Let's begin this practice by bringing our attention and awareness to our body away from all the business and activity of the day so far.
Simply connecting in with the body aware of the physical sensations,
The weight of your body on the chair and your feet on the floor,
The warmth and coolness of your body,
The sounds of your clothes against your skin,
Maybe some tingling,
The odd ache,
Maybe a little bit of pain somewhere,
But also some tightness and tension.
What we can do is work around our body firstly noticing those areas of tightness and tension,
But then seeing what we can do to release each of those areas.
So I'd like you to bring your attention to the area around your eyes,
Including your eyes and just before you start releasing and letting go of what you find there,
Just using a bit of curiosity to notice what's already there.
Around our eyes we often put them under pressure especially if we're looking at screens during the day,
I've got a lot of tension there so exploring what's already going on and then starting to let go and release,
Almost allowing your eyes to return to a natural relaxed state as well as the muscles around your eyes.
Then moving to the muscles of the face,
First checking in,
Seeing what's going on including your jaw,
Is there any tightness there?
And then relaxing and releasing.
Then moving to your neck and shoulders all the way down to your shoulder blades,
First seeing what tightness and tension is already held there.
These are areas that we often hold a lot of stress.
And then seeing what you can do to let go,
Release and relax,
Consciously softening those areas.
And if it helps,
Using your out breath to support with that release,
Almost with a sigh of relief as you exhale.
Then extending that,
Checking in and releasing down the rest of your back.
And bringing your attention to the area around your throat,
Again seeing what's already being held and then seeing what you can do to consciously relax and release any held tension.
Then moving down to your chest and belly,
Noticing then releasing.
And lastly with your arms and legs,
Noting any held muscle and tension and seeing what you can do to consciously release.
Aware of the whole of your body,
Maybe noting that there are areas of softening and relaxing,
But also some areas where there's still some residual tension.
Aware that your body is naturally breathing and bringing your attention to the sensations of the breath.
Aware of the cool air entering your nose,
Filling up your lungs,
Bringing energy into your body.
And seeing if you can follow the changing sensations of breathing with your attention without wandering off in thought if you can.
Only this in-breath and only this out-breath.
And as you follow your natural breath,
Seeing if you can,
Find a little bit of peace and calm as you allow any business and agitation to settle.
Mind like a clear blue sky,
And feelings and emotions like the surface of a still lake.
Feeling peaceful,
Calm and relaxed.
