When you're ready,
Come to find a nice comfortable place where you can rest for a little while.
And as you make your way into a nice comfortable seat,
We're going to start by taking our attention into the body as you start to bring your palms to your opposite forearms and start to feel into the bones of the forearms,
Giving your forearms gentle squeezes.
Letting those gentle squeezes start to bring your mind out of thought and into your body.
Letting your hands move up your arms to your upper arms,
Squeezing those upper arm bones.
The bones are the most grounded part of you.
Just take a moment to continue to journey along the arms,
Squeezing gently with tender touch.
And then letting your fingertips come down to the thigh.
Same thing here,
Gentle squeeze of the thighs,
Feeling your bones,
Feeling your physical body.
It only takes about 30 to 90 seconds of this gentle touch to let the body start to come more into the present moment,
To let your awareness move out of thought and into sensation.
So just spend a moment longer with your bones,
With your body.
And then when you're ready,
You can let the hands rest,
Let your body rest,
Your eyes close as you start to settle back into your seat.
Starting to notice all the parts of your body that are connected to the chair,
Feeling your back supported,
Your hips growing heavy.
Letting your body rest into the support that's available to you.
And as your body rests now,
I'm going to invite you to bring your attention to the very tip of your nose as you start to sense into your breath.
Feeling your inhale as it moves in through the tip of your nose and sensing your exhale as it passes out.
Without forcing,
Without controlling the breath,
Can you just let the breath flow as you watch the breath flowing in and you watch the breath flowing out.
And starting to notice the quality of the air in the room as it passes through the tip of your nose.
Maybe sensing a gentle coolness on your inhale,
A subtle warmth on your exhale.
What do you notice about your breath?
Continue to stay with the breath at the tip of the nose for just a moment longer.
And then now as you inhale,
I'm going to get you to visualize the breath as you inhale through the nose,
Feel the breath entering your brain.
As you exhale,
Feel the breath clearing through the brain and exiting out the back of your head.
Inhale inviting fresh breath,
Fresh energy to enter the brain.
Now let it pass on through the brain,
Let it wash through the brain and exit out the back of the head.
With each round of breath,
We are clearing the brain.
We are allowing anything that we've picked up from others to be washed away.
Anything that's not yours,
Any form of overthinking,
Hyper awareness,
Any sharpness,
Any anxiety.
With each round of breath,
Welcome that fresh energy into the brain.
With each exhale,
Let it be washed away and exit through the back of your head.
Inhale invite it in,
Exhale wash it away.
Body is resting,
Breath is soft.
We're letting the breath wash our awareness through the brain.
Just do a few more rounds.
Inhale inviting fresh energy,
Fresh breath.
Exhale let it wash through the brain and out the back of your head.
Now that we've cleansed and cleared the brain,
Allow your attention to return to the tip of your nose.
As you once again,
Just watch your inhale and watch your exhale.
Now that we've cleared the brain,
Now that we've cleared the mind a little,
We're going to give the mind a job to do as I'm going to invite you to start to count your breath.
Starting at 50,
Allow yourself to count down.
With each inhale,
You say inhale 50.
With each exhale,
Exhale 50.
Inhale 49.
Exhale 49.
Inhale 48.
Exhale 48.
Just count your breath.
Continue to count down for as long as you can.
Don't worry if you get lost in thought.
Just come back to whatever number you last remember and continue to count your breath.
You can't get it wrong.
Don't worry if the mind is active.
Give your mind the job to do of counting your breaths.
I'm minding the time.
There's nowhere else you need to be.
Nothing else you have to do but be here with your breath.
Inhale,
Exhale.
If the mind has wandered,
Bring it back to the breath.
Whatever number you last remember,
Count down.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Watch your breath as it flows.
Stay with this countdown for a moment longer.
And then when you're ready,
You can release the technique,
Release the practice and just notice how you feel.
Resting into the support of the chair beneath you.
Noticing how the body feels,
Noticing how the mind feels.
And seeing now if the mind feels like it's moving a little slower.
The mind feels a little calmer.
Noticing how your body feels.
Noticing the effect of that practice on the whole of who you are.
And then when you're ready,
You can come back to the hands on the thighs,
Squeezing the thighs,
Gentle touch.
Letting the tactile sensation come back online.
And allowing your hands to come to opposite arms as you gently squeeze.
Letting them cross as you give yourself a very gentle hug here to end our practice.
Just sending your body,
Sending yourself so much gratitude for showing up for yourself today.
We're taking the time to explore the breath,
To give the mind space where it can calm and slow,
Where we can rest into the sensations of the body.
When you're ready,
You can gently start to open the eyes and make your way back into your day.
