Welcome to this practice.
My name is Reuben.
Let's soothe our nervous systems.
First off,
Just appreciating the fact that you have chosen this moment.
You have chosen to nurture yourself.
And that in nurturing yourself there's an amazing capacity for healing.
So,
Sending some thoughts of appreciation to yourself for taking part in this.
When the nervous system is down-regulated our bodies go into rest.
So just noticing how you are resting in this moment.
Allowing your awareness to go below the level of thought and opening up to sensations of how you are resting.
How you are gently holding your body in this moment.
And as you rest in this moment the normal natural flow of your breathing has been continuing its cycle.
Your breath that's been with you since the day you were born.
Your breath that is your ally,
Your companion.
For whenever you choose it.
Appreciating the gentleness of your breath.
And if you're overly distracted in this moment you can use numbers and count in any way that you wish.
Seeing these numbers or hearing them in your mind and just getting them in time with the waves of your breath.
If you're not overly distracted then you can just settle with the direct experience of your breath.
Noticing the texture,
The feeling of your breath as an in-breath takes place.
Noticing the texture and the feeling of your breath as an out-breath takes place.
Whilst you are connected to your breath thoughts come and go just like cars going by in the street.
It's only when we get hooked by a thought that we're distracted so allowing thoughts to do their thing whilst you connect to the gentleness of your breath.
And as I like to say,
Whilst you connect in this way see how gentle you can be.
See how gentle you can be.
Thoughts about the past,
Thoughts about the future,
Maybe even thoughts about this practice.
Whatever they are,
However they present themselves,
Gently notice when you've become distracted because every time you notice it's a win and an opportunity to just gently come back again.
And so there's a choice here.
As you notice the softness of your breath you can continue like this,
Appreciating how your body breathes at its own rate and rhythm.
Or if you like we can go a little further.
If you feel that you're in a place where you feel quite calm.
What you might like to do is to focus just on the out-breath.
And as you focus on this out-breath,
Where it starts,
How it speeds up,
Slows down and comes to a pause.
What you might like to do is just to soften your out-breath by a touch.
So by 10 or 20%,
No need to get caught up in the numbers,
But just very gently softening the out-breath.
Effortless,
It's easy to do,
You're softening this out-breath.
When we soften our out-breath like this it's quite incredible because it's like stroking a cat that really enjoys getting stroked,
Getting soothed.
When you soften your out-breath in this way,
Your nervous system is getting an extra soothing stroke from you by doing this often.
If softening the out-breath becomes more challenging,
Then go with the simplicity of noticing your body breathing at its own rate and rhythm.
But if you're finding that this softening is becoming more and more natural,
This is your own indicator that your nervous system is being soothed.
Beautiful down regulation.
And sending a thought of appreciation to yourself,
For yourself,
In taking part in this little practice.
This has been a gift to you and from you.
Thank you for taking part in this practice.
