If they aren't already,
Allow the eyes to lightly close and taking a moment to get even more settled in your spot.
Any rearranging that you want to do,
Any extra blankets or cushions that you'd like to have.
Take a moment and if there's any discomfort,
Pause the recording,
Get a little cozier and then start it again.
Shifting now your awareness into your breath and starting to feel your inhale and exhale,
Feeling your body with each inhale and leaving your body with each exhale.
Feeling this natural rhythm,
The rising and the releasing with each inhale and exhale.
You're going to cycle through the body now just to release a little bit extra tension.
So bringing your awareness now into your right leg and with your inhale tightening all the muscles in the right leg from the toes to the calf to the thigh,
Really contracting and with your next exhale releasing all the muscles in the right leg,
Letting it melt even more into the ground.
Switching to the left leg again with the inhale tightening all the muscles,
Trying to continue to breathe even when you're holding,
Even when you're contracting these muscles and with your next exhale again just let all the muscles in the left leg relax.
The leg is heavy,
Melts into the mat.
Moving on to the arms so again with the inhale tightening all the muscles in the right arm,
Making a fist with the hand and exhale releasing all the muscles in the right arm.
Contracting all the muscles in the left arm again making that fist tight,
Tight and exhale releasing the muscles in the left arm.
Now bringing your awareness into your midsection and with the inhale tightening the stomach muscles,
The chest muscles,
The shoulders,
Seeing how contracted you can make your mid body and with your exhale releasing again melting,
Feeling the shoulder blades get even heavier,
The spine relax more fully into the ground.
And finally bringing your awareness into the head and face and with the exhale squeezing the face,
All the muscles like you just bit a lemon and exhale release all the tensions in the face and the head.
The whole body now tightening all the muscles in the body and with your next exhale just letting the whole body melt even deeper into the ground.
Returning again to your natural inhale and exhale to the rise of the stomach and the chest and the release of the stomach and chest.
Especially after all that engagement of the body we just did allow yourself to rearrange to get resettled and then again shifting your focus back to the inhale and exhale.
Starting to count the breath,
Starting at 10 and working your way down to zero.
Each time the number decreases finding yourself getting more relaxed,
More at ease.
We'll breathe like this.
Inhale 10,
Exhale 10.
Exhale 9,
Exhale 9.
Then continuing on at your pace all the way to zero.
If your mind wanders,
If you've lost count,
It's alright.
Just start again at 10,
Working your way back down.
Telling the focus on the counting to disappear.
Returning once more to the natural rhythm of your breath.
And as you're here going ahead and setting a sankalpa,
An intention for the rest of our meditation.
If you're inspired this can be around a challenging relationship.
It can be around how to become more authentic.
It can be anything that's rising for you right now and once you have that sankalpa,
That intention,
Repeat it to yourself three times.
And then allowing your awareness of the sankalpa to retreat to the back of the mind.
Knowing that it will be there throughout our practice.
Seeing your body lying on the ground and picturing above you the night sky,
The moon still a tiny sliver getting bigger each day.
All around it,
Countless stars.
The stars are almost faint light blue.
They're so white,
So bright that there's that tint of light blue.
And seeing all the stars,
Allowing yourself to picture different constellations,
Real or from your own mind's eye.
Starting to feel as if your body is no longer on the ground but among the stars floating.
And as I go through your body,
Picturing that blue light from the stars going into that part of the body.
So picturing a blue star light at the space between the eyebrows,
At the eyebrow center,
At the base of the throat.
Blue star light at the right shoulder joint,
The right elbow,
Right wrist.
Blue star light at the tip of the right thumb,
Tip of the right index finger,
Tip of the middle finger,
Tip of the ring finger.
Blue star light at the tip of the right little finger,
Right wrist,
Right elbow,
Right shoulder,
Shoulder.
Blue star light at the base of the throat,
The left shoulder joint,
Left elbow,
Left wrist,
Tip of the left thumb,
Left index finger,
Tip of the middle finger,
Ring finger,
Tip of the little finger,
Left wrist,
Left elbow,
Left shoulder.
Blue star light at the base of the throat,
Center of the chest at the anahatra chakra,
Blue star light at the right nipple,
Center of the heart,
Left nipple,
Center of the heart,
Blue star light at the navel,
The manipura chakra,
Blue star light at the pubic bone,
Right hip joint,
Right knee,
Right ankle,
Star light at the big toe of the right foot,
Right hip,
Second toe,
Middle toe,
Fourth toe,
Little toe,
Right ankle joint,
Right knee,
Right hip,
Center of the pubic bone,
Left hip joint,
Left knee,
Left ankle,
Blue star light at the big toe of the left foot,
Second toe,
Middle toe,
Fourth toe,
Little toe,
Blue star light at the left ankle,
Left knee,
Left hip,
The pubic bone,
Navel center,
Heart center,
Base of the throat,
Eyebrow center.
Picturing now those blue star lights at each of those points of the body and feeling your own body mirrored in the sky above you,
Your body making up one of the many constellations in the sky above you,
Feeling yourself at ease,
Surrounded and supported by all the energy around us and bringing your awareness now back to the heart and allowing yourself to keep the focus on the heart center for these next two minutes.
Enjoying the visualization of the night sky and keeping yourself kalpa present if possible,
Keeping that intention or focus with you as you stay in that heart space.
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