You So just take a moment now.
To settle in.
To a lazy.
.
.
Easy Relaxation.
Where you have nowhere to go.
And nothing.
To do.
Except to relax.
Taking a moment to make sure that you are warm.
Comfortable.
And undisturbed.
Giving yourself this gift.
Of space.
This gift.
This gift of relaxation.
Time to stop.
When you are ready I'd like to invite you now to close your eyes.
And for a moment or two to do nothing.
Nothing at all.
You may notice that you have little thoughts that travel across the mirror of your mind.
And you can let those thoughts go.
Just let them go.
As you settle.
Deeper.
And deeper.
Into relaxation.
And release.
I'd like to invite you now gently and lazily to place your focus on the breath.
And specifically.
.
.
On your out breath.
Following the path of the out-breath all the way.
All the way.
All the way to the end of the breaths.
Where you will find that there is a space.
A pause.
Time.
To stop.
And then you will notice.
That the in-breath starts to ask you to take notice so you yield to the in-breath.
And follow the path of the in-breath all the way.
All the way to the top of the breath,
To the space.
At the top of the inbreath before the out-breath releases once more and you follow the path of the out-breath.
The lazy,
Gentle out-breath.
All the way to the end of the breath.
To the space.
The gentle space before once again yielding to the in-breath following the path of the in-breath all the way.
To the space at the top of the breath.
Before releasing once more onto the out-breath.
And noticing with a lazy,
Easy curiosity.
That the out-breath can become longer than the in-breath.
And that this feels right.
And this feels good.
And as the out-breath lengthens away lazily.
You feel more and more relaxed.
More and more relaxed.
And now.
From this lazy,
Easy,
Relaxed place.
I'd like you to really slowly place your focus at the top of your head.
And start to imagine the muscles of your scalp releasing.
Relaxing.
Letting go.
And it's like a wave of relaxation that starts to flow.
All the way down,
Down your scalp.
Down your forehead.
Softening and releasing.
Melting.
Like butter.
Releasing in the eyes,
Around the eye sockets,
Down across your cheeks.
Across the back of your head and down your neck.
Letting go,
Softening and melting.
Feeling the wave of relaxation spread now down through your body,
Down into your shoulders.
Across your chest.
And down your arms all the way to the ends of your fingers.
Releasing,
Softening and melting.
Down your spine vertebra by vertebra.
Down through your rib cage and your belly.
Down into your pelvis,
Your pelvic floor letting go,
Softening and releasing.
Into your hips and down,
Down.
Down your legs through your thigh muscles.
Releasing,
Melting and letting go in your knees,
Your shins,
In your calves.
Down,
Down through your ankles,
Into your heels,
Through the arches of your feet.
Through the balls of your feet.
And all the way into the very tips of your toes.
The whole of your body now lazy,
Easy and relaxed.
With this beautiful melting sensation.
This beautiful melting sensation.
And as your body settles now.
Into deeper and even deeper levels of relaxation.
You find that your mind is able to drift.
Freely.
And easily.
A beautiful,
Calm and peaceful feeling.
Following the path of the breath.
All the way.
The way.
All the way.
As you continue to explore freely.
Happily.
Easily.
And confidently.
Drifting.
And as you drift,
You become aware.
Very gradually.
Of a coolness.
A coolness on your skin,
Crisp and clean and bright.
And you realise the air itself has changed.
And slowly… Softly.
You become aware of where you are.
And you find yourself standing at the edge of a woodland.
Everywhere you look.
Gold.
Amber.
A deep burnished copper red in places.
And the ground beneath you is soft.
Layered deep with fallen leaves and they shift.
And whisper.
And crackle.
Under your feet.
As you take your first steps in.
That dry,
Papery sound.
That gentle give.
And a whispering breeze moves through the canopy high above you.
And the trees answer it.
Not with resistance.
With release,
Whole handfuls of leaves letting go all at once,
Spinning and turning through the light,
Red and gold and rust brown.
Some falling fast and direct,
Some drifting slow and sideways,
Catching the autumn sun as they turn.
Before they land.
And you watch them fall.
And fall.
And fall.
And the tree simply continues,
Unhurried,
Doing in its own time.
What it has always known how to do.
Because the time has come.
And somewhere above you small and bright against all that gold.
A painted lady passes through,
Wings open,
Wings closed.
That same unhurried rhythm heading south.
The way she always does at this time of year.
She does not hesitate.
She simply knows the way and goes.
Using the sun as her compass.
And like the leaf that lets go without knowing what waits below.
Like the painted lady who.
.
.
Trusts the whole long journey to wings as fine as Gossamer.
You too are ready now to release what has served its season.
You too know somewhere far beneath thought.
Exactly when it is time.
And the path begins to climb,
Gently,
So gently you might not even notice the change,
Just a slight lean forward in your body,
The ground rising beneath you,
The trees thinning a little as you go,
Letting in more sky between the branches,
More light finding its way down to you.
Your legs know how to do this.
You don't have to think about the climb at all.
You simply move on and upwards.
Unhurried.
Your breath finding its own easy rhythm with the rise of the path.
The leaves still falling around you.
Gold on gold.
Drifting past as you walk up.
And through and on.
And with every step.
Something in you releases just a little more.
Not effort.
Simply space.
And then you find yourself standing at the top of it all.
The whole valley spread out below you.
Every tree.
As far as you can see,
All of them doing the very same thing.
Letting go.
Completely.
Joyfully in their thousands,
A whole landscape in the act of release,
Gold and copper and deep glowing red.
Rolling away into the distance.
The breeze moving through all of it at once.
So the entire valley seems to shimmer and lift.
Leaves falling in their millions.
An abundance of letting go.
That has nothing careful or reluctant in it anywhere at all.
And from up here.
You can see just how far it goes.
How much further than you ever thought.
And understanding this standing here.
With this sense of scale and space,
You find that you too can let go.
Of the worry that has kept you small.
Of the thought that has worn you thin.
Of all the old unhelpful patterns that have quietly,
Stubbornly stayed past their welcome.
You don't need to name them or examine them.
Or know exactly what they are.
You simply allow here.
Echoing the trees in this abundance of release.
You simply allow.
Loosening.
Softening.
And falling away from you.
The way the leaves are falling,
The way the whole golden burnished valley is falling.
Gently.
Completely.
Without a single flicker of resistance.
And here is a quiet secret about this colour.
The burnished gold was always there.
All summer,
Hidden beneath the green.
Waiting.
The leaf never had to make it,
Or earn it,
Or become it.
It only had to let the green go.
Stop covering it up.
And there it was.
There it had been the whole time.
Pure.
Purest.
And you are lighter for this letting go.
Lighter and clearer and more completely yourself.
Knowing that you do not have to hold everything so tightly.
That release in its own time.
Feels right.
And feels good.
And also that what you let fall does not disappear.
But it feeds the ground you will stand on next.
Because what falls here in this place does not simply return as itself.
Although nothing here is wasted.
Nothing here is lost.
The leaf becomes soil first.
Dark and unhurried and rich.
And from that rich soil,
Something else rises.
Remain.
And here in this beautiful place,
You know that you can come back to this feeling.
Whenever you want to.
Whenever you need to,
This lightness,
This trust.
This quiet understanding that letting go is not loss.
You have everything you need.
You always did.
And the wind quiet.
And the breeze softens.
The leaves that are still falling do so more slowly now.
Almost lazily.
Turning through a stillness.
That has settled over the whole valley over you.
Over everything.
You notice your own breath.
Slower than when you arrived.
Easier.
And in your own time.
Whenever you are ready.
You can begin to turn away from this view at the top of the valley.
Carrying this lightness with you.
Even when you are not standing in it,
Watching it.
Needing to see it to believe that it is true.
And as you prepare now to continue on your journey.
You know that you can move forward refreshed.
Replenished.
And with a lightness of step.
Travelling along your path.
Calm.
Peaceful in your mind.
Centered in the knowledge that you are in control of your emotions.
In control of your feelings.
And in control of the thoughts to which you choose to give your precious attention.
Now.
And into the future.
So gently now bringing your focus lazily back to the breath.
And specifically to the out-breath.
Following the path of the out-breath all the way,
All the way.
All the way to the end of the breath.
To the space.
The pores.
Time to reflect.
Before the easy in-breath comes in and yielding to the in-breath now.
Following the path of the in-breath.
All the way to the top of the breath to the space.
Before the out-breath releases once more,
This lazy gentle breath pattern which happens all by itself.
And then placing your focus lazily at the top of your head.
And finding that melting sensation once more.
Sweeping down through the body.
Softening.
Melting releasing Letting go.
Of all that you want to let go of.
Finding in its place.
Calm.
Peaceful Settled.
Space.
And then finding your consciousness in the very tips of your toes,
Bringing physical sensation back to the body.
So finding a wiggle and a stretch.
And a wiggle and a stretch that moves through your feet and up your shins and your calves through your knees and your thighs stretching and wiggling in the legs and into the base of the spine and the pelvis.
Up the spine,
Through your belly,
Through your rib cage.
Up to your shoulders,
Wiggling,
Stretching.
Letting that movement travel down your arms all the way,
All the way down your arms to the very tips of your fingers.
And the wiggle and the stretch moving up through your neck and around the back of your scalp and down into your face.
So the whole of your body now physically present.
And should you choose now?
To go to sleep.
Can you sleep deep?
And peaceful.
Feeling calm,
Feeling settled.
And should you choose now to wait?
Then gently,
Lazily.
Begin to deepen the breath.
Letting each in-breath bring you a little more present.
A little more aware.
Feeling the breath fill you with a quiet calm.
Settled aliveness.
And with each out breath releasing the last of this deep relaxation.
Softly.
Easily in your own time.
Becoming aware now of the sounds around you.
The feeling of where you are.
Your body warm and present.
And completely refreshed.
And when you are ready.
In your own time.
Gently open your eyes.
