Please be seated in a comfortable position where you can maintain good posture.
Rest your hands on your lap.
If you are familiar with mudras then you may choose a mudra.
If this means nothing to you then simply have your hands resting on your lap.
Close the eyes and relax your face.
Just take a few natural breaths in and out of your nose.
Just noticing how you're feeling in this moment.
Any feelings that may be held in your body.
Maybe a tightness in your chest,
Your neck,
Or your shoulders.
Tightness across the brow of your face.
Just any sense of strain or discomfort in your body.
Just being aware of it.
Try not to place any judgment on it.
Just the awareness of how your body feels right now in this moment.
Allow your breath now to deepen slightly.
Try to inhale a little more deeply with a little more length and soften the exhalation.
As you do this,
Feel your posture rise,
Your shoulders drop down and relax.
Perhaps there's just a slight pull in at the navel center.
As you deepen your breath,
Remaining relaxed,
We deepen the breath further by visualizing the breath moving in the space of the abdomen.
As we're inhaling,
Feeling that breath into the abdomen and the out-breath,
Feeling the abdomen soften and relax.
On the in-breath,
Abdomen is expanding,
Out-breath,
Abdomen relaxing.
And again,
Deeply inhale,
Softly exhale.
Continue to breathe into the abdomen,
But now draw it up into the rib cage,
Feeling it in the chest and the heart center.
Exhaling and allowing the breath to move down from the heart center and to the belly.
To begin to feel this wave-like motion,
Breathing into the abdomen,
Allowing it to swell and lift into your heart.
Exhale,
Softening and reversing the pathway.
One more time in this fashion,
Inhaling,
Exhale.
Now we create a really full breath,
Inhaling through the abdomen,
Up into the chest.
Feel as if the breath now moves all the way up through your forehead and to the crown of your head.
A full breath and as you exhale,
This feeling of the breath exhaling and moving down the back of the body,
Relaxing the shoulders all the way back down.
It's like you're moving this wave of breath into the abdomen,
The chest all the way up to the crown of the head and the out-breath is a slow,
Sleddy trickle of breath,
Relaxing the whole of your body so that you begin to feel completely calm.
Then again inhale,
Whole body breath,
Nourishing,
Calming,
Exhaling.
I invite you now on the next breath in to recite a mantra.
So as we inhale,
Repeating I am mentally in your head I am.
On the exhale,
Safe.
As we breathe in,
Repeating I am.
On the exhale,
Safe.
Once more,
Inhale I am.
Exhale,
Safe.
Now just come back to your natural breath pattern.
Remaining eyes closed,
Just checking in there how you feel.
Hopefully feeling a slight shift.
Just keep relaxed.
And just knowing that you can come back to this mantra whenever you feel shaken or anxious.
Or fearful.
It's as simple as following your breath.
I am safe.
In your own time,
Opening your eyes.
Just remain still for a few moments.
I hope you enjoyed this very basic relaxation and mantra meditation.
