Good evening.
I'm so glad you have chosen to take this time for yourself at the end of your day.
So often,
Our days are filled with so much busyness and clutter that by the end of the day,
Our bodies are unable to rest fully,
Our minds are racing steadily,
And over time we feel the tension build.
And so giving yourself a practice in the evening is a wonderful gift,
Not only to your body,
But to your mind and your heart.
So let's please find a comfortable seat.
You can either sit into a chair,
On the floor,
Or even on the sofa,
Something comfortable that still allows your spine to feel more elongated.
We'll begin a little differently by allowing the tension to release in our face.
And so I'd like you to take a deep breath in through your nose.
And when you're ready,
On your exhale,
Through your mouth,
Start to put your fingertips to your cheekbones and give your cheeks a little tap.
And then continue with that same breath,
Inhale through your nose,
Exhale through your mouth.
Now start to tap your jaw.
Any tension in the temples.
One more breath like that.
You might even go up to your forehead and just press and pull away on the forehead any worry lines,
Inhaling and exhaling.
Let your breath go for a moment and take your fingers up to the top of your head,
Like you're giving your head a little shampoo,
Start to rub your fingers into your scalp.
Look for tension spots and maybe hold there.
You might even feel a little more tension living in the back of your neck,
The base of your skull,
In the back where the ears are.
You can even pull on your ears a little bit,
Rub the back of your neck,
And even let your hands rest on your shoulders.
Give yourself a moment here to find your breath.
And on your next exhale,
Let your hands slide to the center of your chest and just press in a little bit right in your heart and just allow the energy of your day to slow down.
From the mind,
We move into the heart.
And just that tiny little bit of movement that we gave to our head is starting to bring the energy down,
The nervous system to calm.
I'd like you to visualize as you keep your hands in the center of your chest that the back of your heart has two little French doors or maybe even little flower petals that open as you inhale.
So let your breath breathe into the back of your body as you inhale.
And as you exhale,
There's a natural closing of those doors or petals back into your heart.
As you inhale and open up the back of your body,
Think of your lungs expanding,
The rib cage widening,
And as you exhale,
A nice soft corseting back in,
Like a hugging back into your heart.
Just do that one more time.
Feel that beautiful stretch from your breath and then exhale once again,
Land in your heart.
And keeping your attention a little bit more here,
As you let your arms release,
You can let your hands rest on your thighs,
Whatever's comfortable for you.
Allowing now your breath to soften until you feel a cooling breath at the tip of your nose.
Put all of your attention just at that cooling feeling at the tip of your nose.
Let's see if you can take the breath in very slow until it touches that place in your heart.
And then as you exhale from your heart,
Just following that nice even long smooth and soft breath out through your nose.
It'll feel a little more warming at the tip at the end.
So cooling breath as you inhale and a warming breath as you exhale.
Continuing with every gentle rise and fall to slow things down.
It takes time.
And sometimes when we go to turn the speed down,
We take our foot off the gas pedal and we start to press the brakes.
This body,
This vehicle doesn't really register stopping yet.
You might feel fidgety,
You might feel energy kind of pulsing and wanting you to move a little more even in your mind.
And that's why this breath awareness is so powerful.
Just putting attention at the tip of your nose.
As you inhale,
Feel it cooling.
Maybe feel how you can take in a deeper breath to your heart.
And as you exhale from your heart back out through your nose,
Feeling it a little warmer at the end.
And if you find it helpful,
You can put a count to this breathing.
Again,
It's not a loud or hard breath.
It's incredibly soft if possible.
So you're almost like not moving your body,
But you're moving your breath.
Staying as steady as you can,
Inhaling for a count of four,
From nose to heart,
Pause at the heart,
And then a count of four from the heart to the nose as you exhale.
Pause at the end.
Now if you can count to four all the way,
Even during the pauses,
We call this box breathing.
If it feels like it's too much for you to hold that long,
Then let the holding be less,
But equally steady.
Give yourself a couple rounds in silence here.
And then gradually you might find that you don't need to be counting.
You don't need to be focusing so much on your breath.
And that you can allow a deep listening to happen,
A filtering of your day.
Letting whatever is no longer needed inside of you just to descend downward and out into the earth.
Feeling a little lighter now into the rest of your body,
Up into the shoulders and head.
And if you need to stay steady with the rhythm of your breathing,
You can stay there in that nice rhythm.
Whatever it is for you,
Just know that giving yourself this pause at the end of your day allows you to honor the cycles that there is completion each day.
It doesn't run on to the next day.
Whatever happened today is in the past.
If you allow it to leave your body,
If you visualize it energetically melting off of you.
And with every breath inviting something new.
Perhaps just a little bit more light,
A lighter feeling.
We'll stay here in silence just a little bit.
If you find your mind trailing off,
Go back to the count of four,
The box breathing.
Or just noticing the tip of your nose,
The cooling and the warming breath.
Just keeping a little bit taller through your spine,
Just like a flower that reaches for sunlight.
Feeling how the crown of your head just naturally expands as you create a little bit more space,
Become a little bit more receptive to bringing in a little more light,
A little more support even from the universe itself,
From the energy around you in the most easeful way.
Now you can stay as long as you'd like and I recommend it.
You just have to pause the recording and stay with this.
Build up the time like you're building up a reservoir of energy inside of you,
Filled with positivity,
Filled with peace,
Calm,
Reassurance,
Whatever it is you need.
Let it fill you during this time for yourself.
And I'll end here by just bringing the hands to the heart and sacred reverence for the time given in this way.
Namaste.
