Good morning and welcome to this short practice designed to help you begin your day with a sense of vitality and confidence.
This practice will help you strengthen your neural pathways for vitality by helping you connect with your own sense of inner summer.
Closing down your eyes if you like,
Taking three deep and intentional breaths.
Long exhales to really expel any stale air from the night.
Perhaps a stretch would feel good for you right now.
And beginning your morning practice with these words by Albert Camus.
In the midst of winter I found that there was within me an invincible summer and that makes me happy.
For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes up against me,
Within me there is something stronger,
Something better pushing right back.
Noticing how these words make you feel.
Perhaps they encourage your body to soften.
Maybe there's an invitation to sit up a little straighter.
Does your heart feel more open or optimistic?
Awareness resting on your breath now and imagining that each in-breath contains this sense of inner summer.
As you breathe in allowing the fresh morning air to weave its way into any pockets of darkness,
Any places that feel tense or tight.
This fresh oxygen,
This summer quality,
Waking your organs,
Muscles,
Tissues and ligaments like the morning Sun.
Each vital breath cleansing your blood,
Cleansing every cell in your body.
Here in this moment your body is vibrant and alive.
Primed for the possibility of this new day.
Noticing any sensation in your fingers and toes.
Perhaps there's a sense of warmth or tingling.
Maybe you can feel your heartbeat all the way into the tips of your fingers.
Really feeling into the edges of your physical body.
Opening into the idea that you are real,
That you matter.
Warming into the possibility that you can make a difference in the world today.
Softening the space above your eyes,
The small muscles around your eyes.
Almost as if you are inviting your eyes to smile at the potential of this new day.
Imagining what today would look and feel like if you approached it with kinder eyes.
Softening your jaw,
Tongue,
Teeth,
And gums.
Allowing a sense of lightness into the inner landscape of your mouth.
Imagining what today would look and feel like if the words you spoke were both confident and compassionate.
Shoulder blades sliding down your back just a little.
Neck lengthening,
And noticing how this naturally opens your chest.
Heart open and brave,
Buoyed by this sense of inner summer.
Resting here,
Mind clear,
Body relaxed,
Heart open.
As you ask yourself,
What is one thing I would do today if I truly believed I was held by the eternal energy of summer?
And taking a moment to imagine yourself doing this thing or acting in this way.
Trusting that as you create this image in your mind,
You are sending an energetic message out into your day that you are ready,
Ready to walk to the rhythm of your inner summer.
Ready to feel vital,
Compassionate,
And confident.
Rubbing your hands together,
Feeling your own sense of vitality growing.
Placing these hands somewhere on your body that feels good for you.
Opening your eyes to this new day,
Ready to shine your light onto the world.
