Welcome,
This is Sarah here.
Today we're going to do a body scan and the 4-6 breath for rest.
I invite you to get comfortable.
Find yourself either seated in a chair with the feet firmly planted on the ground or if available on your back.
Let's take a big body breath in together.
Inhale through the nose.
Open mouth exhale.
Today we're coming together to find rest.
What does rest mean to you?
Does it conjure images of laying in a meadow looking up at the sky or do you visualize your pet,
Perhaps a cat,
Nestled in to a little nook?
Whatever you define as rest,
I invite you to bring that color,
That image into your body now.
Whether your eyes are closed or open,
Let the sensations of that visualization come to you.
What does it feel like?
What are the sounds?
What are the smells?
And as you keep that focus,
Bring attention down to your pelvic area.
With your next inhale in,
Exhale.
What can you relax?
What can you release in the pelvic floor?
Notice what does rest feel like here in this space?
With your next inhale,
Move your attention up to the belly button.
And exhale,
Feel the belly button soften.
Just notice the breath entering here,
Allowing with each inhale,
Soft,
Soft expansion of the belly.
And with each exhale,
Slow and meandering return back to center.
No rushing here,
Feeling the weight of rest on your belly.
Then bring your attention to your solar plexus,
To right in between your rib cage.
And bring back that sense of rest that we cultivated at the beginning of the practice.
And as you breathe,
See if you can soften here,
Especially on that exhale.
What are the sensations sitting in the solar plexus?
Then we bring our attention to the chest,
The heart center.
And this is the place where rest can be very absent,
Racing thoughts,
Then we come bring those into the heart space.
With this next inhale,
Allow that heart to expand,
Allow there to be kindness,
Love.
And with the exhale,
Releasing any sheen,
Any shuddhas that are sitting in this heart space.
And then we come to the next inhale.
And with this next inhale,
Allow that heart to expand,
Allow there to be kindness,
Love.
And with the exhale,
Releasing any shoulds that are sitting in this heart space.
Nice and slow.
Notice if you can even slow your breath a little bit more,
Making the inhale softer,
The exhales longer.
Then bring your attention to your throat.
I invite you to swallow.
I invite you to even shake out the neck left and right.
And notice what words would you give to rest.
Does it feel like a short poem,
A free flowing song?
Notice how rest comes to be in this throat center.
Inhale and exhale.
Then I invite you to come and bring your attention to the back of your skull.
And this is such a sweet spot,
Right?
This is where we hold so much tension,
So much alertness.
And I invite you to call and rest here.
With that inhale,
Imagine the softness of a nice warm blanket wrapping around the back of your head.
With each exhale,
Allow the tiny,
Tiny ligaments,
The nerves to come back to you.
Tiny ligaments,
The nerves,
The tissues,
Just to soften a bit more.
Then with your next inhale,
Bring your attention to your forehead.
And I love to imagine here with the inhale,
A light grows large across my forehead.
And with each exhale,
It softens to right between the eyebrows.
Notice what rest feels like in the mind.
Yes,
There are thoughts,
How human of you.
Can you let those thoughts drift by without clinging to a story or judgment about them?
With that next inhale,
Grow that light.
And exhale,
Release the story you're telling yourself.
And finally,
Bring attention to your entire body from the top of the head,
All the way down through the back of the head,
The throat,
The heart,
Solar praxis,
The belly button,
The root chakra down the legs,
All the way to the soles,
The soles to the ground.
With each inhale,
Imagine the wave of rest moving up your body.
In each exhale,
Wave of rest moving down.
We'll move into the four six breathing.
And I invite you to hold that image of rest moving up with the inhale and moving down with exhale.
Inhale for a count of one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Pause,
Exhale,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Pause,
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Pause,
Exhale,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale in.
Exhale out.
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Pause,
Exhale,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Pause,
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Pause,
Exhale,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale in.
Exhale out.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Exhale.
Continue on your own.
Inhaling for a count of four,
Exhaling for a count of six.
Just for a couple more times,
Allowing the inhale to bring the sensation of rest up through your body to your head,
Exhaling back down the body.
Whenever the next exhale comes into your practice,
Return to a natural breath.
I invite you to notice any sensations that have come up.
Coming back to the question,
What does rest mean to you?
And taking this moment to understand how you can add some more rest into your life.
One last breath in together.
Inhale through the nose,
And soft open mouth exhale.
Open your eyes if they were closed.
You have arrived.
