Welcome.
This guided deep relaxation gives us an opportunity to come home to our bodies very deeply,
To invite it to release of tension,
To let go of any holding,
Letting go of any momentum or stress or anxiety that's built,
Any sense of busyness and really rest in a peaceful,
Open presence.
So you can take a moment to allow your body to be as comfortable as possible.
Often when we stay still for a few minutes our temperature drops so you really want to be nice and cosy and warm.
Checking to see if there's an extra cushion or pillow that could be snuggled in somewhere to help you really know that you're safe and that you have no other jobs for this moment.
To begin we'll enjoy three sounds of the bell.
We'll just allow the bell sound to just ripple through and fall away in its own time.
Bell sound Bell sound Slowly drawing your awareness to allow it to rest very gently on your physical presence.
So aware of where your body is in contact with the furniture,
Whether it's a bed,
Sofa,
Cushion,
Floor,
Curled up in a chair.
Just allowing yourself to notice connection where your head may be resting,
Your back,
Your seat,
Your legs.
Sensing your two arms,
Your right hand and your left hand.
Aware of the different textures that you're in contact with,
The sense of air against your cheeks.
And as we allow our attention to begin to rest in our body we begin to notice the many subtle movements as we breathe in and as our breath is released in its own perfect time.
That sense of opening and expansion with your in-breath.
The sense of letting go.
Just abandoning any effort releasing with your out-breath.
And our out-breath is when our body knows that it's safe to rest so we can make good use of our out-breath.
Kind of deliberately releasing more weight to the furniture,
To the earth.
Allowing yourself to be held a little bit more.
With each out-breath it's releasing a little more weight.
Allowing yourself to be fully supported in this moment.
Soaking your awareness down through your torso.
Washing over your hips,
Coming in through your thighs,
Knees,
Calves,
Ankles.
Coming into your two feet.
And we begin by really sensing our toes to start.
Really sensing the toes of your right foot and the toes of your left foot.
And if it's difficult to connect with you can wiggle them.
I highly recommend wiggling your toes to get a sense of your living toes in this moment.
Sensing what they're touching,
Sensing their aliveness.
Maybe aware of their warmth or chilliness.
And then allowing your toes to rest.
Sensing them from the inside out.
And inviting them to begin to soak,
Begin to fill with a heavy,
Relaxed energy.
Allowing this deeply easeful energy to fill each toe.
With this weighted energy of ease,
Almost like molten metal that was poured into the form of your toes.
Just sensing their ability to succumb to this deep ease so that your toes can let go and know that it's okay to rest for a moment.
And staying with this sense of your out-breath when you notice it.
And when you breathe out,
When you release.
And your toes can let go just a fraction more.
Just a tiny bit more.
They can release any holding,
Any kind of sense of staying poised for duty.
Just let go.
And this heavy,
Relaxed energy can begin to slowly soak through our body now.
This deeply easeful energy soaking into your left foot,
Your right foot.
So that your two feet fill with this heavy,
Relaxed energy.
And know that it's okay to rest.
Our feet have taken millions of steps for us.
They help us move more quickly when we're under pressure for time.
They've walked up hills.
They've waded in shallow waters.
They've stepped on freshly cut grass.
They've wiggled with sand in between their toes.
They've run and played and danced.
They have great feet.
So we make a gift of this moment,
Really allowing our feet to take their ease so that they can be deeply nourished.
They can refresh their energy.
This precious resting space.
And allowing this heavy,
Relaxed energy to soak into your ankles.
Soaking into your calves.
Aware of the muscles in your calves.
And the connective tissue that helps everything to bend and stretch.
Aware of the warm blood moving through.
Skin of your calves in contact with your clothes.
Aware of the warmth of you.
And allowing this to become infused with a heavy,
Relaxed energy.
So that this invitation to rest deeply is received by our calves.
And on your next out-breath,
You can see if it's possible for our calves to let go a little more deeply.
Allowing themselves to succumb.
To be fully supported in this moment of their life.
And then this deep,
Easeful energy soaking into your knee joints.
Furling around every nook and cranny of the joint.
Really unfolding the patella,
The sides.
So that your knees are really snuggled in with this caring,
Easeful energy.
And that this sense of ease can penetrate very deeply.
Soaking deeply into the knee joints.
Places that may be tense or hard or cold.
Allowing this loving,
Easeful energy to completely unfold the knee joints.
Allowing them to receive care.
Maybe to receive a sense of being soothed.
So that any inflammation can begin to weaken and dissolve away.
This deeply loving,
Easeful energy soaking into your two thighs now.
The longest bones in our body.
So following the sense of strong bone through your thighs.
Aware of the powerful muscles around the bone.
The connective tissue that enables so much effortless motion.
The warm blood moving through.
The skin of your calves in contact with different textures.
Different sensations of pressure.
So fully embodying our presence in our two thighs.
We invite these to begin to fill with a heavy,
Relaxed energy.
So that as it moves through it saturates every cell of our thighs.
Allowing them to become heavier and heavier.
To release of any holding,
Any tension.
Again sensing on your exhalation.
Your thighs maybe releasing just a tiny bit more weight.
So that your two entire legs are fully supported in this moment.
Sensing your thigh bones as they move deep into your hip sockets.
You can begin to get a sense of your pelvic area,
Your lower back,
Your lower tummy.
This little cradle of our body.
A sense of deep solidity and groundedness here when we're feeling well and balanced.
Pouring our awareness into this cradle of our body.
Allowing it to very naturally begin to fill with a heavy relaxed energy.
Our ease and weightedness in our seat,
Our lower tummy,
Our lower back.
Our internal organs filling with a heavy relaxed energy.
And sensing that our joints,
Our organs,
They have the space they need to really thrive.
So as we breathe in we can offer them spaciousness where they are.
And as we exhale allowing them to rest very deeply.
To simply give any burden that they're carrying,
Any holding or tension.
To allow that to be given over and released.
Allowing this deep ease to begin to move up our torso.
So unfolding our lower organs,
Our kidneys,
Our intestines.
Folding our pancreas,
Our liver,
Our tummy.
Soaking through to our back to be aware of our precious vibrant spine.
Allowing this easeful energy to enfold every vertebra.
And moving further up again now.
Following our spine up our back.
Spanning out with our rib cage.
Constantly holding us.
Keeping us safe.
Protecting our most precious organs,
Our lungs,
Our heart.
Allowing our whole torso to be infused with a sense of deep ease.
This warm,
Loving energy of letting go.
We know that our gut,
Our internal organs hold on to anxiety easily.
Hold on to tension.
So we can really bathe them in our kind attention.
So that they know that this is a very safe moment.
And that they don't need to hold this force.
They can release.
They can enjoy the space they need to really thrive.
And they can rest.
Bringing your awareness to the area of your heart.
You might sense a beating or pulse or a sense of energy.
And you might not.
Your heart is still beating for you.
Strong and steady.
Your heart has been beating for you since before your lungs could breathe air.
When you were still an aquatic creature.
Your heart has been beating for you for such a long time.
And we know sometimes daily life takes a real toll on our precious heart.
And sometimes it holds wounds,
Fear,
Pain.
So we can make a gift of the conditions of safety and warmth and ease in this present moment.
And invite our heart to let go.
Letting go of any past hurts.
Any fears that we have got into the habit of holding.
May all that is unforgiven in you be released.
And allowing our heart to beat strong and steady.
And folded in our care.
In our gratitude.
In our love.
We know our heart is our truest friend.
Our greatest ally.
And we will learn ways to take really good care of our precious heart.
Allowing this easeful,
Relaxed energy to soak into every cell as this blood moves through our heart.
May this whole area be a center of deep ease.
Pulsing.
Letting go.
Knowing just how to rest.
And drawing our attention.
Allowing it to soak deeper into our torso until it comes to our shoulder blades.
Sensing our right shoulder blade,
Our left shoulder blade.
Sensing the very top of our shoulders.
As though someone had laid a hand there very gently.
Allowing this entire area to soak in with this heavy,
Relaxed energy.
So that even the most habitually tense muscles can be slowly,
Inexorably penetrated by the sense of ease.
Just soaking in cell by cell.
Slowly releasing.
And with our out-breath we can let go.
Releasing just a tiny bit more heavily,
More deeply.
This heavy,
Relaxed energy soaking up now to our neck.
And folding our neck,
Our throat.
The very fine vertebrae of our spine.
And from the nape of our neck,
Beginning to move up the back of our head.
Aware of our hair resting in our scalp,
Resting on our skull.
Just unfolding our brain.
Allowing all of this to begin to become saturated with a heavy,
Relaxed energy.
Soaking all the way up to the crown of our head.
Coming to the very top of our forehead.
And then washing very lightly over our face.
As though someone pulled a silk scarf across our face.
This very delicate,
Light attention.
Aware of your forehead.
Aware of the inside of your forehead.
Can you sense where your forehead is draping against your skull?
Allowing this sense of deep ease to begin to infuse your forehead.
Very slowly it can begin to smooth out.
Just rest utterly.
Aware of your eyebrows,
Your eyes,
Your eyelids covering your eyes.
Keeping them so safe.
The fine muscles around your eyes.
Allowing this deep,
Easeful energy to soak in throughout this area.
Utter rest.
Letting go.
Including your ears.
This deeply easeful energy filling your ears so that they can rest.
Aware of your cheeks and nose.
Just imagining this heavy,
Relaxed energy unfolding every part.
Soaking deeply into your skull.
This energy finding your jaw now.
Encompassing your whole jaw.
Inviting this letting go.
Resting.
Sensing your lips.
The inside of your lips moving inside your mouth now.
Sensing your gums holding your teeth.
Feeling the inside of your mouth.
This deeply easeful energy.
Finding the tip of your tongue and soaking back as your tongue grows thicker and wider all the way back.
Can you find the origin point of your tongue?
Can you allow that deeply easeful energy to soak there so that your tongue can let go?
Taking in our whole face.
Knowing that our life experience has been such that we hold on to things sometimes.
Things that no longer serve us.
Hold on to painful sights or sounds.
Painful words that we've spoken.
We've heard others speak.
And with all the kindness,
With all the wisdom,
We can muster.
So from the very kindest,
Wisest part of us we can hold our face so gently and let it know that it's okay to let go.
Let go of worry.
Let go of the past.
It's okay to release this now.
Smoothing.
Resting.
Saturating with this fine but deep easeful energy.
Penetrating fully to take in our whole head,
Our neck,
Shoulders,
Washing down through our torso.
Coming down through our arms now to let our upper arms,
Elbows,
Or arms rest really deeply.
Allowing our precious hands to rest.
Allowing our hands to be empty.
So that there's space to pick up something new.
Having this emptiness as we release.
In our torso soaking down past our belly button,
Washing over our hips into our legs,
Thighs,
Knees,
Calves,
Ankles,
Two feet.
Allowing this release of all tension.
So that it feels like the entire earth pushes up ever so slightly to catch us just a little bit more.
Just to hold us a little more fully,
A little more completely.
And we can allow ourself to be fully held in this moment.
Unfolded.
Supported.
This is the moment where we can receive the nourishment that we need.
As your in-breath draws in this fresh life-giving air.
You can allow this to be full of whatever you need.
Breath of calm or peace or hope.
Breath of revitalizing energy.
Infusing every cell in your living body.
Breath of kindness.
Of knowing that we're deeply cared for.
Breath of connection and we know we are not separate from this entire existence.
We are not alone.
Maybe a breath of warmth,
Of remembering,
Of love.
And with these waves of our in-breath,
We nourish ourselves.
Inviting in wave after wave of nourishment for our heart.
Drawing in all the energies we need to refresh,
To soothe,
To enliven.
And then releasing any focus,
Releasing any attention,
So that you simply rest in this nourished presence of yours.
Your precious being.
May we always know our way home to our body.
May we always know how to let go every day so that we may stay strong and receptive and open.
May we always know how to draw in the nourishment we need so that our entire body,
Heart,
Mind,
Spirit can really thrive.
And we can take good care of ourselves,
Of others,
Of the entire planet.
Thank you for practicing together.
We'll finish with three signs of the bell.
Take good care of your precious heart.
Thank you.
