As you are ready,
You can come to a comfortable position.
It doesn't really matter what position you choose.
You can be sitting down,
You can be laying down,
You can be stretching,
You can be doing whatever it is that you're doing.
But just starting to check in with the body,
Checking in with the spine and that center line of your body,
The space from the pelvic floor through to the back of your throat.
And just tracing that space and feeling it even out,
Feeling it elongate slightly.
If you're sitting down,
Feeling your sit bones being really heavy and grounding down toward the earth and at the same time the crown of your head being really light and lifting up toward the sky.
And if you're in a space where you feel safe to do so,
At any point you can allow the eyes to gently close.
And you can mark your arrival today to this practice with a full and deep cleansing breath,
Taking a slow and intentional inhale in through the nose,
Slowly feeling yourself fill up just like a balloon.
And then when you are totally full,
Just pausing for a moment and just experiencing fullness.
And then as you need to slowly decompressing,
Slowly letting that air out bit by bit.
And even once you think you're empty,
Seeing if you can push a little bit more air out of you and just truly empty yourself and then pause and experience emptiness.
And allow your next breath to come as it needs to.
And you can breathe just like that a few more times if that feels good,
If you feel like you'd benefit from that.
And at any point when you feel ready to do so,
You can release all guidance over your breath.
And just stepping back and up into that role of the observer.
And just practicing observing your breath without having any sort of control or guidance over it.
I know that some days this feels completely impossible to do.
So that is okay if you feel that way today.
And other days that is very straightforward and simple.
So wherever you are in that today,
In this moment,
Is perfectly perfect.
And then you can start to just rest your awareness on the face.
And before changing anything about the face,
Just noticing what your face's resting position is like.
And for many of us,
We can think we're relaxing and being chill.
But then if we catch a glimpse of ourselves in the mirror or just check in with the muscles of our face,
We notice that our forehead is all scrunched up and our eyes are squeezing shut or our jaw is really holding a lot.
So just knowing that that is completely normal and expected at this point.
And just by being aware of where the tension is,
That is what gives us the power to then release and to lean into the position that your face is trying to rest in and not have any sort of fighting of that.
And just allow the muscles of the face to just kind of hang off of the bones.
And now,
It's like to imagine that there is a string coming out of the crown of your head,
The highest point in your body.
Whether you are laying down or sitting upright,
This can be done.
And just feeling that string and how it goes through the brain,
Down through the throat and down the spinal cord and going out the tailbone.
So this string,
It's gently pulling and securing your seat closer toward the earth.
And at the same time,
Gently pulling and lifting the crown of your head closer toward the heavens.
And if you're laying down,
Feeling this in the same way,
Just feeling your seat and maybe the soles of your feet actively but calmly reaching in the opposite direction that the crown of your head is actively reaching in.
So just remembering that you have the power to elongate your body.
And you can even imagine that there's someone who's pulling your head and your seat in opposite directions.
But just knowing that this is all you and you have the power to grow your spine.
You have the power to sit prouder and take up more space.
And just notice how the rest of your body responds to this added length in your spine.
And just allow yourself to rest under that support.
So there's no need to be rigid in this posture.
You can simply allow the opposite ends of your body to be reaching and expanding as the rest of your body just accepts that and rests beneath it and allows itself to be elongated and stretched ever so slightly.
And now to start to pay attention to the sounds that exist in your personal environment.
You might be in a quiet space.
So maybe just listening to the sounds of the birds outside,
Maybe cicadas or just the lights humming or the refrigerator humming or the sound of your computer.
Just whatever subtle sounds exist around you,
Knowing that there are many sounds that still exist within silence.
And if you're in an environment that's rather noisy and there might be sounds that you might first label as being distracting or annoying,
Just practicing hearing the sounds that are there as a whole and kind of imagining it like a symphony and just hearing all the different components that are part of your personal symphony,
Knowing that there's nobody else who is hearing exactly what it is that you are hearing from your ears,
Remembering the unique shape of your ears and how they take in sound in a unique way.
And remembering that every sound that you hear is meant to be there.
Every sound is a reminder of this present moment.
Sounds cannot exist in the past or in the future.
They are purely happening right now and they are all an expression of the different kinds of sounds that exist in your personal environment.
And if you're in a place where you're not aware of the sounds that exist inside of you,
Then you're not going to feel an expression of the divine in some way or another.
So just letting the sounds be your anchor to this moment rather than distract you from the sounds that exist inside of you.
And I start to listen also to the sounds that exist inside of you.
Maybe just hearing your body swallow or your body breathe or your heart beating.
Any sounds at all that you are making that's coming from inside of you.
I'm just feeling that relationship between your inside world and the outside world.
And then as you're listening,
Just start to bring all of your awareness into the ears themselves.
Start to notice any sensations that exist in the ears.
Maybe starting to feel a slight pulsing sensation of the ears.
And just follow with your awareness from the outside of the ears to inside.
And so to travel into the eardrum,
The ear canal,
And through the inner ears.
And just letting your awareness meet at the space between the inner ears,
The very center of the skull.
And as your awareness rests here,
You can allow the face to continue to soften beneath that comfort.
Let the jaw hang heavier,
The tongue release the nostrils,
The cheeks.
And just feeling the space between the inner ears as a slight light that's growing and pulsing.
And you can feel that light just naturally begin to sink down,
Coming down the throat,
And slowly making its way into your heart space.
And just feeling this light pulsing along with your heartbeat,
Letting your body be comforted by the sensations of your heart,
And trusting the natural intelligence of your heart,
Trusting that your heart always knows what is best for you.
Your heart communicates what is best to you in the form of gut feelings and instincts of ways to act and things to say and things to create.
And just trusting in your heart's ability to love fully and deeply,
And trusting that at its core,
Your heart is nothing but love.
And this is a deep sense of love for yourself first,
Loving all the mistakes you've made,
Loving everything about this journey that you've been on,
Understanding everything about this journey and knowing that every step,
That there were no mistakes,
And that every step has gotten you to the point that you are at right now.
And your heart's ability to therefore love the world fully and deeply,
And all the people you come in contact with,
Recognizing their heart is the same as yours.
So letting this light naturally now begin to float back up,
Taking with it some of this extra love from your heart,
Gathering that love and starting to pass through the throat once again,
And feeding some of that love and light into the throat center.
And letting it continue to slowly float up and make its way into the brainstem,
Make its way into the brain itself.
And coming now to your third eye center,
The space between the eyebrows.
So feeling this soft light pulsing here and letting your gaze peer into this space.
And just notice anything at all that you see,
Even if it's just darkness,
Just noticing and looking into that darkness.
And just letting this light naturally expand and fuel the entire brain and the entire sensory system.
So you can truly feel how your heart is connected to your eyes,
Connected to your ears,
Your nose,
Your mouth,
Your throat,
And the entire body itself.
Your heart is constantly communicating with your entire body,
Pumping blood to your entire body.
And just remembering how your heart has all this power of love to love yourself,
To love others,
To have patience and understanding with your own journey and others and their process of learning and unfolding.
And remembering how this same power is fed to all of your senses.
So you have the power to see love,
To hear love,
To smell love,
To taste love,
To speak love,
And to simply be love.
And remembering that your ability to do this exists in everyone.
And simply by acting in ways that are fueled by a deep love,
We inspire this same reaction in the people who witness us.
And that is how we continue that way.
Through everyone we come in contact with,
Just passing it along.
So if it feels like something you'd like to do,
You can let your hands place themselves somewhere on your body.
You can bring them to prayer at heart center.
You can place them maybe on your heart or on your stomach or just kind of trust wherever your hands feel gravitated to go and trust that they will go where they're needed most right now.
And we will seal this practice today.
So as you take a deep breath in,
A full,
Conscious,
Intentional breath in,
Allow yourself to be filled up with this air,
With this love from the world around you.
And as you exhale,
Just slowly letting all of that go and allowing the head to gently bow.
And just taking this moment to bow to the source of energy that you've come from,
The one who created you,
Whatever name you may have for that source,
Just bowing to that,
Giving a deep sense of gratitude just for your ability to hear the words I'm saying and to feel whatever it is that you feel in your body.
Bowing to that constant source of inspiration and guidance and love around you in the form of maybe ancestors,
Angels,
Spirits,
Guides,
Whatever word you may have,
A deep sense of gratitude and bowing to everyone else in this space who's completed this practice alongside you.
And most importantly,
Bowing to yourself for choosing to show up today,
For choosing to take the time out of your busy life for this pure act of self-love and self-care.
And may this act continue to heal you and inspire you through the rest of your days and nights,
And may you bring the same love and understanding into everything that you do and to everyone that you see.
Namaste.
