Inner Smiles

All right,

So just go ahead and let your eyes close.

And just feel your body work its way into a position that helps you relax,

But also stay alert and here during this meditation.

And just right now,

Feel your body settling,

Settling into what's underneath you,

Feeling your points of contact.

Feeling your points of contact.

Feeling where your bottom touches the floor or seat beneath you.

Feeling where your feet are making contact.

And noticing where your hands fall and what that feels like.

And then bringing your attention to your breath.

Right now,

Not attempting to change the way you breathe,

Just noticing where breathing is most apparent.

It could be through the nostrils or the movement of the chest up and down or belly,

Or even the expansion of the ribs and contraction.

Feeling the subtle details of the breath and if anything feels like it could improve to help you breathe better by changing posture,

Breathing deeper,

Breathing slower,

Maybe make some small adjustments.

If you're happy with the way you're breathing,

Leave it as it is.

A couple suggestions.

If you during this meditation would like to breathe through your nose,

That can be very helpful.

And if you can allow your belly to breathe through your nose,

You can do that.

And if you can allow your belly to be soft and allow it to expand and contract as you breathe,

That aids in relaxation and falling into the parasympathetic nervous system.

So I'm just feeling the breath.

And today instead of me telling you how to breathe,

Just feel into what feels right for you.

And if you can allow your belly to breathe through your nose,

You can do that.

And if you can allow your belly to breathe through your nose,

You can do that.

And just feel the breath for you.

And just become very intimate with whatever sensations are present.

For these next minutes,

You can move your consciousness away from the person that you spend so much time with,

Yourself,

And move it across sensations of the body,

And perhaps taste pure awareness.

But for now,

We are going to take a moment to let go of the tension,

But for now we just work on letting go.

So in this moment,

Letting go of tension across the top of the head,

Softening across the forehead,

Softening through the eyes,

Feeling all the muscles around the eyes becoming very,

Very soft,

Letting go,

Softening down the cheeks and back into the sinuses,

Feeling air move perhaps more freely through the sinuses,

Softening around the lips and perhaps allowing a small smile to be noticed,

Maybe gladdening the practice,

And maybe feeling that smile inside the mouth and softening across the tongue,

Relaxing down to its root,

Softening into the throat,

And relaxing down,

Feeling a sense of the throat filling the neck very open,

And softening down the back of the neck from where the hair meets the neck,

Down toward the top of the back,

Toward the shoulders,

Softening at the front of the neck,

Where the neck meets the head,

Moving down toward the chest,

Feeling a gradual and subtle letting go of all the many muscles,

And then below the ears,

Around the ears and down below,

Moving down the sides of the neck,

Moving toward the shoulders,

Softening,

Releasing and relaxing,

Feeling the shoulders drop down,

Allowing them to pull back just a little bit to open up the chest,

Feeling a warmth and an ease,

Washing down the upper arms,

Down through the elbows,

Through the forearms relaxing,

Through the wrists,

Across the backs of the hands,

Across the outsides of the fingers,

And then from the palms,

Down the insides of the fingers and thumbs,

Pausing to sense the aliveness of the space of the hands,

Noticing what might be subtle,

What might feel like vibrations or tingling,

Noticing temperature,

Pressure,

Or other things that don't have words,

But can be sensed nonetheless.

And now bringing your attention to the top of the chest,

Feeling a releasing and a warmth and a letting go,

Especially where the shoulders meet the chest,

Almost like they're melting,

Softening through the ribs,

Maybe feeling greater ease of movement as you inhale,

And softening across the abdomen,

Across the belly,

Across the navel,

And at the lower part of the belly,

And pausing here for a moment,

And maybe feeling the curve of a smile across your belly,

A softness allowing you to drop your guard and not defend,

Just be easy,

And then at the top of the back,

Softening just below the neck,

Spreading out to the shoulders,

Feeling a warmth and a releasing of tight muscles becoming looser,

Just melting any tension away,

And softening down the upper back where the upper back meets the middle,

Softening through those large and small muscles,

Relaxing through the lower back,

And feeling again a curve of a smile across your lower back,

That warmth,

That kindness,

That allows you to relax the tension away,

Bit by bit with each breath,

And so softening down through the pelvis,

Softening through the buttocks,

Releasing and relaxing as warmth fills your thighs,

Feeling the weight,

Helping that space in your upper legs relax even more,

Softening above,

Around and through the knees,

And releasing and relaxing through the calves,

Softening through the ankles,

And then feeling a gentle awareness of the tops of your feet,

From the ankles,

Across the tops of the toes,

To the toes tips,

Relaxing,

And then working your way around your heels,

Across your soles to the undersides of your toes,

Softening,

Relaxing,

And now pausing at the feet,

And feeling the space that they take up,

Noticing any sensation present and available to your awareness,

Temperature,

Touch,

Tingling,

Vibrating,

Just becoming aware of the very subtle and mostly overlooked,

Noticing the richness in this present moment in that space,

And now feeling your breath again,

And perhaps feeling another curve of a smile across your chest,

Reaching across the space of the heart,

Across the lungs,

A kindness found in this moment,

Supporting this body generously and continuously,

And feeling your breath again where it's most apparent,

And when you've found a place that is easy and feels good to focus on,

For just a few minutes,

We'll sit in silence,

Just focusing on the breath,

If you notice yourself getting lost in thoughts,

You can gently bring your attention back,

Back to your breath,

And you can always deepen your breath to make that even easier,

And the next minute you can stay with your breath,

Or you can let that go,

And just be like a space of awareness,

Allowing whatever sensations or sounds to move through you,

Doing your best not to identify with any of them,

Thoughts the same.

And now bringing your attention to a deepening breath,

Feeling your belly moving as you breathe,

Feeling the aliveness of this body,

Noticing perhaps a greater amount of stillness and a sense of quiet,

Inside and outside,

And perhaps also a greater sense of peace and well-being.

So when you're ready,

You can maybe let your body move gently in any way that you'd like or not,

Whatever speaks to you,

Maybe a stretch,

Or your head,

Let it move from side to side,

Or a circle,

And deepening your breath one more time.

When you're ready,

You can gently open your eyes.