So just inviting,
Inviting the whole of you to take time for yourself just now.
Coming into a comfy position so you can relax.
And it may be lying on your back or your side or if you're listening to this at another time,
You can even do it in a chair,
On the sofa,
Just making sure that you feel really supported and comfy.
Blanket over the body can be really lovely.
And so just in these first moments,
Inviting the breath,
The awareness,
To hold hands and maybe to gently dance slowly and with lightness around the body.
And as we tune in to the dance,
To the song of what it is to be in this very moment,
Maybe there are other songs that you can hear,
Other sounds.
Some are far away and some are close by.
The cadence of different rhythms and textures.
A lovely sense of the open bowl of the blue sky arching overhead,
Allowing everything.
What is it like to be like the sky?
Allowing space for everything.
And so bringing the awareness into the soft,
Deep,
Dark warmth of the body.
Noticing where it feels as if it's merging with the floor,
The mat,
Wherever it is that you're lying.
Notice if there's still stories weaving through the fabric of the body,
Keeping places tight and holding on.
And that's okay,
That's cadence,
Dance,
Stories,
Music,
Sounds,
Songs from other times.
And so this beautiful,
Rich tapestry of the present is informed and held by times gone by and what may come.
So that dance of the awareness and the breath,
Very light,
Weaving in and around the body.
The dance of the sounds,
The songs outside and inside.
And you may be listening to this again and it's quite noisy.
And know that underneath all of the layers,
All of the songs,
There's silence.
And so finding that calm and stillness within,
Maybe dialing in to the subtler experience of the present.
Becoming aware of your navel,
Maybe feeling the breath flowing in and out from there.
The warmth of your belly.
And just imagining a dance of the breath and awareness spiralling gently around the body.
You're very welcome to follow my words,
To follow my song.
Or float off and be somewhere else,
Another dance,
Listening to a different tune.
Or maybe the awareness is able to hold everything,
Just like the bowl of the blue overarching sky.
And what is it like to allow space for everything?
Awareness of the navel,
The ebb and flow of the breath in and out.
Letting that awareness start to expand evenly in every direction.
Awareness of the pelvis and the hips.
Awareness of the waist,
The very edges of the waist.
Awareness of the lower back,
The back of the waist.
Coming up into the back of the ribs,
The spine,
Wrapping around the ribs,
The belly,
The upper abdomen,
The chest.
Just gently with every ebb and flow,
Expanding the awareness outwards and back in.
It's like a soft flowing in and out of the navel.
What's it like to be aware of the pelvic floor and right up underneath the collarbones and in your armpits?
Maybe there's colours associated with this gentle ebb and flow,
This pulse,
This rhythm.
Becoming aware of the navel,
Becoming aware of the centre of the pelvis,
The centre of the chest.
Becoming aware of the edges of the waist,
Becoming aware of the tailbone and the lower back.
Becoming aware of in between the shoulder blades and the left shoulder blade and the right.
Becoming aware of the left side of the chest and the right side of the chest.
Becoming aware of the armpits left and right,
The buttocks left and right,
The shoulders left and right,
The hips left and right.
Aware of the thighs,
Top of the thighs left and right,
The backs of the thighs,
The outer edges or sides of the thighs and the inner thighs.
Aware of the upper arms,
The back of the arms,
The tops and insides of the arms.
Aware of your knees,
Left knee and right knee,
Left elbow and right elbow,
Your forearms left and right,
Tops of the forearms and the inner sides,
The lower legs aware of your calf muscles and your shins.
Aware of your ankles left and right,
Aware of your wrists left and right,
Aware of the backs of the hands,
The back of the left hand,
The back of the right hand,
The palms,
The heels of the hands,
The base of the thumbs on the left hand and right hand,
All the way up into the tip.
The base of the index fingers on the hands to the tip,
The base of the middle finger to tip on both hands,
Ring fingers,
The base to the tip and the base of the baby finger all the way up to the tip on both hands.
Awareness of the little valleys in between the thumb and the index finger,
The index finger and the middle finger,
Middle finger and the ring finger,
Ring finger and the baby finger.
Awareness of your heels,
Awareness of the insteps,
The arches of the left foot and the right foot,
Awareness of the tops of the feet,
Awareness of the soles of the feet,
The heel pad,
The big toe pads,
The pads under the toes all the way along to the side of the baby toe.
Awareness of the toes,
The big toes from the base to the tip,
The second toes,
The third toes,
The fourth and the fifth toes.
Awareness of the toes and the fingers,
Awareness of the crown of the head,
The back of the head,
The sides,
The forehead,
Awareness of the forehead,
Awareness of the back of the neck,
Awareness of the back of the neck,
Awareness of the forehead,
The right eyebrow and the left,
The soft right temple,
Left temple,
Eyebrow centre,
The right eye and left eye,
The right eyelashes,
The left eyelashes.
Awareness of the nose,
The left cheek,
The right cheek,
The tip of the nose,
The left nostril,
The right nostril,
The left ear,
The right ear,
The left inner ear,
The right inner ear.
Coming down inside the whole of the mouth,
The upper inside of the mouth,
The tongue,
The teeth,
The upper lip,
The lower lip,
The right side of the jaw and the left side and the chin,
The throat.
Coming down the body into the centre of the chest and down back into the navel and just breathing in and out of the navel.
Out walking last week after the rain,
Beautiful round blobs of raindrops caught on the microscopic hairs of the water iris leaves fringing the pond and the park.
The tiny spiky ball of a horse chestnut falling from the tree.
So tiny that the stones of the tarmac on which it lies seem as big as boulders.
That moment of the day where the sunlight shines through the petals,
Through the leaves,
Showing networks,
Ropes,
Capillaries,
Rivers of structure,
Of life in every leaf,
In every petal.
Fabric of what it is to be.
Awareness of your own fabric,
Awareness of that wonderful weave of different stories,
Different songs throughout every present of your life into this present.
Like a shawl of care woven and wrapped around your shoulders.
Starting to breathe in and out with a little bit more depth and sound.
Mapping with curiosity the shape,
The pattern of touch and pressure of the lower side of your body to wherever you are laying right now.
Just noticing the lie of the land and sea of your body.
Maybe even externalising your awareness to emit other sounds,
Other songs,
That cadence of different textures.
Tuning in to sounds inside the room,
Extending that to sounds outside the room,
Outside the building.
Then coming back into the room itself,
Maybe aware of sounds of your own body,
Your own breath.
So beginning to move into a more awake state,
Bringing movements into fingers,
Into toes,
Maybe even to the face,
Running the tongue over the teeth.
For example,
If it feels like a lovely thing to do,
You can stretch the whole body out.
Just give yourself a really well deserved stretch into a more awake,
Alert,
Long,
Stretched out version of yourself.
If you're lying on your side already,
You can just simply move in a way that suits you.
Come in maybe to rest on your side.
If you're using an eye pillow,
Just taking it off before you do that,
Letting the light back in by increments.
This practice of deep relaxation here in Glasgow,
In the west of Scotland,
Is now done.
It is now over.
Thank you very much for listening.
