We'll begin by taking a deep breath in,
Breathing out,
And letting it all settle.
And then go ahead and close down your eyes,
Or you can just stay here with me.
And from here,
Begin to connect to the breath,
Allowing for yourself to become aware of what it feels like to breathe in and what it feels like to breathe out.
Not needing to fix or change anything about the breath,
But just approaching it with curiosity.
What does it feel like to have the air enter into the nostrils?
What does it feel like to have the air exit through the mouth?
Start to notice in the body how the air enters in.
Start to tune into the chest,
With each breath feeling the rise and the fall.
Feeling the rise of the chest with the inhale and the fall of the chest with the exhale.
And then start to draw that awareness into the belly,
With each inhale feeling a full expansion of the belly.
And with each exhale,
Allowing for that stomach to come back to center.
Feeling the expansion and the return.
The full expansion of the belly and the return.
And as you continue to connect to the breath,
Start to become aware of the entire body,
From the top of the head down to the feet.
Just noticing how the air filters through the body.
Feeling a pressing of the body towards the walls with each breath.
Giving yourself permission to take up space.
And then letting everything out as you come back to center.
Feeling that widening of the body.
And with the exhale,
Return to center.
And now let the breath settle.
And start to tune into each part of the body.
And as we take this moment to pause,
We'll take a moment to connect to each part.
Noticing what feels a little tense,
A little tight,
A little in need of our attention today.
Not using this as a moment to fix or change anything,
But just drawing awareness to each part.
We'll begin with the crown of the head.
Drawing awareness to the forehead.
To the space between the eyes.
To the eyes,
The ears,
The nose,
The mouth.
And then draw that awareness into the jaw,
Just letting it drop.
Noting the sensation in the tongue.
The teeth.
The roof of the mouth.
And then draw all that awareness down through the throat.
Almost like drinking warm honey tea.
Noting the muscles on the side of the neck and front and back.
And then start to drop that awareness into the shoulders,
Just letting them drop.
And then trace that awareness down through the upper arms.
The elbows.
The forearms.
The wrists.
And then through the shoulders.
Each one of the fingers.
Letting the arms feel light.
And then draw that awareness to the space between the shoulders.
And then drop that awareness all the way down through the upper back.
The middle back.
The lower back.
And then dropping that awareness down through the shoulders.
Wrapping around and becoming aware of the stomach.
And then dropping that awareness into the seat.
Through the hips.
Into the pelvis.
Through the upper legs.
Into the upper legs through the knees.
To the shins.
The calves.
The ankles.
Into the feet.
Through each one of the toes.
And for a moment,
Just start to scan from the top of the head down through each part of the body,
Noticing each part of you.
Becoming keenly aware of any parts that need you.
Any parts of you that are calling out for attention.
Any parts that are tight or tense.
And without fixing or changing them,
Just let them be.
And then from here,
Start to draw that awareness into the chest.
Feeling first into the muscles of the chest.
Noticing the physical sensation.
Marking if there's any tightness.
Noticing if there's any tightness there.
Seeing what it might feel like to let go.
And then begin to connect to the heart.
And in connection to the heart,
Begin to be present to any emotions that might be there today.
And just as with the body,
Removing any judgment and just letting them be right here,
Right now.
And as you start to feel into the emotional experience of this moment,
Begin to label what's present.
Is there fear?
Is there anxiety?
Is there joy?
Perhaps sadness or anxiety.
Knowing that whatever is there is not wrong,
Is not bad,
Does not need to be pushed away.
But just give yourself a moment to be with it.
As you start to feel into the emotion that is calling out for you the loudest,
Start to allow for your mind to race.
Giving it permission to tell the story connected to that emotion.
Maybe it's a memory of what's happened.
Or a thought of what could be.
But for the next few moments,
Just give yourself permission to just be in thought.
To let your mind tell the story and to run wild.
And as that story starts to run,
You might start to notice physical sensations starting to stir within the body.
A reaction to the thought and connection to the emotion.
Start to tune into that physical sensation.
Noting what's showing up for you in this moment.
Maybe it's a tightening of the chest,
A racing of the heart,
A sinking in the stomach.
Whatever it is,
Give yourself permission to just let it be there.
Giving full permission for your body to just react to the emotion.
To react to the thoughts.
During this moment,
There may be discomfort.
Start to note your impulse.
Perhaps it's a desire to run,
To shake it off,
To move away from what's happening.
Whatever is coming up for you,
But give yourself permission to pause.
To feel,
To be.
And just take the next 90 seconds.
And if you find yourself trying to pull away from that feeling,
To change it,
Let yourself just be.
Knowing it's safe,
That you will be okay.
And now begin to check in with the body once more.
Noting that place of tension,
Of tightness.
That part of you that was calling out for your attention.
And just see what has shifted,
What's changed.
And just giving yourself permission to just let whatever you've been holding on to drop.
Almost as if it could settle into the floor beneath you like sand.
And as you feel into that relaxation,
Start to let those thoughts drop.
Almost as if you could watch the thoughts filter into the sand along with that feeling.
And then connect back to that emotion.
And just let that drop.
And as you could look down and start to see those thoughts,
Feelings,
Emotions,
Physical sensations beneath you,
Watch them sink into the sand,
Out of sight.
And then come back to this moment,
Feeling the weight lifted.
Feel into that sense of lightness.
And once more,
Begin to connect to the body.
Starting to note if there's any places that still are holding on.
Any part of you that feels tense or tight.
And start to draw your awareness to that.
To those parts.
If there's a tightness in the shoulders,
Bring your entire awareness and attention there and let it drop.
If there's a tightness in the chest,
Bring your awareness and attention there and let it drop.
If that tightness is anywhere else,
Just draw the entire attention and awareness to that part of you and let it drop.
And then from here,
Just allow for yourself to feel into the lightness that exists in the absence of that tension.
The openness that it creates.
The stillness that is present in this pause.
And if you feel into that openness,
That lightness,
The ease that exists in this moment,
Begin to bring to mind a simple question.
A question of,
What do I need?
Right here,
Right now.
What is it that you need?
As you give yourself permission to pause,
What comes up for you?
What is missing?
What is missing?
Give yourself a few moments to just think on that.
To let the answer organically come to you with no need to judge it.
And as you allow for that answer to become clear,
Start to imagine yourself giving yourself the gift of meeting that need.
What would that look like?
How would you put that into action in your life?
If the need that exists is stillness,
Of course,
Quiet,
How can you give yourself that?
If the need is connection,
Where can you find that?
If the need is distance from whatever is harming or bothering you,
How can you find that?
But for a moment,
Allow for yourself to recognize your needs and play with the idea of finding your way to having that need be met.
And as that answer becomes clear,
Start to imagine that happening.
Letting your mind just run wild with that image of giving yourself this gift.
Of meeting your needs,
Of taking care of you.
What would that feel like?
What would that look like?
What in your life would change?
And with that clarity,
Begin to make a promise to yourself to allow for yourself to go after that,
To take care of you,
To give yourself the gift of care,
To continue to come back to this moment,
To allow for yourself to pause,
To be still,
To come home.
And as you commit to that,
Start to return to this moment.
Returning back to the breath.
And as you breathe in,
Begin to become aware of the smells within the room.
With a gentle swallow or running of your tongue,
Of your lips,
Begin to become aware of the taste.
Begin to open your ears and allow for yourself to become aware of the sounds within the room.
The sound of my voice,
The music,
The ambient noises within the room and outside.
Allow for yourself to bring your hands together in front of you.
And as you rub them together,
Begin to experience touch.
And then finally,
When it becomes safe and it feels right to do so,
Go ahead and flutter your eyes open.
Taking the space around you and enter back into this moment.
Connected and calm.
As you go forward this week,
Continue to take this with you.
Remembering that you can always return to this moment.
You can always give yourself permission to pause,
To feel into the physical sensations and to let them drop.
To ask yourself that simple question of what it is that you need.
And to give yourself the gift of having that need be met all through the permission to pause.
We'll end today as we began with a deep breath in and breathing out.
Let it all settle.
Now,
Go take care of yourself and I will see you next week.
