Find a comfortable position now.
Line down if you can.
I'll stitch it somewhere you can fully relax.
Close your eyes.
And live the day.
Begin to fall away.
I want to talk to you about something your body has been dealing with all day.
Curse all.
You've probably heard of it,
The stress hormone.
The one that gets you out of bed in the morning.
Keeps you sharp and focused and helps you manage crises and do all the things that needs doing.
Coruscant is not your enemy.
In the right amounts and at the right times of day.
It's.
.
.
Risen Useful.
But the problem is that so many of us.
.
.
A living message.
Too often.
Cortisol is supposed to rise in the morning and fall through the day.
Reaching its lowest point in the evening.
So your body can prepare for sleep.
Wildlife has broken that rhythm.
The late emails,
The scrolling,
The mental load that follows you from the office to the kitchen to the bedroom.
And the things that you're still thinking about as you lie down.
The to-do list.
The body has physically exhausted.
Itself,
But it's somehow still wired.
That's high evening cortisol.
It's a physiological response to a world that never has.
Lets you know that the day is done.
Your body.
Is simply needing a signal.
That it is safe to relax.
And tonight we're going to give it that signal.
Not true,
Power.
I wish for thinking.
But through actual biological and spiritual language of rest.
Slow breath.
Laced muscles.
Deliberate stillness.
And the presence of something that your cortisol flooded nervous system with.
Cannot manufacture on its own.
Genuine.
Unconditional Peace.
By the time we finish,
Your body will have received the message that it's been waiting for all day.
The day is done.
You are safe.
It is time to rest.
Let's begin.
Take your first slow breath in through your nose.
Breathe out through your mouth,
Long and slow.
Like you're releasing something you've been holding since morning.
And again,
Breathing in.
I'm breathing out.
And I want you to do something that might feel slightly uncomfortable at first.
Let yourself be unproductive.
Just for this time.
For yourself.
Let go of the idea that you should be doing something,
Achieving something.
That there's something else that you should have finished.
But lying here with your eyes closed is somehow indulgent.
Or a waste of time.
It is such.
This is arguably the most productive thing you could do right now.
Because a body that doesn't properly wind down tonight will be running on cortisol fumes tomorrow.
And a body that learns to release,
Learns the rhythm of genuine evening rest,
Becomes more capable,
More creative.
More present in everything it does.
So let this be enough.
Right here.
What now?
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
They're just your part of me.
Without judgement.
She's gorgeous.
Were you holding still?
Your jaw?
Your shoulders.
Your hands.
Your belly,
Pulled tight.
Just notice.
Your body has been trying to keep you safe and functional all day.
It has done its job.
And now we're going to continue.
Tent.
I don't know.
The shift is over.
You can cluck all you want.
Here is the most powerful thing you can do right now to begin to lower your cortisol levels.
A long slide It's time.
Not a deep breath in.
Exile.
When your outbreath is longer than your inbreath,
You activate your parasympathetic nervous system.
The Rest and Restore branch,
And you send a direct signal to your adrenal glands to ease off on the cortisol production.
This is not a meditation trick.
This is biology.
And we're going to use it very deliberately right now.
Breathing through your nose for a count of four.
One.
Two.
It's free.
Four.
Now sigh it out through your mouth.
Long,
Slow,
Deliberate,
For a count of eight.
One.
It's free Fall.
Alive Six.
Soon.
And again,
Breathe in.
One.
Three.
Four.
And sigh it out even longer this time.
Like you're releasing the entire weight of the day through that one exhale.
One.
Two.
It's free Fall.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
I.
.
.
One more time.
Breathe in.
It's free Fall and let it go.
Three.
Fall.
5.
Six.
Seven.
Now let your breath return to its own natural rhythm,
Slightly slower and deeper than before.
Noticing the subtle shift already happening in your body.
That slight heaviness arriving in your limbs.
That gentle blurring at the edges of your thoughts.
That's your cortisol beginning to fall.
That is your body receiving the signal.
It is evening.
It is safe.
This time.
Cortisol doesn't just exist in your bloodstream,
It lives in your body,
In the tension patterns you've been carrying since morning.
In the creased jaw,
And the raised shoulders,
And the tight belly,
And the hands that have been gripping all day.
We are going to move through your body now and unclench it deliberately,
Completely,
One part at a time.
Start with your hands.
Make a gentle fist.
Hold it for a moment.
And release.
Complete.
Can you feel the difference between grouping?
And letting go.
That's the movement we're making tonight.
From grip to release.
From braced to open.
Now you're drawn.
Clench it gently just for a moment and release.
Let your mouth hang slightly open.
It's your time to drop,
From the roof of your mouth.
Feel the muscles of your face completely smooth out.
Now your shoulders.
Draw them up towards your ears.
Hold.
And drop some.
All the way.
Further than feels natural.
Feel the space that opens up in your neck and chest and your shoulders stop trying to protect you.
The day is done.
You don't need protecting anymore tonight.
Now,
Your belly.
You've probably been holding it in all day.
The subtle,
Chronic bracing that so many of us carry without realising.
Let it go now.
Completely.
It should barely be soft and round.
And completely unguarded.
Your digestive system sighing with relief as the cortisol signal eases your body.
And your body remembers it is allowed to rest and digest.
You are safe.
You can be soft.
Now your whole body at once.
Take a breath in.
And as you breathe out,
Imagine every remaining pocket of tension draining downward through your body,
Through your legs,
Through your feet,
Dissolving into the surface beneath you.
Breathe in again.
And as you breathe out.
.
.
Feel yourself sinking a little deeper.
Never heavier.
A little more completely.
At rest.
Your cortisol is falling.
Everybody is receiving the signal.
The evening has arrived.
Not just on the clock.
Put in.
Yourselves.
And now I want to offer you something that biology alone cannot provide.
Because here what cortisol actually is.
Underneath the hormones and the neuroscience.
It is the chemical signature of a body that doesn't feel safe.
A body that is bracing against uncertainty.
A body that believes,
On some level,
That it is separate.
And that has to manage everything alone.
And no amount of breathing or muscle release will fully address that.
Love at the deepest level.
The underlying belief.
You are now separate.
You're part of the whole fabric of the universe.
You are a piece of sauce itself.
So you are not managing this alive.
Whatever you're carrying,
The financial worry,
The relationship strain,
The health concern,
The exhaustion of being responsible for so many and so much.
You're not the only intelligence working on us.
There is a love and a wisdom that holds the complete picture of your life.
That sees every thread of this tapestry.
That has been quietly orchestrating resolutions,
And openings,
And solutions,
And moments of grace through every season of your life,
Including this one.
Your job tonight is not to solve anything.
Not to figure anything out.
Not to lie here running through your to-do list.
Our job is simply.
.
.
To have faith.
Relax.
And to receive.
To receive rest.
To save peace.
To receive the care of something far greater than your cortisol-flooded nervous system trying to hold it all together.
Feel that presence now.
Whatever you call it.
God.
Love.
The universe.
Your heart is still.
Feel it.
Trust it.
Right here.
Right now.
The warmth that never left you,
Even in your most overwhelmed moments.
Let it hold you.
To not.
And tomorrow.
Let it hold all the things that you cannot control.
And let yourself.
Tonight.
Be held.
And now.
.
.
Woodsville.
To seal this evening's release and to enter with your body and your soul alone right now.
Receive these words softly.
Let them worship you.
Lack of permission slip.
The day is done.
I lay it down,
The day is done I release you into the night.
My cortisol is falling now.
My body finds the light.
By unclenching every part of me.
My jaw,
My hands,
My heart.
The holding that I carried all day.
Our journey falls apart.
I am not managing this alone.
I love all of you.
While I sleep,
The answers fall.
The morning will be clear.
My body knows how to restore.
Our cells know how to heal.
I surrender to this evening now.
And trust what I can feel.
He's safe.
It is safe.
The day has done its part.
I receive the gift of rest tonight.
And peace returns to my heart.
And so it is.
It is done.
It is done.
It is done.
Feel the quality of your body right now.
Compared to when you arrived.
The jaw's softer.
Your shoulders lower.
The Billy Unclenched.
The breath slower and deeper and more like the breath of someone who was genuinely let go.
This is your body's natural movement state.
This is what it was always designed to feel.
Like at the end of the day.
If we give it the right signals.
We start flooding it with cortisol spiking screens and unfinished mental groups and the pressure to keep up.
And keep being productive.
Not until the moment we expect to fall asleep.
You can create this rhythm every evening.
It doesn't require hours.
It requires intention.
The willingness to tell your body.
Outlives through breath and muscles and stillness that the day is done.
Because your body believes what you show us.
Not just what you tell us.
And tonight you showed us something important.
You are safe.
You are held.
But there is love managing the night that is far more capable.
In your worry and your gruesome.
So sleep well.
It is safe.
It is safe.
The day is done.
And so it is.
