Hey,
It's Doug here.
I'm here to get you relaxed in just 10 minutes.
Now,
We have no time to waste,
So let's get you into a comfortable laying down position as I explain the rest of this session.
As you're getting settled in,
Let me just tell you.
From doing my masters in neuroscience,
There's one thing I learned.
And that's that the brain is a funny thing.
It's exactly when we try to switch off that it goes into overdrive.
It's like the lack of stimulus causes the brain to produce its own stimuli.
And it's not always the type we want.
In this session,
We use the power of mindfulness to alleviate the mind of its worries and also allow us to get into a relaxed state.
If the mind insists it needs to think,
Well,
We're going to be in charge of what it thinks about.
So here's your first task.
I want you to start by becoming aware of your body and how it feels in your bed right now.
Begin to notice how comfortable you are.
And then let's dig into what that actually means.
And of course,
If you're not comfortable,
Do whatever you've got to do to get comfortable.
Start to notice all the different elements that contribute to the comfortability,
The softness of the mattress underneath you,
The warmth of the blankets above you,
The feeling of your weight being totally supported by that bed.
And now that you are fully aware of how much you are supported,
Can you let go of all of your weight and just give it in to the bed?
Can you allow that bed to carry all of your weight instead of tensing any muscles to keep it in a certain position?
We want to start to melt like butter.
And now as you breathe slowly in and slowly out,
I want you to feel yourself sinking into the mattress a little bit more with each breath.
Feels good,
Right?
Take a nice,
Slow,
Deep breath in through the nose.
Pull up those lungs,
Hold it for a moment.
And then as you exhale through the mouth,
Let that body get as heavy as humanly possible.
And repeat this a couple of times on your own.
Each in-breath filling you up with air,
Each exhale letting that body get super heavy.
Now gently bring your awareness into the present once again.
This time noticing the sounds around you.
Without judgment,
Without analysis,
Just noticing.
You can start with noticing my voice.
Notice how my voice travels through your ears.
Into your eardrum and then into your brain.
Then notice what other sounds are around you in the ambient environment.
Noticing something that is far,
Far away.
And then noticing something that is right next to you.
Something like the rustling of your sheets or the sound of your breath.
No need to label these things,
Just hearing the wide array of sounds that are available to you right now.
Sounds are everywhere.
And they are beautiful.
As you continue to breathe naturally,
Slowly,
Getting heavy with every breath,
Begin to scan yourself from head to toe.
Just observing how the body feels in every area.
Like a little checklist.
Simply looking at that body part and seeing if you can tick the column that says relaxed.
So face.
Head.
Neck.
Shoulders.
And so on and so on.
Keep checking through the body.
Ticking off all those major areas.
And now finishing up that checklist.
Systematically you have made sure the entire body is relaxed now.
And so you can bring your full attention once again to your breath.
Just noticing the gentle rise and fall of your chest or belly.
Not having to change anything,
Just noticing.
Rise,
Fall.
Feeling the cool air come in.
Feeling the warm air leave.
And if your mind begins to wander,
Gently just bring it back to any one of the things that we've covered so far.
Your checklist.
The sounds in your area.
Or the heaviness of your body and the comfort of your bed.
Remember this is your moment for relaxation.
This is your moment to relax.
This is your moment for letting go.
Enjoying every moment with that breath coming in and going out.
Resisting the urge to solve any problems or plan any things.
Just feeling like it's enough to be here.
Enjoying this laying down position.
This breathing.
This hearing.
This thinking.
Once again come back to that breath.
And for the last minute just feeling that inhale coming in.
And as you exhale feeling that body get heavy.
Sinking into that beautifully comfortable bed of yours.
That inhale coming in.
And that exhale letting you sink into your bed.
Rest well.
