Welcome.
To begin,
I invite you to make yourself comfortable.
You can be seated or lying down.
And if it feels okay for you,
You can gently close down the eyes.
And take a few moments here to arrive where you are.
Into this chair.
This breath.
This room.
Bring attention to your body.
Allowing your hands to rest easily.
And feel the points of contact.
So the weight of your feet.
Your seat.
And the soft rise and fall that comes with your heartbeat.
And notice,
With a sense of wonder,
The ordinary sensations of being here now.
And I'll encourage you to take three slow,
Nourishing breaths with me.
Inhaling.
And exhaling,
Releasing any edges.
Inhaling,
Filling the belly.
And exhaling,
Softening into the support beneath you.
And again,
Inhaling a little fuller this time.
And on the exhale,
Allow your whole body to relax a little more.
A little deeper.
Allow the rhythm now of your breath to become your anchor.
And with each exhale,
Feel the body soften.
With each inhale,
Notice clarity and presence returning.
And now we'll gently scan your body from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
So notice the forehead.
The jaw.
Release any tension there.
Let your shoulders drop.
Soften your chest.
Your belly.
Notice the arms.
The hands.
Feel the spine supported.
Soften the hips.
The legs.
The feet.
And allow awareness to rest on whatever you find.
Whether it's warmth or coolness.
Tightness or ease.
There's no need to change anything.
Just notice.
And this allowing and this noticing brings you fully into this moment.
Now I'm going to invite you to imagine a slow,
Safe journey backward through time.
All the way back to the very beginning of your life.
The moment of your birth.
Don't rush.
Allow images,
Sensations or feelings to come up naturally as you go back in time.
And picture that tiny,
Raw presence.
The first breath you took.
The first senses learning the world.
And notice the enormous effort involved in learning those first few things.
How to breathe.
How to take nourishment.
How to be held.
And see through tender eyes the vulnerability and the fierce capacity for life in that newborn you.
Acknowledge the struggle and the wonder of those first few days.
And recognize that even then,
Some living force was pulling you through.
And now allow the scene to shift forward into early childhood.
And bring to mind your first memories.
Small faces.
Places.
Feelings.
Notice the kinds of challenges you met then.
Learning to speak.
To walk.
To ask.
To trust.
To get comfort.
Move forward to around the age of seven.
And see yourself there.
What were things like for you at that time?
Maybe some things were easy.
Maybe some were hard.
Notice how you met those moments and how you kept trying.
And perhaps offer a quiet recognition to that seven-year-old.
You did your best.
You kept going.
Now gently move forward to age 12.
Seeing the world from the vantage point of that child.
Notice the new set of learning edges that came with that age.
Friendships.
Growing curiosity.
Confusion.
Small defeats.
Small victories.
Acknowledge how you navigated those.
Continue into your teens to around 15 years of age.
And notice what it felt like then.
The intensity.
The questions.
The first shaping of identity.
Be compassionate with that teenager.
Recognize that every time you moved through difficulty,
You learned something that carried you forward.
Now move to around 20 years of age.
Notice the widening world.
The perhaps often awkward experiments with interdependence,
Independence.
See both the bright moments and the harder ones.
The times you stumbled.
The times you rose.
And bring gentle gratitude for the learning that happened.
If you'd like,
Continue moving forward through the years of your life.
Each year,
Each decade,
Letting images or feelings surface briefly.
See a montage of moments.
Small achievements.
Heartbreaks.
Decisions.
Nights you worried.
Mornings you kept going.
And with each memory,
Notice one common thread.
You found a way through.
Every time you thought you might not manage.
Nevertheless,
You learned.
You adapted.
You survived.
Give yourself a quiet nod of recognition for every step taken.
Now I invite you to step back and imagine your life as a whole.
From birth right up until this very moment.
Like a long river,
All of these memories and moments flow together.
The times you feared.
The times you flourished.
The very ordinary days.
The turning points.
Look at this river of your life.
And notice just how much you've learned.
Notice the times you surprised yourself.
The times you discovered courage or creativity that you didn't expect.
Recognize just how remarkable this unfolding is.
A being who once could almost do nothing has learned to speak,
To care,
To create,
To stand.
Allow a deep sense of recognition to settle in.
You have been moving through life,
Often without knowing how vast your capacity is.
There is something inside of you.
Call it resilience or life force.
The vital intelligence that has been quietly acting on your behalf.
It's the part that teaches,
Repairs,
Remembers,
And pushes you forward even when you aren't fully aware.
Notice this internal ally now.
Sense its presence as a steady current beneath the surface of your life.
And imagine gently aligning with that current.
What would change?
What would it feel like to bring your attention,
Intention,
And action into harmony with this force?
Picture yourself leaning into it.
Letting it inform your smallest decisions and your largest aims.
And see how your steps and your actions in life become more purposeful,
More integrated.
And from this moment forward,
Imagine yourself stepping into a new chapter.
The hero of your own story.
Not a hero by mythic standards.
But a person who commits with honesty and grit to living a life that matters to them.
See yourself answering a call,
A purpose or cause that moves you at the core.
It might be simple.
It might be large.
Whatever it is,
Feel the steady decision inside you to follow it.
See yourself facing inner dragons,
Fears,
Old habits,
Doubts.
And meet them with clarity and compassion.
See yourself slaying the dragons that need slaying.
Not to destroy,
But to free space for your truest qualities to step forward.
Imagine now shedding an old skin.
A pattern,
A story,
Or a restriction.
And feeling the lighter,
Truer skin underneath.
Sense how your posture shifts.
How your breath has more room.
How your voice grows clearer in your chest.
Picture yourself later in life.
Older.
Looking back.
And see this present moment as the pivot point.
The day you decided to commit.
To give life your best.
To live with integrity and wholeheartedness.
Allow gratitude for the life behind you.
And excitement for the path ahead to co-exist.
Let both warm the center of your chest.
Breathe with that feeling of alignment.
Steady.
Calm.
Energized.
Feel your feet on the ground.
Your spine supported.
Let the images gently fade while the sense of inner strength remains.
Let's take two more nourishing breaths together.
Inhaling.
And as you exhale,
Really settling.
Inhaling.
And with the exhale,
Really integrating the choice you just made.
And now when you're ready,
I'll bring you back to full waking awareness.
On the count of three,
You'll open your eyes.
Feeling wide.
Alert.
Grounded.
And ready to move forward.
One.
Feel energy return to your hands and feet.
Two.
A deeper breath.
A fresh clarity returning.
And three.
Opening your eyes.
Wide.
Alert.
And present.
Welcome back.
I encourage you to carry this knowing with you.
Your life matters.
There is work worth doing.
You have what it takes.
If it helps,
Say to yourself quietly,
I will show up.
I will do what matters.
I have the strength to learn and change.
