Just finding that seated space that feels comfortable and take any wiggles out of your body,
Shogging your shoulders,
Whatever you need to.
Just arrive in your seat,
Your breathing spot,
And feel connected to the space that you're sitting in on.
Empty out all your air,
Wherever you are in your breath cycle,
And just take a breath in through your nose,
Fill up,
And sigh it out through your mouth.
And then bring your hands to your jaw,
So your masseter muscle,
You know,
Just underneath your cheekbone.
So fairly,
It's a very powerful muscle.
Just start to move your fingers around that area gently and notice any subtle areas of tension or tightness.
And maybe there's nothing to notice,
Or maybe it's very subtle,
Maybe it's very obvious.
Just gently moving your fingers around,
Getting acquainted with this area of your face.
Your masseter muscle helps to power your mandibular joint.
You do that a few times opening your mouth,
You probably feel that joint working,
And maybe noticing a different area of tension as you do that.
And then once you find a spot for your fingers to land,
Start to breathe in and out through your nose.
Maybe moving your fingers.
And then on the inhale,
Just applying very gentle pressure,
And on the exhale,
Breathing out through your mouth.
Breathe in through the nose,
A little bit of pressure,
Out through the mouth,
In through the nose,
Out through the mouth.
Do that two more times,
Breathing in,
Exhale,
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Begin to stroke your muscle,
Your cheek,
Maybe from just underneath the cheekbone down toward the jawline.
Just stroking that muscle all the way down your face.
And on this next time,
Resting your fingers on your cheekbone,
Breathing in through your nose,
And then exhale through the mouth and gently stroke down toward the jawline.
Breathe in through the nose,
Exhale stroke down,
Out through the mouth.
Keeping that going,
Breathing in,
Maybe a little bit of pressure just under the cheekbone,
And then exhale out through the mouth,
Stroke that muscle down towards your jawline.
Breathe in,
Exhale.
I'll do that three more times.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Breathe in,
Exhale.
And just rest your fingers on your jaw,
Just underneath that muscle for a moment,
Noticing any shifts in how your jaw feels.
And then bring your hands to your belly,
Maybe one hand just below your rib cage and the other hand below that.
And let your arms be comfortable,
So shoulders melting away from your ears,
Maybe sitting up a little bit taller,
Your elbows pressing down toward the earth.
And just start to notice your breathing pattern in this shape.
Breathing in and out through the nose.
And observing whether you're holding any tension in your gut here,
In your belly,
Any point around your hands or below your hands,
And seeing if you can just soften those muscles,
Abdominal tissues a little bit.
And shifting your awareness to that space just below your rib cage.
So knowing that your diaphragm forms a nice dome shape,
Tucking right up into your rib cage.
But knowing that on the inhale,
That dome starts to press down the other way.
So inhale,
Drawing your diaphragm down towards your belly.
And on the exhale,
Your diaphragm tucks back up into your rib cage.
And of course,
Most of the time we're doing this involuntarily,
But as we start to notice the belly here,
We can bring a little bit of exaggeration to that diaphragm breathing.
So on the inhale,
Press your belly out toward your hands.
And on the exhale,
Just gently letting your belly move away from your hands towards your spine.
So just a little bit of contraction in these muscles that wrap around your torso like a corset.
Breathing in,
Belly presses out.
Breathing out,
Belly relaxes towards your spine.
We've done this a few times in our practice.
So just bringing your focus to diaphragm breath.
Breathing in and out through the nose.
Inhale,
Belly presses out toward your hands.
On the exhale,
Belly moves away from your hands towards your spine.
Just a very subtle contraction of the muscles directly underneath your hands here.
And as you deepen into this belly breath,
This diaphragm breathing,
Noticing if any points of tension around your gut soften just a little bit.
Breathing in,
Belly fills.
Breathing out,
Belly empties.
Keeping that going for three more rounds.
Inhale,
Belly presses out.
Exhale,
Belly pulls back.
And then one more time.
Inhale,
Belly fills.
Exhale,
Belly empties.
Release your hands from your belly and just allow one hand to rest on top of each other in your lap.
So your hands are forming a kind of cupping shape.
Let your shoulders relax.
Just observe how your belly,
Your breathing feels here.
And retaining a sense of the belly pressing out on the inhale.
And the belly moving back towards your spine on the exhale.
Start to shift that awareness down to your pelvic bowl,
Your pelvic floor muscles.
So just sitting right at the very,
Very bottom of your torso.
Just above your pubic bone.
Kind of tucked in between your pubic bone and your tailbone.
So forming a little bit.
I can't get my hand the right way.
I need to stand up so you can see.
Forming a little bit of a basket,
A bowl shape,
These muscles.
And on the inhale,
Those muscles press down towards your seat.
And on the exhale,
Just gently lifting back up towards your belly button.
So this is a really subtle movement.
You can either keep your focus on your hands or very gently start to bring your awareness to your perineum.
And maybe there's sensation there to observe.
Just a very slight movement or sensation.
Inhale,
Muscles press down toward the seat.
And on the exhale,
Muscles just soften slightly.
So this isn't a big movement.
It's really subtle.
But cultivating a sense of awareness of these muscles can help to relax them.
And just create,
Just fine tune that inner awareness of how the breath feeds the body.
Of how different parts of the body coordinate to support the breath.
And how bringing awareness to these different parts of the body,
A drishti if you like,
Can help to soften and slow the breath.
Just another tool.
To slow.
To soften.
To relax.
Just keeping that awareness going for a few more rounds of breath.
Inhale,
Muscles press down toward your seat.
Exhale,
Muscles relax.
Two more times.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
And then take one breath in here,
Counting for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Take one tiny more sip of air.
And then slowly sigh out through your mouth for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
And then just let your breath find its own rhythm.
And allow yourself to settle back into a pattern that feels easeful,
Comfortable.
And hopefully a little bit slower than at the beginning of practice.
Whenever you're ready.
Just letting any practice go.
And allowing yourself to return into space and time.
And whatever lies next.
