Welcome to this meditation practice.
My name is Teresa and I'm a physician assistant.
And as a physician assistant,
I oftentimes encourage my patients to engage in either progressive muscle relaxation or other kinds of meditative mindfulness practices.
And so today's practice is autogenic training.
And this practice can be really helpful for falling asleep.
It can be helpful if you're feeling stressed or tense to just lie down and go through this practice,
Inviting the body to soften,
Relax,
Let go of tension and stress.
So to start,
I invite you to find a comfortable position.
Lying down is actually a nice posture for this kind of practice.
It allows you to fully relax.
So we don't need to maintain a seated posture.
Lying down is actually encouraged.
And allowing your body to settle into a comfortable position.
And fully settling in the here and now.
And taking a few full cleansing breaths.
Breathing in through the nose and a nice exhale,
Sigh on the exhale,
Letting go.
Breathing in through the nose and exhale,
Sighing it out,
Letting go of any tension on the exhale.
Repeating this a couple more times.
And then allowing the breath to find its natural rhythm.
Letting go of any need to control or change the breath in any way.
Beginning to feel the inhale and feeling the exhale.
One breath at a time.
Allowing the attention to settle in.
Beginning to anchor our awareness on just this breath.
There's nothing else we have to do,
Nowhere else we have to be.
One breath at a time.
And I invite you now to draw your attention down to the feet.
And sensing into the sensations in the feet.
And repeating these phrases.
My feet are comfortably warm.
My feet are comfortably heavy.
My feet are comfortably warm.
My feet are comfortably heavy.
My feet are comfortably warm.
My feet are comfortably heavy.
And gently shifting the attention to the legs,
The lower parts of the legs,
The knees.
Upper parts of the legs.
And gently whispering the phrases in the mind.
My legs are comfortably warm.
My legs are comfortably heavy.
My legs feel at ease.
Imagining the sense of warmth and comfort.
A heaviness that feels comfortable.
At ease.
Relaxed.
My legs are comfortably warm.
My legs are comfortably heavy.
My legs are at ease.
And beginning to bring the awareness to the torso,
The belly,
The back,
The chest.
My torso is comfortably warm.
My belly is soft and at ease.
My heart feels warm and comfortable.
My torso is at ease.
My belly is soft and comfortable.
My heart is warm and at ease.
My torso is at ease.
My belly is soft and comfortable.
My heart is warm and at ease.
Imagining this warmth,
This comfort.
Coming into the belly,
Coming into the heart space.
All of the organs and tissues.
Bringing calm,
Ease,
Comfort.
And gently bringing the awareness to the fingers and the hands.
My hands are comfortably warm.
My hands are soft and at ease.
My hands are comfortably heavy.
My hands are comfortably at ease.
My hands are warm.
My hands are comfortably heavy.
And drawing this attention to the arms,
The forearms,
The elbows,
The upper arms,
And to the shoulders.
My arms are comfortably warm.
My arms are soft and heavy.
My arms are at ease.
My arms are comfortably warm.
My arms are soft and heavy.
My arms are comfortably at ease.
And a gentle shift of the attention to the region of the neck and the throat.
Up into the jaw and the face,
The head.
Head and neck are at ease.
My head and neck are comfortably warm.
My head and neck are at ease.
Feel at ease.
My head and neck are comfortably warm.
My head and neck are comfortably heavy.
My head and neck feel at ease.
And allowing the awareness to open to the body as a whole.
My whole body feels comfortably heavy.
My whole body feels comfortably warm.
My whole body is safe and at ease.
My whole body is comfortably heavy.
My whole body is comfortably warm.
My whole body is safe and at ease.
Allowing this comfort,
This ease,
Safety,
To permeate every cell of the body.
Imagining that the DNA can receive this information.
Comfort is possible.
Ease is possible.
Safety is possible.
And bringing the attention softly,
Gently to the breath once again.
And taking a couple of slow,
Deeper breaths.
And remembering that this is a practice that you can do at any moment.
It can help you fall asleep.
It can help you relax.
Thank you so much for joining me in this practice.
And many blessings to you.
