Welcome to this short practice that you can use any time throughout the day to help you de-stress,
To soften,
Maybe even to relax.
So making your way to a comfortable posture,
Maybe it's sitting,
Maybe it's lying down,
And gently closing your eyes.
If you're not comfortable with your eyes closed,
Just gaze softly downward or into the distance,
And softening the body,
Softening the face.
And if it helps you,
Maybe you squeeze up the face first,
Wrinkling the eyes,
The nose,
And the cheeks,
And then letting go,
Letting the face soften,
Letting the face relax.
Maybe squeezing the hands really tightly for a moment,
Holding,
Crunching them up into fists,
Holding them tightly,
And then softening,
Letting go,
Inviting the hands to relax,
Inviting the shoulders to soften,
The arms to be relaxed,
The legs and the feet soft,
Relaxed,
Just inviting any tension in your body to melt away,
As if it's ice melting into water.
And it's okay if there's still some tension there,
You're just inviting the body to soften as much as possible.
As you bring your awareness now to the breath,
Noticing that gentle,
Rhythmic presence of your body breathing,
And noticing where your breath is most obvious,
The belly,
The chest,
The throat,
Or the tip of the nose,
Or maybe even the sides of the ribcage,
The back of the ribcage,
Where can you feel your breath?
And noticing if your breath is deep,
Shallow,
Fast,
Slow,
What is the quality of your breath right now?
And then beginning to slow down the breath and to lengthen the breath,
Lengthening it out as much as you comfortably can,
So that your breath gets deeper and deeper,
And that gap between the in-breath and the out-breath becomes longer and longer.
And then beginning to invite the breath into your belly,
So that the belly expands as you breathe in,
And falls as you breathe out.
If it's helpful,
You can place a hand on your heart and a hand on your belly,
And use the hand on your belly to guide the belly in and out,
So that the belly rises as you breathe in,
And gently falls as you breathe out.
And there's still movement around the chest and the ribcage too,
So you're breathing both your chest and your belly,
But just focusing in on that gentle rising and falling of the belly.
And then we're going to bring in some counting.
So we're going to count four as we breathe in,
And six as we breathe out.
As we go on,
Maybe you'll find you need to make this longer or shorter,
So adjust it to suit your needs.
If you feel like you're getting agitated,
Then make the count shorter.
We're just clarifying that the out-breath is a little,
Or a lot,
Longer than the in-breath.
So breathing out together.
And then breathing in.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathing out.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathing in.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathing out.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathing in.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathing out.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
And continuing on your own,
Continuing to count.
If you need to make it longer,
Make it longer.
If you need to make it shorter,
Make it shorter.
Adjusting the practice to suit your needs.
But just clarifying that the out-breath is a little bit longer than the in-breath.
And if possible,
You're still breathing in and out of the belly.
But if belly breathing is really confusing to you,
Then just breathe deeply,
Slow down the breath.
Softening the face.
Softening the shoulders,
The arms,
The legs.
Softening the belly and the chest.
Just inviting the body to soften,
To melt,
To let go.
Just continuing on your own to take these deep,
Expansive breaths.
In and out of the belly.
Belly rising and falling.
And the out-breath a little bit longer than the in-breath.
These deep,
Expansive breaths.
Forehead soft.
Softening around the eyes.
Jaw soft,
Relaxed.
Shoulders soft.
Arms and legs soft.
Hands and feet soft.
Belly and chest soft.
Extending of the breath and just letting your breath settle back to its natural rhythm.
All on its own.
Because the body knows how to breathe all on its own.
You don't do,
It just breathes.
It's that gentle presence of your breath.
And noticing if the breath now is different to how it was at the beginning of the practice.
Or if it's the same.
Noticing if you feel different to how you felt at the beginning of the practice.
Or if you feel the same.
Without judgment,
Just being curious.
Noticing,
Observing.
Checking in with your inner being.
And then feeling free to remain here.
Connecting with your body,
Connecting with your breath for as long as you wish.
Otherwise,
Whenever you're ready.
Gently opening your eyes,
Coming back to your surroundings.
And slowly,
Slowly going back to the rest of your day.
