As you get comfortable,
Start becoming aware of your breath.
And as you breathe in,
Start to notice where you feel this breath.
And as you take another breath,
Start to also notice how this breath makes you feel.
Breathing into all the areas.
Into your stomach.
Into your ribs.
Into the sides of your ribs.
Breathing into your upper chest.
And even your upper back.
And if you want to take a big breath,
Feeling your abdomen,
Ribs,
Chest,
All the way up.
And then sighing out.
Take another one of those big breaths,
Filling up the stomach,
The diaphragm.
The chest.
Holding it at the top.
And then sighing it out.
That's right.
And take another big breath,
Really feeling the breath stretch.
Stretch out all the tension.
And then filling up your stomach,
Ribs,
And chest.
And only when you've filled up your body with that air,
Sigh it out.
Releasing all the tension and relaxing.
Returning your breath to its normal rhythm.
Focusing now on your nostrils.
Notice the air in your nostrils.
Gradually make the air softer and gentler.
And as you're breathing,
Become soft and gentle.
You start to notice the relaxation beginning at your forehead.
Relaxing your forehead between your eyes.
And then relaxing your eyebrows.
And then you feel that relaxation washing over the rest of your forehead.
And behind your eyes.
Relax your cheeks.
Your jaw.
Even relax your lips.
And your teeth.
If you need to move your jaw to know that it is fully relaxed,
Then do so.
Feel the relaxation moving from your jaw down your neck.
Really notice as each muscle relaxes in your neck.
And your nose.
And your neck and face get soft.
So soft it feels like they're just melting into the pillow.
And then notice the relaxation at the front of your neck.
And just above your collarbones.
Focus on that area just above your collarbones and notice it relaxing.
And then take your awareness to the top of your shoulders and the back of your neck.
Allow that to relax.
Allowing each exhale to drop your shoulders down further.
Melting any tension like warm honey.
Just melting away.
Or maybe if you prefer the imagery of steam.
As you exhale the tension disappears like steam coming off dewy grass in the morning.
Notice it lifting or melting.
And that relaxation spreads down the back of your shoulders.
To the top of your back.
Maybe give your shoulders a little wiggle just to make sure they're relaxed.
And again at the top of your back.
On each exhale notice the muscles melting.
And the tension lifting.
Until your shoulders feel totally relaxed.
And then take your awareness to the top of your arms and the front of your chest.
Feeling the breath in your chest.
Expanding and relaxing.
Any tension lifting.
Allowing the muscles to melt down.
Releasing and relaxing.
And now in your own time allow the relaxation to continue melting down your body.
On each breath you feel the relaxation melting down your arms.
And the rest of your chest and back.
Down your stomach.
And imagine the tension evaporating out of your muscles.
Like the first sunlight in the morning.
Lifting the dew off your shoulders.
Or the dew off the grass.
Just lifting and evaporating.
As you melt further and further into the bed.
Relaxing your stomach.
And your hips.
And your buttocks.
And your legs.
Just take your time.
To allow the feeling of melting into the bed.
Continue.
Until all the tension.
Has evaporated and melted off you.
Feeling that relaxation all the way down to your toes.
It's like it's pouring off the edge of your toes.
Feeling almost at one with the bed.
So relaxed.
Everything's totally released.
And totally soft.
Continue breathing.
And relaxing.
And releasing.
And as the music comes to a close.
You'll feel yourself drift off.
Into the most peaceful,
Refreshing sleep.
