Hello,
I'm Janie Cashmore.
Welcome to this practice and thank you for joining me.
Thank you for giving yourself this time.
Self-care is as important or even more than all the care we give out.
How can we keep caring if we don't take time to rest and restore ourselves to?
When we do,
We can show up in the world as our best selves and have more to give with a willing heart.
So take a moment of gratitude to yourself.
And you know that you've done all the hard work by creating this time for yourself.
And all that you need to do now is relax.
Give yourself permission to rest.
Gently close your eyes if it feels safe to do so and follow my voice.
Take a full breath in through your nostrils.
Pause for a moment.
And then release your breath slowly out through your mouth almost as though you have a puncture and the air is escaping slowly through your lips to the end of the exhale.
Take another couple of breaths like this.
Feeling your lungs.
Pausing.
And slowly releasing.
To the end of the exhale without force or strain.
And as you listen,
You can choose to follow my prompts as much or as little as you like.
There's no way to do this wrong.
Adopt an attitude of lightness and approach with curiosity.
Let go of expectations and let your experience be what it is.
Inspired by springtime,
Let's practice a technique of blossom hands.
To release tension and start to focus and settle the mind.
Just for now,
Close your fingers into the palms of your hands.
So you make a loose fist and notice how the fist is closed and slightly contracted.
Just like a bud would be before it blooms.
Now open your hands slowly,
Imagining the buds are opening and blooming into a flower or blossom.
And close into a fist again,
Loosely.
And opening.
Start to open and close your hands in your own rhythm.
And allow your breath to follow the rhythm of the opening and closing.
Or allow the opening and closing to follow your breath.
And there's no way to get this wrong.
Just do whatever feels natural.
And notice a sense of receiving and releasing seething.
And releasing through your hands.
A sense of being closed.
As if a bud ready to burst.
And then opening in an offering,
But being receptive at the same time.
Just notice the pace of your movement and your breathing.
There's no need to change anything,
Just notice it as it is.
And now pause and let your hands come to rest.
And notice the difference in the stillness.
Perhaps a sense of tingling in your hands.
And a sense of starting to settle yourself and the breath starting to slow.
Open to a sense of broad awareness,
Welcoming,
Recognising and witnessing all sensations,
Emotions and thoughts that come across into your field of awareness.
Without lingering too long on one thing,
Notice sounds nearby.
Not far away.
What's the furthest sound you can hear?
And the closest.
We're not trying to stop our thoughts or emotions or sounds that we can hear,
Sensations,
We're just welcoming,
Acknowledging and watching the experience as it is presented to us by the world around us.
And insiders.
Nothing could be wrong,
We're just noticing and watching what is here.
When your mind wanders,
And it will,
Don't make that wrong either.
Notice with non-judgement and choose to return your attention to the sound of my voice and your breath.
It's normal to experience a range of emotions including boredom,
Frustration and restlessness.
Simply decide to return your attention to the practice when you notice.
Every time it happens.
Bring your attention to the sensation of mouth.
And experience the sensation of mouth.
Now jaw.
Is nose.
And eyes.
Notice the sensation of eyes in sockets.
Temples.
And bring your awareness to your forehead.
Just to experience the sensation of your whole face.
Experience your face as sensation,
Forehead to chin.
Chin to forehead.
And ear to ear.
Feel the sensation of the whole face.
Now feel the crown of your head.
Back of your head.
And scale.
And be aware of the sensation of back of head.
Now face again.
Back of head.
And experience the sensation of the whole of your head.
Notice that your objects of awareness change.
But the awareness itself notices everything.
And be that awareness and notice your breath.
Breathing in through your nostrils.
And notice it passing in and out of our nostrils.
Notice how your body is allowing and accepting air to pass into and out of your nostrils.
Notice the sensation of temperature.
Cool on the inhale.
Slightly warmer on the exhale.
And on the next inhale,
Allow a sense of the throat welcoming the breath.
As it passes in.
And out.
Be aware of the breath being received into the chest.
And then releasing.
And allowing an intention of breath travelling to the belly on the in-breath.
Belly receiving and then releasing and deflating on the out-breath.
Send the sensation and intention of breath into pelvis.
As you breathe.
A sense of inviting your breath.
Into the cradle that the bones of your pelvis form.
A sense of receiving.
Into this cradle.
Like filling up a bowl.
And allow the sensation to travel all the way down your legs.
Sending the breath and sensation with your intention.
Right down to the toes and into the soles of your feet.
And softening wherever that touches.
Allowing your breath to flow.
And let your mind be fluid and when it wanders,
Welcoming,
Acknowledging and returning to your breath and the sound of my voice.
Allow your breath to draw up from the pelvis area into the belly.
Breathing in and expanding the belly with the in-breath.
Creating space.
And releasing with the out breath,
Softening belly.
Breathing as if the breath could flow around the waist,
Sides and lower back.
Receiving and releasing.
Breath flows into upper abdomen.
Notice the whole belly relaxing.
Notice how relaxing it is,
Just softening the whole belly.
Draw awareness up with a breath into the chest.
Into the heart space.
Softness.
Traveling and spreading through the ribcage,
Shoulder blades.
Arms and into hands and fingers.
Drawing up further still back into the throat.
Inviting spaciousness and softness into the neck.
Back of tongue.
And noticing how this creates space at the back of the throat and softens muscles.
Coming up into the nostrils and breathing into the brow.
Breathing into the whole of your face and head.
With each breath,
Filling your entire head with a sense of expansion.
Start to sense this space as very large and expanding space.
And draw your attention to the top of your head,
Your crown.
And sense that there could be a merging of the vastness of space inside your head and the space outside into the limitless sky and beyond.
And you might experience sensations of light.
Sound or another sensation.
Let your awareness travel as it wants to,
Slowly and easily.
With your breath flowing from this vast space back down through your spacious body all the way down to the toes.
Still feeling your expansive nature.
Notice also your connection with the earth beneath you.
Through whatever part of you.
Is predominantly aware of this connection.
And start to feel a sense of grounding.
Connectedness,
A sense of rooting.
Start to feel those roots expanding and pushing down.
From that part of you that is connected down into the earth.
And the root is surprisingly strong and the earth is surprisingly willing.
And welcoming.
And there's a strong natural connection you may or may not feel at first.
But it is there.
Send roots down into the earth,
Perhaps with smaller roots spreading down and off from a main tap root.
Each of these roots becoming stronger and deeper.
Allow the roots to sink down and feel how the earth supports and hugs the roots.
Above the earth There is a base of a tree.
Supported by the strong earth connection the tree is pushing up out of the earth and reaching towards the sky and outwards expanding branches and growing flourishing.
And daring to blossom.
This tree has been resting and now it is enjoying growth.
Notice the tree.
The leaves.
The blossom.
The colour.
Shape and forms.
And is there a fragrance from the blossom?
Notice the contrast of the texture of the bark and the texture of the soft petals.
Notice contrast of the colours against the blue sky.
And the tree is offering and releasing beauty and new life.
Into the expanse of the skies.
The tree does not apologise for who he or she is.
It simply offers the gifts it has for all of us.
Gently,
Bravely and beautifully vulnerable.
Just being its unique self.
And connecting openly with the world.
Rooted into the earth.
Connected and just being.
Within the gentle touch of the air that surrounds it.
Start to feel solidity and the support of your own surface and ultimately the earth beneath you.
Enjoy the feeling of being held.
And the feeling of belonging.
Connection.
Feel the temperature of the air around you.
It's gentle touch,
It's easy flow.
And the sense of spaciousness around you.
Feel your extremities,
Feel your hands like blossoms receiving and releasing.
And you might like to start to gently invite some movement back into your hands,
Your fingers opening and closing.
Starting to reconnect to your body.
And reconnecting with your breath,
Noticing it breathing into and out of your nostrils.
Or perhaps mouth.
Taking a fuller breath in.
And releasing it slowly remembering this spaciousness and softness and I invite you to take the sensations of spaciousness and softness and the openness and vulnerability of that blossoming tree.
With a sense of receiving and releasing easily.
Taking those with you into your day that you may flourish and thrive.
And as you do,
The world will benefit from the unique gift that is unapologetically you.
May this be a beautiful day for you and for those around you who you bless by your presence.
Thank you for your practice.
Namaste.
