This is a short breathing exercise and visualization designed to help you to relax and be completely at ease.
With your eyes closed,
Sit in a comfortable place.
Sit in a way that makes you feel at ease.
Take a breath through the nose,
Drawing it into your chest.
Inhale through the mouth.
Inhale again through the nose.
Exhale fully through the mouth,
Making a whoosh sound.
As you inhale through the nose this time,
Close your mouth,
Relax your shoulders and let your shoulder blades glide down your back as it were.
Mouth closed,
Exhale through the nose,
Slowly and smoothly.
Let a sense of being at rest cocoon you.
Inhale and draw the breath,
Filling your lungs so that your rib cage expands.
Inhale just a little bit more.
Hold the breath just a moment and then exhale slowly,
Allowing your breath to escape slowly,
Long and smooth.
Relax your belly as you inhale,
Filling it up with air like a balloon as you extend the breath a little deeper into your body.
Hold the breath a moment as you relax the muscles of your hips,
Sinking deeper into your seat.
Exhale slowly,
Fully and patiently,
Emptying your belly completely,
Maybe letting your navel press back towards your spine.
Inhale,
Inhale,
Inhale and hold.
Exhale,
Exhale,
Exhale.
Relax your forehead,
Having a sense of softening your eyelids,
Let your mouth soften,
Maybe letting a subtle smile appear all of its own accord.
Now imagine that you're on a tropical beach,
Soft white sand stretching for miles along its pristine shoreline,
Framed by green mountains in the far distance.
Notice that you have the entire stretch of the beach to yourself as you come to sitting on a comfortable wooden bench nearby.
As you sink into your seat,
Feel a warm gentle breeze caress your cheeks and blowing through your hair,
Helping you to let go of your daily concerns.
In the distance,
On the horizon,
The melting orange sun pours across the blue sky.
Golden yellows,
Shades of deep orange,
Velvet warm peach,
Pinks and purples escape across the dusk sky.
As the gentle waves of the ocean ebb towards you and flow away again,
Take off your shoes and walk barefoot across the powder soft white sand and step into the pristine,
Clear warm ocean,
One step at a time,
Until you can feel your feet completely submerged in the water.
Walk a step or two more and then sit down on the wet sand of the beach,
Feeling the gentle ocean waves ebbing and flowing over your legs submerged to the waist.
Now look once again to the horizon.
Take a deep inhale and enjoy the sun's rays dancing all around you.
Fix your gaze on the orange orb of the setting sun.
Feel its warmth falling on the centre of your forehead,
Melting through your skin,
Penetrating its liquid light into the cells beneath the skin.
Enjoy the warm gentle waves of the ocean gliding over your legs and around your hips,
Your belly and your waist.
Let the waves of the ocean wash away your concerns of the day.
Keep gazing at the flickering orange glow of the setting sun until you can no longer tell which is the sun and which is you.
You become one.
Keep gazing at the beautiful orange-purple glow of the sky until,
Eventually,
The sun disappears into the depths of the dark blue ocean.
Surrender yourself into the now to the pure pleasure of relaxation.
Let the waves of the ocean wash away your concerns of the day.
Keep gazing at the flickering orange glow of the setting sun until,
Eventually,
The sun disappears into the depths of the dark blue ocean.
Keep gazing at the beautiful orange glow of the sky until,
Eventually,
The sun disappears into the depths of the dark blue ocean.
