
Let your jaw drop down,
Releasing any gripping.
Your neck is long and relaxed.
Your chin tucked in,
Positioned slightly below the forehead.
Relax your shoulders down,
The shoulder blades neatly tucking into the spine.
Your pelvis is in a neutral position.
Bring awareness to your breath.
Focusing the breath at the tip of the nostrils.
Breathing in and out through your nose.
Notice the cool air coming in and the warmth of the breath as it moves out.
Now draw your breath in deeper into your heart space.
Breathing in and out of your heart.
See if you can increase the length of your exhale.
If you like,
You can breathe in for four counts and out for six.
Breathing in,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathing out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathing in,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathing out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
By lengthening your out-breath,
You are stimulating the relaxation response messages which run along your vagal nerve.
The superhighway which connects your brain along your spine throughout your body.
Stimulating the relaxation response literally flicks a switch.
It immediately moves you out of a stressed,
Anxious,
Fight or flight state.
Now that you are in a state of relaxation,
It is the perfect time to practice loving compassion.
Creating coherence.
Syncing the rhythms of your breathing,
Heart rate and brain waves together.
Invite your body to cultivate your most compassionate,
Most loving stance.
Cultivating the most compassionate version of you.
Bring up emotions of love,
Compassion and appreciation into your heart space.
If you like,
Bring up images of a loved one,
A pet,
A parent,
A moment where you are appreciated.
Anything meaningful to you to help you to cultivate these feelings of emotion,
Love,
Compassion,
Appreciation.
You may feel tingling,
Warmth,
Softening or something similar building in your body.
And if not,
Just stay present to the awareness of your breath.
Buddhists say that presence is compassion,
That they are one and the same.
Spread the growing feelings of loving appreciation and awareness of presence from your heart and into your chest.
To your lungs and upper back.
To your abdomen,
Diaphragm and mid back.
Filling up the entire space of this region.
The belly button,
Intestines and lower back.
Further into the hips,
Pelvis and buttocks.
And moving into the right and left legs together at the same time.
The thighs and the hamstrings.
Filling both knees.
The shins and the calves.
Both ankles.
The tops and soles of the feet.
The big toes together.
The second toes.
The third toes.
The fourth toes.
And the little toes.
The lower body all together.
Moving the energy to the right and left hand at the same time together.
Feel loving appreciation,
The awareness of presence in both pinky fingers.
The ring fingers.
The middle fingers.
The pointer fingers.
Both thumbs together.
Both the tops and the palms of the hands.
The wrists.
The forearms and underarms.
Filling both elbows.
The upper arms,
Biceps and triceps.
Both shoulders.
Moving back towards the heart space.
Feel loving appreciation and awareness of presence resonating within the whole body.
And now spreading towards the head.
Up to the neck and the throat.
Back of the head,
The top of the head,
The whole of the brain.
Forehead.
Temples.
The brows.
The brow middle.
Loving appreciation and awareness of presence in the brow middle.
Flowing down through the cheeks and the ears.
The eyes,
The nose,
The lips and the tongue.
The chin and jaw.
Loving appreciation and awareness of presence resonating in the whole of the head.
All the head together.
And swelling to fill the entire space of your body.
From the very core of you to the outer part of your skin.
Completely based in loving,
Compassionate appreciation and presence.
Feel it oozing out through your pores and into the space around you.
Loving compassion spreading to those who are near.
Stretching further to the room.
Your community.
Your country.
Spreading out further encompassing the whole of the world and all beings within it.
Know that you are the recipient and the giver of great compassion.
When you soothe yourself with the healing balm of compassionate presence,
You change your mental,
Emotional and physical experience by changing your body chemistry and your brain pathways,
Literally using your own body to heal.
Releasing pain and suffering.
Rub your palms together to create a buzzing energy.
And raising your hands to your eyes.
Gently cup the eyes with the palms of your hands.
Placing a very slight pressure on the outer rims of the eyes.
Allowing the eyes a moment of pure relaxation.
Placing your hands onto your heart.
May you be healthy.
May you be well.
May you be free from pain,
Worry,
Stress and anxiety.
May you be at ease.
And may your whole life be truly blessed.
Namaste.
