Hey,
It's Doug.
I've got a cool,
Cozy relaxation exercise for you today.
It's a mix of yoga nidra and visualization.
As such,
I need you to do two things for me.
Get yourself laying down and comfortable and then close your eyes.
Begin to breathe in through the nostrils and exhale out through the mouth.
And as you're breathing in through the nose and exhaling through the mouth,
I want you to imagine that with your exhale,
You're blowing on the embers of a previous fire and you're trying to get that fire to restart.
You know how you do when you're a kid and the fire's going out,
But there's just some burning coals that you can blow on and if you blow on them just enough,
It'll ignite back into flames.
So your inhaling should still be through the nostrils,
But as you exhale out,
You'll be imagining you're blowing on these hot embers.
So carry on just like that.
The exhales lasting longer than the inhales and with each exhale,
Imagining those coals glowing brighter,
Getting hotter.
Each breath,
Breathing life back into that fire.
Inhale and then exhale on to those coals,
Imagining them glowing,
Imagining them getting hotter.
And last one now,
The last breath brings those coals into flames.
You got the fire started.
Return now to normal breathing,
Just in and out through the nostrils.
And since we've got a fire started,
Well,
We may as well go camping,
Right?
One of my favorite things to do when I go camping is toasting marshmallows.
I mean,
That's why we go,
Isn't it?
Now,
I'm not sure about you,
But in my book,
There's only one perfect way to toast and eat marshmallows.
And while you're breathing calmly and relaxed there,
I'll explain it to you.
It goes like this.
The marshmallows enter the flames.
You carefully toast it,
Twisting the stick of choice so that it evenly burns the outside,
Just so that it's a dark caramel brown.
At that point,
You take it out and use your teeth to remove just the outer layer of that hardened deliciousness.
And underneath,
You expose the soft marshmallow that's ready now to go back in to the flames and repeat the cycle.
That way you get multiple joy out of just a single marshmallow.
Now,
I'll be the first to say there are other ways to do it,
But this is the way you were going to approach your relaxation today.
By making a hard outer shell,
Just like a marshmallow getting lightly toasted,
And then shedding that hard outer layer,
Revealing the soft inside.
And then we'll repeat this until there's no hard outer layer left.
Each time we shed that hard outer layer,
That caramelized outside,
We enter a deeper state of relaxation.
So let's do that together.
Take a nice deep breath with me.
Exhale out the mouth.
Your next inhale,
As you inhale,
I want you to tense all the muscles in your face.
Press your lips together,
Shut your eyes tight,
Shut your mouth tight.
Try even close your ears.
Hold that.
And then as you exhale,
Let that tension go.
Shed that tension like the marshmallow.
Nice.
Just a recovery,
Normal breath here.
In and out.
Next inhale in,
This time I want you to tense your back.
Squeeze your shoulders together.
Squeeze your shoulders down.
Arch your back like Instagram influencer.
Hold all that full tension in the back on that inhale.
Squeeze everything.
And exhale.
Let that tension go.
Shed that caramelized outer layer of tension.
Normal breathing once again.
Just using these recovery breaths in and out,
Just to notice this level two of relaxation you found yourself at.
All right,
Next we're gonna tense this ab.
So inhale,
Breathe.
Start to tense everything on the front of you.
The abs,
The chest,
The arms.
Make fists.
Imitate the Incredible Hulk.
Hold all that.
Squeeze everything to the front center.
And relax.
Let that tension from the front of you go.
Return to normal breathing.
Becoming aware of the relaxation in your face,
The relaxation in your back,
And now the relaxation also in your front.
Okay,
Next up is gonna be the lower half of your body.
Inhale,
Tense those quads,
Your bum,
Your calves.
Make fists with your feet if you can.
Tense,
Tense everything in your legs,
Your lower body.
Squeeze it all.
Squeeze it together.
Squeeze it tight.
And relax.
That leg layer of tension now floats away.
Back to normal breathing.
Arriving now at level four of your relaxation.
Feeling the relaxation in your face.
Feeling the relaxation in your back.
Feeling the relaxation in your front.
Feeling the relaxation in your legs.
Now the next one we're gonna do is gonna be the entire body.
So everything we've tensed before,
All at the same time.
Alright,
Let's go together.
Inhale into the whole body.
Tense that face.
Engage the back,
The chest,
The abs,
Those legs,
That neck.
Feel like you've just grabbed an electric fence.
Everything is squeezing.
Everything has come to the middle.
Everything is tight.
Hold that.
Hold it.
Feel that tension.
Feel that warmth.
Feel everything working together.
And relax.
Every bit of tension now floats away.
Coming back to normal breathing.
Noticing how there's not one bit of tension left in the body.
All the layers have been shed.
Once again,
Notice the relaxation in the face.
Notice the relaxation in the back.
Notice the relaxation in the front.
Notice the relaxation of the legs.
Notice the relaxation everywhere.
Now feeling as light and fluffy as a marshmallow.
But now you're not the toaster type.
You have transformed.
You've been graduated to the type of marshmallow that floats in hot chocolate.
So visualize that lightness.
Visualize that warmth you're surrounded by.
And visualize yourself floating.
Gently being carried along that warmth.
Almost as if you can taste the sweetness through your skin.
No movement needed.
Just letting that relaxation,
That warmth,
Soak into your body.
Just begin to totally supported by whatever you're laying on.
Each breath imagining yourself bubbling up.
Inhale up.
Exhale sink down.
With each repetition,
Getting more.
Namaste.
