Letting Go Into Autumn

Relax and unwind. Let go into autumn is a guided meditation. Including the three stage breathing space, choiceless awareness, autumn tree, letting visualization and a body scan. Recorded with a group meditating at The Nest home of The Owl and The Coconut in Manchester UK. Guided by Gemma.

Transcript

Okay so just checking that you're comfortable in your sitting position so we're just going to be here for about five minutes as we just start to settle.

So letting the eyes close maybe having a little sigh just acknowledging that the the body and mind now are welcome to rest.

Just tuning in to the sound of the singing bowl.

Being aware of the sounds around us.

Noticing sounds outside of this room.

Noticing sounds in the wider building.

Noticing sounds in this room.

Noticing if you can hear the sound of your own breath as you breathe in and out.

Just noticing the sounds appear,

Rise,

Fall and fade away as they just pass through.

Just being open to any sounds as they pass by.

And then doing the same with thoughts.

So just like sounds,

Thoughts come through the mind.

You can think of them as mental events.

So a bit like sounds,

Just background noise in the mind,

Thoughts passing through.

So we're just moving a step back.

Sometimes we can be very much engaged in our thoughts,

Go off into stories,

Worries.

So here we're just inviting ourselves to take the position of the witness,

To step back and be aware of the thoughts in the mind.

Noticing the pace of the thoughts,

The tone of the thoughts.

There's no need to do anything with the thoughts,

Just aware that they're passing through the mind.

Now using this way of being,

So just notice any sensations in the body.

Is there anything calling for your attention in your body right now?

Just being really kindly,

Curious to any sensations in the body.

Noticing the contact points where the body meets the floor.

Noticing where the skin can feel air passing by the face of the hands.

Noticing any movement of the body as you breathe in and breathe out.

Noticing that point where the breath enters the body at the nostrils or the mouth.

Really feeling into the sensations where the air enters the body.

I'm just using that mindful curiosity to just take the awareness on the journey of the breath.

As you breathe in and the lungs fill with air,

You might feel some movement from the diaphragm pushing down on the internal organs,

The belly swells out on an in-breath.

It releases as the diaphragm retracts on an out-breath.

Just tracing this movement of body and breath with your awareness.

Just like with the thoughts and the sounds and the bodily sensations with the breath,

The body knows how to breathe.

Just let the body breathe.

Don't need to change the breath in any way.

And then using this anchor of the breath and seeing if you can imagine breathing into the whole of the body.

Feeling the whole of the body with oxygen on an in-breath.

And releasing and breathing out with the whole body,

Letting go on an out-breath.

A chance to begin again on an in-breath and release on an out-breath.

Sometimes if we have a busy mind it's useful to use some keywords to help keep our awareness here.

You might want to say in the mind,

Breathing in,

Beginning again,

Breathing out,

Letting go.

See if that feels useful for you.

So as we breathe in,

Imagine we're breathing into the whole of the body,

Just getting a sense of gentle expansion,

Feeling more space between the molecules of the body.

Sometimes in life we can hunch and crunch across the chest which can restrict the breath,

The shoulders can become a bit sloped.

So this posture,

This opening out,

This expansion,

Can just help us to take a little bit more space in the room and the world.

Take a little bit more breath into the body.

So as we start to transition from this posture to a lying down posture,

Just tuning into the sound of the singing bowl and see if you can hear the sound until it truly ends.

So just gently part in the eyes,

So not fully open in the eyes,

But just enough so you can transition into our lying down with the knees bent up towards the ceiling and if you want to just place in a block under the back and put in a blanket over you or under your head,

Whatever feels good for you.

So knees bent lying down on your back,

Block under the arch of the back,

Lower back,

Testing out what feels good for you.

Do feel free to wriggle,

Move around,

Don't stay in a posture that's uncomfortable because we're going to be in this posture for about 10 minutes.

So do move around,

Get yourself settled and comfortable.

So just placing the arms by your sides,

Feel the top of your arms on the mat and if you just bend at the elbows place your hands on your belly.

We'll just use this as an anchor point of physical touch,

Also called a soothing touch.

When our body is touched even putting our hands here like this it can act as a way of reassuring the body,

Reminding us that we're safe and even release chemicals like oxytocin that help the body feel loved and relaxed and at ease.

And here with the hands on the belly you can use this as an anchor to feel the sensations in the belly as it rises on an in-breath and releases,

Lets go and empties on an out-breath.

So if you're noticing a busy mind just return into the sensations of the hands on the belly,

The breath in the body,

Being really curious about what you can feel the hands and the fingertips.

Feeling the touch of fabric,

The warmth of the belly.

You might feel and hear movement internally,

Gurgles in the belly digestion.

Feeling the coolness of the air maybe on the skin at the back of the hands.

Just being really kind to your mind and your body and your breath,

Just noticing when we get wrapped up in thoughts.

It's absolutely normal,

Minds really good at thinking for us but it's okay to take a step away and just move to that witness position.

Just curious,

Aware the sensations of the hands on the belly as we just sit here,

Lie here and breathe.

You you you you you you So if your mind does wander that's absolutely fine,

It's up to you if you'd like to go into thoughts or be aware of sounds or bodily sensations.

Be aware of the touch of the hands on the belly as you breathe in and breathe out.

You you If you've got a block under your back just gently moving that now for a few moments,

Just moving it to the left,

Pulsing up to get the block,

Move it to the left so you can just settle the back down,

Notice the curve of the back,

Feet on the floor with the knees bent,

Hands on the belly.

So just feeling that transition of moving the block if you had a block there.

Now gently roll into the right with your knees bent,

Just making a little pillow from your hands under your head just resting here.

You Just noticing how you feel here.

With mindful awareness just using your hands to push up,

Gently opening the eyes a little to help you to see.

Just come into sitting position.

So I recommend trying a couple of blocks.

Sit however is comfortable for you but if you want to try sitting with a couple of blocks just under the sitting bones with the feet either side,

Kind of sit on the edge sit towards the edge of the blocks with the legs either side and a kind of W shape or sitting cross legs whatever is good for you.

Just wrapping yourself up it's quite cool.

So getting comfortable because we'll be in this sitting posture for about 15 minutes,

10-15 minutes but do remember just do move at any time.

You might want more blocks,

You might want three blocks,

You might just want one.

Everybody's different so find what feels good for you and just do move at any time.

So just settling into this upright posture,

Feeling the spine,

Imagining each vertebra of the spine just gently curved at the lower back,

Stacked one on top of the other,

All the way up the back of the neck,

The head sitting at the top of the body.

Just settling into this sitting position,

Feeling the legs in concert with the floor,

Height of the body gently rising up.

Just imagine the idea of all the tissue of the body,

All the kind of fabric part of the body imagine that could just melt down a little,

All the muscles,

The tissues imagine the spine and the bones rising up and holding you strong,

The tissue just melting,

Releasing down.

Just playing with that idea and seeing how it feels.

Can you get a sense of that?

Feeling into the points where the body meets the floor,

Just like to offer guidance,

Just imagining ourselves like trees.

So imagining from the points of the body that are in contact with the floor,

Imagine you had roots going down into the earth,

Roots that take nourishment up from the soil and it's said that roots of trees tangle with the roots of other trees to create a network.

It's said that information can be shared by the network of the trees and the roots and they also the roots cross each other to create strength so that all interlinked tree will search for other trees,

The roots to interlink to give it more strength.

You can imagine one tree with roots in the ground is much stronger surrounded by other trees with all their roots together crossing over in the ground and then we can imagine drawing nutrients up from the earth from our imaginary roots,

The legs,

To our trunk,

The trunk of the body,

The trunk of the tree,

The busiest part of the body,

The tree,

The core.

You might have a certain tree in mind maybe you have a favorite tree,

Maybe it's imaginary or maybe no tree at all.

Just playing with this guidance and seeing what happens.

We can imagine that the arms,

Head,

Are like the branches of the tree.

You might want to imagine leaves,

Fruits,

Flowers on your tree,

The leaves that take in the sunlight convert that into food and fuel.

Does it so effortlessly.

The tree doesn't need to plan any of this,

It just happens.

At the moment it's autumn,

The first week of autumn,

So thinking about trees you've seen around you this week.

The trees are letting go of their leaves,

So just acknowledging if there's anything you'd like to let go of.

Just imagining leaves from your tree,

Just letting go.

Just playing with this idea,

Sitting here embodying the sense of a tree in autumn releasing its leaves letting go.

So you can play with that idea or just let it go now,

Just let it pass.

Nothing to do,

Just sitting here with open awareness in the position of the witness.

If you'd like the offer of a hand kiff for your awareness,

I'd just invite you to just gently bring a smile to your face and notice the impact that this has on your body and your being.

If you gently just smile,

Notice how this feels.

You you you you you you Noticing if the awareness gets hooked into thoughts,

Absolutely fine,

This can be a habit.

If it's useful for you,

Just feeling into the checkpoints of imagining we have these long strong roots going into the ground like a tree.

The trunk and the height of the body is feeling really strong,

Grounded,

Open.

The branches is going out releasing the leaves letting go.

I'm gonna invite you to gently transition into Shabasana,

So to lie down,

Corpse pose,

So back of the body on the floor,

Putting blankets over you,

Just parting the eyes gently as you start to move.

No rush,

Back to make it as slow as possible,

Exaggerate the movements,

Feel the sensations of the body moving,

Feel the touch of the blanket,

Coolness of the air,

Hear the sounds around us as we move.

It's all part of the practice.

Okay,

So corpse pose traditionally you've got the feet parted,

Hip width apart,

With the toes just gently dropping outwards.

You can,

If you want to,

Kind of tuck the shoulders underneath the back which helps us open and broaden across the chest,

Helps get a fuller breath.

You can have your hands on the mat or the floor or the blanket next to you,

You can have them on the belly,

Whatever feels best for you.

So to lead into this practice and help us settle here,

We'll be here for about 20 minutes.

So just offering a body scan,

So just tuning into this guidance if this is useful for you,

Or just choosing where you wish your awareness to be right now.

So feeling the contacts of the body on the floor,

Maybe feeling into the arch of the back,

The shoulders,

The back,

The buttocks,

The legs,

The feet,

All in contact with the floor.

Bringing your awareness to the soles of your feet,

Feeling the temperature of the feet,

Feeling into any sensation in each toe,

Feeling into the sensations at the sides of the feet,

The top of the feet,

And the ankles,

Feeling the calves and the back of the legs in contact with the floor,

Feeling the sides,

The fronts of the lower legs,

Being aware of any inner sensations at the knees,

Feeling the back of the knees open,

The sides of the knees,

The insides of the knees,

Moving your awareness to the back of the upper legs in contact with the floor,

The insides of the upper legs,

Front of the upper legs,

The sides of the upper legs,

The hip bones,

The sitting bones and the pelvic area holding our internal organs,

Being aware of the curve of the lower back,

Noticing any sensations here,

Sides of the lower torso,

The belly,

Maybe feeling some movement of the belly as you breathe,

Taking your awareness to the middle of the back,

The upper back,

The shoulders,

Often we can hold tension at the shoulders,

Just being aware of anywhere that might benefit from a bit of extra breath and softening,

Releasing and easing,

Feeling into any sensations at the chest,

Shoulders,

The upper arms,

Curve of the elbow,

The lower arms and the wrists,

The back of the hands and the fingertips,

The fingers and the palms,

Noticing if you can feel any sensation in the hands,

Gently taking the awareness from the hands to the lower arms,

The elbows,

The upper arms,

Across the shoulders,

To the throat,

Sides of the throat,

And the back of the neck,

Feeling the arch of the back of the neck,

Feeling into the contact of the head,

Resting on the mat,

Feeling any sensations at the crown of the head,

The forehead,

Sometimes we can hold tension here at the forehead and the eyes without even realising it,

So if you can just get a sense of softening across the forehead and the eyes,

The cheeks and the jaw,

Softening the tongue and the mouth,

And just extending this awareness to hold the whole of the head in awareness,

Noticing any sensations,

Extending this,

The throat,

Shoulders,

The hands,

The torso,

The legs,

The soles of the feet,

The crown of the head,

Just holding the full body in gentle awareness,

Just resting here,

If you notice your awareness has drifted away with thoughts,

Just be really kind to yourself now that this is just a habit,

Gently bring your awareness to the body lying and breathing,

So gently now beginning to bring some movement back to the body by just wiggling the fingers and the toes,

You might want to extend that into the wrists and the ankles,

And then very gently just rolling to the right again with the knees bent,

Resting the head on the pillow of the hands,

Just using every transition as just a chance to check in,

Just noticing your body mind and breath,

Just resting here on a pose,

Your own time just gently using the hands to help you push up to a sitting position of your choice,

So as we start to come towards the end of this practice for this evening,

Rising back down the eyes,

Settling into this sitting posture,

And returning back to where we were at the beginning with this choiceless awareness,

Being aware of sounds,

Thoughts,

Bodily sensations,

Noticing whatever is here in our awareness.

Noticing the sounds outside of this room,

The sounds in this room,

And listening to the sound of your own breath,

Just noticing the sounds of your own breath,

Being aware of thoughts in the mind passing through,

Aware of sensations in the body,

And gathering your awareness around the breath,

Feeling the body move as you breathe in and breathe out,

Chance to begin again on an in breath,

Release and let go on an out breath,

Imagining you could extend that breath into the whole of the body,

Feeling the whole of the body on an in breath,

And releasing from the whole of the body on the out breath,

Feeling the height of the body gently rising up,

The weight of the body just melting down,

Letting go.

Tuning in to the sound of the singing bowl.

Gently looking down at the mat,

Opening the eyes,

Just welcoming back that sense of sight,

No need to rush,

Looking at the mat,

The objects around you,

Looking at the wider room,

Looking at each other.

Thank you everybody,

Namaste.

Thank you.

Reviews

Very relaxing. Thank you for your guidance.

What a lovely practice....thoroughly enjoyed it under my favourite huge oak tree on the top of a hill in NE Wales...many blessings for beautiful gentle delivery.
Namaskar John 🙏