G'day,
My name is Rachel Grace.
Thanks for joining me for this practice called Destressing Mindfully.
This session starts with a 3 minute mini class before we get into the 10 minute practice.
The demands of life can be intense,
And while we might not be able to stop stress coming our way,
We can learn how to face it with greater ease.
Research shows that mindfulness based body awareness positively impacts our ability to regulate our emotional and bodily responses to stress and anxiety.
This guided practice is built on this science and will equip you with skills to shift from habitual patterns of trying to avoid stressful states in the body,
Which only increases physical tension,
Or getting caught up thinking about stressful stuff in the mind,
Which only makes it worse,
To instead choosing a different response,
To consciously directing attention to actually feel the physical sensations of stress in the body,
Which paradoxically actually allows tension in the body and the mind to slowly untangle and dissolve.
In the short term,
Having these skills to direct awareness to tension in the body can help us to make wiser decisions about what we need most in stressful moments.
And over the long term,
This training builds our internal capacity for establishing a wise relationship with stress so that we suffer less.
In this 10 minute practice,
I will guide you through systematically scanning attention throughout the body,
Starting at the top of the head and moving down to the feet.
You'll be noticing if there is any tension throughout the body and wherever there is,
You'll be invited to respond through consciously letting go and relaxing any tension there.
So let's prepare for our practice.
I invite you to join me by starting with a stretch.
As you breathe in,
I invite you to bring your shoulders up towards your ears.
And then as you breathe out,
Relaxing your shoulders back and down again as you exhale.
Now I invite you to find a comfortable posture,
One that supports you to be both alert and relaxed for this practice.
And notice how your body feels,
In particular at the contact points where your body makes contact with the seat beneath you and feeling your feet on the floor.
And now take a moment to get a sense of the space around you,
With a soft gaze taking in the environment that you're in.
And also with a receptive awareness,
Just noticing the sounds that are around you right now.
To optimize your practice,
It can be helpful to set an intention.
Your time is valuable and you're doing this for a good reason,
So I invite you to set a simple intention now for how you want to approach this valuable time.
Perhaps you want to be as present as possible or you might just want to give this practice a go and relax into it as best as you can.
You can set your own intention now.
And then I invite you to take a deep breath in,
Filling your lungs right up.
And then as you let go with a long out breath,
Allowing your eyes to gently close,
Or if you prefer,
Leaving your eyes open and gently downcast with a soft gaze.
We'll start the practice now with the ring of a gong.
As you come into stillness,
Let your attention rest on the breath,
Feeling self-breathing with a natural and gentle rhythm.
Breathing in,
Know you're breathing in.
Breathing out,
Know you're breathing out.
Now bringing awareness to your body,
Noticing how your body feels in this moment.
Start judging what it feels like,
Just noticing what it feels like.
What is the state of your heart and mind right now?
Holding whatever is there with a kind attention.
Wherever you are,
Whatever the state of your body or mind,
You're welcome to share in this practice from that place.
So we begin by bringing a relaxed attention to the eyes and forehead,
Noticing whatever sensations are there.
Perhaps there's warmth or pressure or numbness,
Consciously allowing the eyes and the forehead to soften and relax.
Shifting attention to the jaw and tongue,
If there's tension there,
Just allowing the jaw to unclench,
Relaxing the root of the tongue,
Mouth and jaw,
Relaxing and releasing.
Gently shifting your awareness to the neck and shoulders,
Breathing in a sense of ease into that area.
And as you breathe out,
Consciously letting go of any tension in your neck and shoulders.
Now scanning down the arms to the hands,
Feeling your hands from the inside out,
Noticing warmth or coolness or numbness,
Whatever sensations are there,
Inviting a sense of ease and relaxation to flow throughout your arms and hands right now.
Scanning down along the chest and to the belly,
Becoming aware of all the physical sensations there,
Noticing how little effort is required to simply be aware of the body,
Noticing the belly softening and letting go as you breathe out,
Feeling the chest rise and fall,
Relaxing with each out-breath.
Now bringing awareness to your back and imagine that the light of your awareness is warm like the sun,
So that when your awareness passes through those places of tension in your back,
You feel that tension begin to melt and soften like ice melting to liquid in the sun,
Allowing the warmth of your awareness to scan through your entire back,
Bringing a sense of ease and relaxation all throughout your back right now,
Breathing gently and letting go.
Now moving your attention through your entire pelvic region,
Releasing any holding or tightness you find there,
Relaxing and letting go.
And as you continue scanning down to the upper legs and lower legs,
Notice how your legs feel right now,
Becoming aware of any tension there.
And if you notice any tension,
Meet it with a warmth and kind awareness,
Allowing your legs to be at ease right now,
Letting the legs be heavy,
Legs relaxing and letting go.
And as your awareness arrives at the feet,
Let the feet be heavy,
Let them soften,
Totally relaxing into the pull of gravity,
Sinking down and being supported by the ground beneath them,
The feet relaxing.
And now I invite your awareness to fill your whole body,
Holding the entire field of changing sensations in the body with a gentle and relaxed awareness,
The whole body relaxing.
As we prepare to conclude our practice in a few moments,
I just invite you to bring your awareness to the breath,
Feeling the sensations of breathing in and breathing out,
Feeling how your body feels supported by the seat beneath you,
Feeling your feet resting on the floor,
Let the corners of the mouth rise ever so slightly,
Allowing a gentle half smile as you savour the state you've created for yourself in this practice.
In a few moments I'm going to ring the gong three times to signal the end of the practice.
When you hear the gong,
I invite you to allow your eyes to gently open,
Bringing your attention back up into the environment around you and as you do,
To maintain an awareness of the sensations in your body.
Extending the practice in this way will build your capacity to stay connected to sensations in your body as you go about your day.
Feel the sensations right now in your body as you breathe in,
Continue noticing the sensations in your body as you breathe out.
In your own timing,
Allow your eyes to open,
Gently bringing your attention back up into the environment around you.
Take a moment to stretch or sit back and notice how you feel.
Do you feel the same as you did before this practice or has something changed?
If there's a positive state of body or mind you're in now,
Take a moment to savour that and feel it,
Let it sink in.
Be sure to motivate yourself for the dedication to your own wellbeing that you've just demonstrated.
Each time you practice you are changing your brain for the better and building your capacity to handle stress skillfully.
So well done!
May mindfulness positively impact you,
What you do,
And all of those around you.
Thank you for practising with me,
I hope you'll you
