Taking a few moments to adjust yourself and finding a comfortable position,
Either seated or lying down,
And adjusting your body,
Shifting your weight from side to side,
Allowing your weight to be evenly distributed,
No pressure on your joints,
Your hips,
Your shoulders.
And closing your eyes,
Taking several deep breaths in through your abdomen and slowly extending your exhale.
As you begin to relax,
There might be areas of tension that you notice,
Muscles or joints that are drawing your attention in.
Using your breath as a tool,
Breathing in and imagining that you're creating space and openness in your muscles or joints,
And slowly exhaling out,
Imagining that that tension is exiting,
Melting away with each out-breath.
Breathing in,
Creating space,
Exhaling,
Releasing,
Gently scanning through your body,
Breathing into areas that you need to.
Similarly,
There might be thoughts and worries that enter your mind,
And just like the tension in your muscles,
Using your breath to create space in your mind.
And as you exhale,
Gently just releasing that thought,
Allowing it to pass through.
It might be helpful to imagine that your mind is like a sky.
There will be thoughts,
Storms,
Weather passing through,
Just using your out-breath to release them,
Allowing them to pass through.
Eventually they disappear or they fade into the distance.
What was once a loud concern in your mind just fades away into smoke,
Eventually disappearing.
As you relax more and more,
Bringing your attention inward and imagining that you're walking down a path through a lush forest,
Feeling every step on the gentle moss beneath your feet,
Taking in all of the sights,
The sounds,
Smells around you,
And all the sensations.
There are trees,
Grass,
Ground cover,
You hear the soothing sounds of birds chirping in the distance,
And the wind as it gently blows through the leaves.
You smell the richness of the forest,
The flowers in the distance,
And the vegetation creating new growth.
As you look around,
You see gaps in the trees,
And the sun is shining through.
You see the cloudless blue sky,
And as you look down,
You see the sun is dispersed.
There's an intricate pattern of light and shadow on the forest floor.
And with each breath you take,
You feel a deeper sense of peace and relaxation,
Taking in all the sights and sounds.
And soon you come to a clearing in the woods.
You notice several flat rocks in the clearing,
Surrounded by soft moss.
There's a small stream running along the rocks,
Allowing yourself to lie back on one of the rocks or on the cushiony moss,
Putting your feet in the cool water,
Feeling the warm sun on your skin and a gentle light breeze.
The sparkling clear water rushes around you,
Leaves passing by in the stream,
Placing your hand in the water and lifting it up,
Watching the water just gently fall back down.
With each breath,
Feeling a deeper sense of relaxation.
Removing your feet from the water and placing them on the rock.
Just bathe in the warm sun and feel as if you're floating,
Relaxing deeper and deeper in the space.
Noticing any patterns that you see in the leaves,
In the sky.
Just being in the safe place,
Allowing yourself to let go of any concerns or worries that you feel.
With each breath in,
You feel more calm,
More relaxed.
If you'd like,
You can return at any time,
In the safe space,
You'll feel a deeper sense of relaxation each time you enter it.
The gentle breeze just calmly takes away any worries and the forest continues to relax you.
With each moment,
You feel yourself more relaxed and more calm.
And when you're ready to fall asleep,
Just gently releasing this image from your mind,
Allowing it to fade away like your thoughts as you drift into deeper and deeper sense of relaxation.
The sounds of the forest gently fade away.
The sights around you slowly also begin to fade and even the sense of the forest floor beneath you,
It also fades away as you enter a deeper and deeper state of relaxation.
Allowing the state of relaxation to overcome you and drift gently into an unconscious state.
