Hello and welcome to the Stillpoint Meditation.
My name is Deb and today I'm going to be guiding you through a short relaxation practice to begin your mindful meeting journey.
Our brains are so hardwired to be going at a hundred miles an hour.
Our attention fragmented,
Scattered across a myriad of tasks and competing priorities.
Every possible moment of the day is filled with busyness,
With stimulation and noise.
So when we're asked to sit in stillness or quietly focus on just one thing,
We can sometimes experience an initial internal resistance,
Almost a discomfort that can discourage us from sticking with a regular meditative practice.
We need to think of our brains a bit like souped up cars hurtling down a freeway then suddenly being put into a much slower gear.
There's a disconnect and it takes some adjustment.
Relaxation practices are a highly effective yet completely effortless way of helping to signal the mind that it's time now for us to switch gears.
So let's begin.
Take a moment to find your seat,
To get really comfortable,
Cozy,
To nestle in.
Allow the eyes to gently close and as they do,
Start to feel the body almost instantaneously and quite effortlessly beginning to soften.
There's a sense that tension,
All that fatigue and worry is simply melting out of you now,
Releasing any areas of tightness,
Of gripping through the face.
All of the muscles of the face are becoming nice and soft,
The eyes,
The cheeks,
The mouth,
The jaw and then feel that same softness wash down through the neck and the throat,
Down into the chest.
It's almost as if you can feel a softening of the heart,
A gladness that you're taking this time just for yourself,
A sense of reconnection and coming home.
Now feel that inner gentleness wash down through the belly and also through the back body,
Feeling softening down into the hips.
Feel yourself drop,
Sink a little deeper,
Feeling that you're anchored now,
Tethered,
Grounded and so relaxed.
That wave of softness descends through the legs now,
Everything melting,
Letting go.
Now into the feet,
Whole body now is so relaxed,
Heavy,
Soft.
Now keeping the attention at your feet,
I'd like you to imagine that you have holes in the soles of your feet that you're able to breathe in and out from.
So as you breathe in,
You feel air,
Energy rising up from the feet through the column of the legs to fill up the torso.
Then as you effortlessly exhale,
Feel the energy travel back down the body and out through the soles of the feet,
Just working with your soft natural breath,
Inhaling from the feet through the legs and into the body,
Exhaling back down the body and out through the soles of the feet.
Inhale,
You feel the energy travel from feet up through legs and into the body.
Exhale,
You feel the air,
The energy travel back down the body and out through the soles of the feet.
And just take a few more like that now,
Working with your soft natural breath.
Now that you've connected with the rhythm,
The movement of this breath rising up the body on the inhale and down the body on the exhale,
You might like to also imagine that as you breathe in,
You're breathing in a sense of calm,
Of peacefulness.
And as you breathe out,
Anything that has been worrying you,
Concerning you,
Anything you're holding onto that you no longer need,
Just effortlessly washes away.
Breathing in,
I am calm.
Breathing out,
I let go.
Breathing in,
I am calm.
Breathing out,
I let go.
Breath in,
Calm.
Breath out,
Let go.
And on your next exhale,
Just allow that visualization of the breath to dissipate.
Give yourself a few moments in stillness,
Keeping the eyes closed to just allow that to land and to notice how you feel spending a few minutes breathing mindfully.
And then when you're ready to,
You can start to gently and slowly bring yourself back,
Stretching,
Moving,
Yawning as needed and slowly blink open the eyes only when you feel ready.
