All right,
Let's slow down.
Take a deep breath wherever you are.
That's where we're gonna meet you.
That's where I'm gonna meet myself,
So that's what I have to offer to you.
Times are crazy.
Lots of stress,
Lots of unknowns,
Lots of change.
So as you breathe,
Notice if you're tired.
And acknowledge that that would make complete sense.
See as you breathe if you can allow some gentleness in to your clenched jaw or your tight heart,
Maybe tense neck or shoulders,
Your sinuses,
Your eyeballs,
Your belly,
Your temples,
Wherever it's showing up for you.
Let's take a moment to notice your body,
Your feelings,
As we all contend with the ways that this pandemic virus is impacting us.
And whether your life was smooth sailing or already a train wreck prior or somewhere in between,
Just noticing how this virus and all the unknowns and all the grief and fear and stress that it's bringing is impacting you and those you love and those you're concerned about,
Kind of humanity as a whole.
And take a moment to pause and let yourself be.
Let yourself notice all those thoughts,
That brain that's working over time trying to figure everything out,
Understand,
Plan,
Process.
Noticing your thinking,
The thoughts that are saying,
This is too much,
I don't want to be in the middle of this,
This is freaking me out,
The anxious thoughts,
The worried thoughts,
Exhausted thoughts,
Mad thoughts,
Sad thoughts,
The fear,
And all our parts that are inevitably being activated by lack of certainty.
The unknowns,
We don't know if we can fly,
We don't know if it's coming for us,
If it's gonna hit one of our loved ones,
We don't know if we're gonna have a job,
We don't know so much.
Maybe we're watching the bank account dwindle or health is not optimal.
Whatever it is that your brain is doing with this situation,
Just notice it gently with kindness.
Maybe you've got denial parts or parts that are minimizing it or parts that don't even want to think about it and kind of like,
Alright,
We're ready with the whole virus thing,
Let's talk about something else.
And that's fine.
Let's do that.
Let's talk about compassion.
Let's let ourselves feel kindness.
Let's give ourselves credit for anything we can,
That we're surviving,
That we're trying to thrive,
That we're just being the best version of ourselves that we can be,
Even if we have a lot of parts that are falling down on that job.
Just letting ourselves be with compassion for ourselves and for each other.
Notice what it feels like to open up to gentleness and kindness.
And if you're sitting,
Maybe you would let that big brain drop down and connect with your heart,
Releasing tension out of your neck and central nervous system.
Just hanging out here a little longer than you might typically.
And if you're lying down,
You might begin to stretch a little bit,
Heels in one direction,
Crown to the head and the other,
Just elongating the spine,
Releasing tension,
Stiffness,
Fear and pain.
Get some neck rolls in.
If you're lying down,
You could get some spinal twists in,
Legs to one side,
Arms to the other,
Or you could curl up into a little ball and hug your knees to your chest.
If you're rolling your neck,
Really luxuriate in it.
Get behind those rolls.
Get into those little nooks and crannies.
Involve your shoulders and your back and your chest.
Roll it out.
You tend to hold a lot of grief in the backside of the heart,
So bring those shoulder blades back when you're done with your neck rolls and then curve them forward.
I'm just going to kind of do some seated cat cows where you're opening up and then rounding forward.
And then when you're ready,
There's no rush.
Clasp your hands together.
We'll do a heart opening stretch.
Reaching up and over to both sides,
Right up out of the hip bones,
Waking up the central nervous system,
Sending love to our bodies and our hearts and our minds.
Bringing those arms out to either side,
Stretching and then back,
Placing the hands either in prayer pose or flat on your heart,
Centering,
Feeling your feet underneath you.
If you're laying down and you'd like to begin to sit up,
Now is a good time.
Or maybe you want to just continue to rest and that's perfectly fine too.
You could just roll over to one side,
Make a little pillow and connect with spirit.
The knowing that we're more than these incredible brains that sometimes are on fire and sometimes really let us down.
We're more than our hearts that,
You know,
Can feel all kinds of crazy hard feelings and are very capable of feeling love and gentleness and kindness.
That we're more than these bodies that we ask so much of.
That we are wired to be connected to care about each other.
So let yourself do that today.
Care about yourself,
Care about each other.
Let caring come in when you experience it from others.
Breathing fully with full awareness that we are connected to something greater than ourselves,
That we actually have a higher purpose and sometimes it's really easy to lose sight of that.
So let's set the intention to bring awareness to the ways that we're connected to humanity,
To the mystery beyond what we know.
Let yourself be both grounded and spacious.
As you go into your day or evening,
Let yourself be kind.
Allow yourself to take care.
And remember you have your breath resourcing and releasing.
So when you forget all this good stuff,
Let your breath be a reminder.
Maybe it'll be stress that reminds you and then bring you right into your breath.
Allow yourself this gift of life.
Namaste.
Adios.
Thank you.
