Let's get started by taking a few deep belly breaths,
Imagining as you breathe in that you're filling a balloon in the stomach,
Feeling the expansion of the balloon on the inhale and letting that balloon deflate on the exhale.
As you feel the balloon on the inhale,
Notice what it feels like to expand.
And on the exhale,
Notice what it feels like to contract and let go.
Inhale filling the body,
The belly with air.
And exhale letting that go.
On this last inhale,
I want you to imagine that you're picking up any anxiety,
Any negativity,
Anything that's holding on in the body.
And on the exhale,
Releasing it,
Letting it go,
Maybe with a gentle sigh.
We're now going to do a scan of the body using our awareness to invite relaxation in.
Let's never force,
Only a gentle invitation to release any tension,
Physical or emotional that might be present right now.
Starting with the top of the head,
I want you to bring your awareness to the forehead,
The eyes,
The eye sockets.
And as you bring your awareness,
Just invite relaxation,
Invite some ease to enter this area.
Bringing your awareness to the cheekbones,
The mouth,
The lips,
And then to the jaw,
All the muscles in the jaw that often get tense,
Inviting some relaxation to enter here.
And coming to your neck,
Inviting some relaxation in the neck.
Next bringing your awareness to the tops of the shoulders,
Inviting any tension,
Any holding to just let go.
Bringing the awareness down to the upper arms,
The lower arms,
And into the hands,
All of the muscles,
The tendons,
The joints,
And the hands that work for us every day,
Inviting them to relax and release a little tension that might be held.
Moving to the chest,
The muscles in the chest,
And maybe you imagine all the way down to the heart and all the muscles around the heart,
Releasing any tension,
Any held emotion or energy,
Letting go.
Moving the awareness down to the abdomen,
The stomach,
The intestines,
And all the organs that help us digest not only our food but our life as well,
Processing and moving through us.
Just bringing some attention to all of these systems and invite them to release,
To relax,
Any tension,
Any stress,
Any holding,
And let it go.
Just moving to the hips and the pelvis area,
Noticing any tension that might be present,
And gently inviting some ease to enter this area,
Letting go of any emotional stuckness that might be here.
Next coming to the back body,
Starting with the upper back,
The shoulder area,
Noticing any tension,
Resentment,
Emotional energy that might be held here,
And gently inviting it to release,
Relax,
And melt down as your awareness comes to the mid-back and to the lower back,
Continuing to invite this tension to melt down into the ground,
Letting the earth hold it below you.
Just moving to the legs,
The tops of the legs,
The quads,
And the hamstrings,
Inviting some relaxation,
Moving your awareness to the shins and the calves,
And all the way down into the feet,
The feet that carry us every day,
Move us through life,
Hold us up,
Inviting them to let go and release any tension.
Taking a few final breaths here into the body as a whole,
Whether you notice any lingering tension in any area of the body or you just want to send fresh oxygen to the whole body to invite even deeper relaxation,
Breathing in,
Filling the body with fresh,
Clean air,
And breathing out,
Letting go of old energy,
Negativity,
Tension,
Whatever needs to be let go in this moment.
And final breath in,
Filling the body with relaxation,
And letting everything go.
Take a second to take some gentle movements of the body,
Waking the physical body back up,
And whenever you're ready,
You can open your eyes.
