For this meditation I recommend you lie down on a very comfortable surface.
Something you can really allow your whole body to surrender into.
It might be a bed or a yoga mat or a rug.
So lie yourself down on your back,
Face your palms up,
Relax your legs.
You may like to place a bolster underneath your knees.
Make yourself as comfortable as possible.
Once you are settled,
Taking three nice long slow breaths.
Inhale to the belly,
All the way up to your chest.
And exhale with a big sigh.
And again,
Inhale to the belly,
All the way up to your chest.
And exhale with a big sigh.
And last one,
Inhale to the belly,
All the way up to your chest.
And exhale with a sigh.
Using your exhalations as an invitation to settle deeper into your body.
Bring your attention to the support underneath your body.
The support of the earth beneath you.
Allow your body to merge with the support,
Whether that be a nice soft bed or mat or rug,
Wherever it is you're lying.
Really open yourself to receive the support underneath you.
Open your buttocks down into the support.
Soften the backs of your legs down into the support underneath you.
Feeling that support holding you and nurturing every part of your body.
Just like it's hugging your body like a cloud.
Softening your back.
Relaxing this part of your body down deeper into the support.
And feeling the contact of the support with your arms,
Your hands.
And also allowing the back of your head and your neck to really receive and meet the support underneath you.
And just noticing as well if there is some resistance to meeting with this support,
Meeting with the earth.
This is always available to us,
This support.
The physical environment is always holding us,
Whether it's our feet to the ground or our body to the floor.
There is always a part of our body that is in contact with the earth,
With the ground.
This is our security,
This is our safety,
This is our holding.
This is where the mother earth holds us through the force of gravity.
It holds us to the earth.
So allow yourself to soften into that feeling of being held,
Of being supported by the earth.
Allowing your exhalations to be that opening to soften a little deeper into that support.
Noticing if there is some resistance and breathing into this resistance,
Into this holding back.
There are aspects within us that are afraid to trust.
Afraid to trust the earth,
Afraid to trust life.
Because of our past experiences our body can be very tense and frozen in a fight or flight state.
But as we soften these parts we can learn how to trust again.
Trust in the earth,
Trust in that support that is always available,
That is always present.
And this is where we can find healing.
So just taking another deep breath in and as you exhale allowing your breath out to be that invitation to surrender deeper into the support beneath you.
Begin to feel your breath.
Become focused on your breath.
And as you feel that support beneath you,
You can also feel that consistency in your breath.
As well as we have this support underneath us always available,
We also have the consistency of breath always available.
We are always breathing.
Even when we're sleeping we're breathing effortlessly.
The body breathes itself without us having to do anything.
Feeling your breath,
Focusing on the breath in and the breath out.
And now just counting 10 rounds of breath.
Inhale,
Exhale that's 10.
Inhale,
Exhale that's 9.
Exhale,
That's 9 and continue all the way down to 0.
If your mind has wandered,
Bring your attention back to the counting of the breath.
You may continue with the counting.
Or you may finish this practice here with me.
Holding on to that presence and that peace that you have now cultivated into your day or into your night.
Namaste.
