A Breathing Meditation To Relax And Soften The Face

This beautiful body scan focuses just on relaxing and softening the head and face of the body by using the power of a deep breathing practice. Suited for beginners or more seasoned practitioners who are wanting to drop in and relax quickly, this practice is accessible for all levels.

Recommended:

- A calm and cosy space where you feel safe and can lie down comfortably;

- Two pillows (optional);

- A blanket (optional);

- A covering for your eyes (optional).

Transcript

Hi.

For today's meditation,

Please find yourself into a safe and cosy,

Comfortable space,

Somewhere where you can lie down.

Maybe that's on the floor,

Or maybe that's in bed.

If you can,

Have two pillows nearby.

And also,

If you like,

Have a blanket.

You might also like something to cover your eyes.

Today,

We'll connect with our body by scanning through just the head and the face.

This is a short meditation that's designed to enhance our ability to bring attention and awareness to the body in the present moment.

This is a skill that allows us to better understand ourselves,

Our bodies and our emotions,

Especially when our thoughts or feelings can feel wild or out of control.

And this practice today will help us to explore and find acceptance for all sensations,

Whether pleasant or whether challenging.

In time,

We learn to become less reactive as we develop the skills to put time and space towards observing and responding to whatever is happening in the mind and in the body.

If you find that your mind wanders today and your attention drifts away,

Know that this is perfectly okay.

The trick will be to gently return your focus to our practice and wherever we are at in the moment.

By doing this,

We'll form new neural pathways in the brain and find that staying focused becomes so much easier with practice.

So let's begin.

And start by preparing that comfortable space in which to lie down,

Placing one pillow underneath the knees.

Your legs are long and there's a gentle bend in the knees as they receive support from the pillow below.

Place the other pillow underneath your head.

If you're working with a blanket,

Bring that blanket across your body.

And finally,

If we're using a covering for the eyes,

Such as an eye pillow or a piece of fabric,

Place your eye pillow or covering over the eyes.

I'll give you a few moments to become comfortable.

In this time,

You might like to wriggle or move your body into the space just to help yourself drop in physically.

And start to soften your gaze.

If it feels comfortable for you,

Gently close down your eyes,

Softening the eyelids to allow them to float down over the eyeballs until they close and start to bring awareness to your breathing.

Notice the movement of your body as you inhale and again noticing the movement of your body as you exhale.

Begin to visualize your breath as a wave that rolls into the body on the inhale and out of the body on the exhale.

And keep breathing deeply as you continue to observe that movement of the body with the wave of breath in and the wave of breath out.

Notice the sensation of your body as it rests upon the floor whilst your body expands with the inhale and melts on the exhale.

Take another round of breath,

Breathing in visualizing that wave that rolls into the body and feeling the body expand with that in-breath.

And breathing out visualizing that wave of breath rolling out and allowing the body to melt into the floor.

On the next inhale,

Take a slow long breath in as you bring your attention to the crown of your head at the very top of your body at the top of your head.

Take a slow long exhale as you're ready.

Each time you breathe in,

Can you breathe in deeply focusing the fullness of your breath towards the crown and the head.

Each time you exhale,

Can you soften in that space.

And notice now the sensation of your head on the floor as your body expands on the in-breath and melts on the out-breath.

Take another inhale in feeling the body expand focusing the breath towards the top of your body.

And on the exhale,

See if you can melt the back of your head into the floor as you relax the head and the muscles of the neck.

Take another round of breath just like this.

Inhale focusing the breath to the top of the body at the crown at the head and exhale melting the back of the head melting the muscles of the neck.

And bring your attention to the structure of your face now.

Take a slow long inhale in as you focus your breath towards the face.

You should feel an expanding feeling in the face now.

Take a slow long exhale when you're ready.

And continue to work with this breath cycle inhaling breathing deeply focusing the expanding breath to the face.

And as you exhale allowing that exhalation to melt.

Each time we breathe in we focus the expansion of the breath into the face and as we breathe out we melt.

And without any judgement notice now just observing if there's any residual hardness in the face and usually there is some and that's why we're breathing now.

As you breathe deeply breathing in and then letting that breath melt out start to bring your attention over each part of the face.

And start by bringing our attention to the forehead.

Take an inhale in breathing deeply feeling the forehead expand on the in breath.

And as you breathe out allowing your forehead to melt and soften.

And take another breath just like this inhaling in allowing the forehead to expand exhaling allowing the forehead to melt.

Moving along to the eyelids now.

As you breathe in feeling the eyelids and the eyes expand on that inhale.

And as you breathe out feeling the eyes and the eyelids soften even further allowing the eyelids to gently float over the eyeballs.

And take another breath just like this breathing in feeling the eyes and the eyelids expand on that inhale and breathing out allowing this space to melt and relax.

And bringing your attention to the cheeks of the face now.

Take an inhale in feeling the cheeks expand as you focus your breath to this space.

And as you breathe out allowing the cheeks to soften across the face as they relax and melt.

And take another breath just like this breathing in the cheeks expand and broaden on the inhale and on the exhale they melt and soften.

And bringing the attention a little lower now to the lips.

Breathing in feel your lips expand and broaden on the inhale and as you breathe out allow your lips to soften perhaps they part gently on their own.

And take another breath just like that breathing in focusing the breath to the mouth allowing the lips to feel expansive and breathing out allowing the lips to melt.

And take an inhale as you bring your attention to your jaw.

As you breathe in feeling the bottom of your face expand with your inhale.

As you breathe out feel the jaw relax as it softens down perhaps allowing your teeth to gently part as you unlock your jaw using the power of your exhale.

And take another breath just like this breathing in allowing the bottom half of the face to expand on the in breath and breathing out allowing the jaw to drop as it relax and softens down.

Let's return our attention to the structure of the whole face.

Take an inhale breathing in deeply into the very base of the belly and exhale allowing it to release out of you.

And keep breathing deeply now as you bring your attention to the face noticing whether there is any residual tension left here.

And this is without judging and just by observing notice.

What is the quality of softness in the face now?

Is there space to soften even further?

And when you are ready take a slow long inhale as you focus the breath towards expanding the whole face and taking a slow long exhale allowing that breath to melt any residual tension and to create more softness now.

And let's do that again a slow long inhale in focusing the breath towards expanding the face and then a slow long exhale to melt the last moments of tension.

And returning your attention now to the back of the head and the body as it rests on the floor.

Take a long inhale in as you observe again the sensation and the pressure of the head and the body as it is on the floor.

Feel this space expand with the inhale and melt on the exhale.

Take another long inhale in observing and as you exhale melting the back of the head into the floor as you relax the head and the muscles of the neck.

And take another breath just like this.

On the breath in space expands and on the breath out everything melts.

You are now nearing the end of our exploration of the face.

Keep breathing deeply allowing that wave of inhale and exhale to move through the body.

As you continue to breathe as deeply as you can I invite you to spend a moment here just noticing how you feel both in your body and within your mind.

Keep breathing deeply as you observe without any judgement just neutral observation.

And take a long slow inhale in feeling the entire body expand and a slow long exhale out allowing yourself to melt.

If you are ready to start shifting out begin to enliven the fingers and the toes moving them gently.

You are very welcome to take a long and satisfying stretch by pointing your toes bringing the arms overhead and awakening the body by breathing deeply and stretching deeply as you move mindfully back into the present moment.

Well done.

You're home.

Reviews

I have TMJ and tension headaches. Thank you for this wonderfully effective meditation. 💐

Lovely 💕 I have facial pain and this really helps, thank you 🙏