Hello,
Welcome to our practice on relaxing,
Releasing and moving into flow.
During so much of our day we can find ourselves lost in an endless internal commentary and much of that inner monologue focuses on what we want or don't want,
Like or don't like.
Mindfulness while deepening our present moment awareness also invites us to open up to what is without preferences.
So let's practice letting go of our need to make the universe behave in a particular way and see if we can experience a deeper opening to what is right here in this moment without any need to change or rearrange it.
So let's start by settling in and actually noticing where we're sitting in this moment.
We'll start here with a few conscious breaths,
Seeing if we can slow the breath a bit so that we're breathing a little more slowly and deeply than normally.
We're settling into the body and into the moment following the breath.
Go ahead and let your breath resume its natural rhythm,
No need to change it.
As we begin our practice,
I'd like to start by asking you to make a fist with each hand,
A tight fist.
Go ahead and do that.
And just pause here and notice what it feels like to hold on tightly.
What is the physical experience?
Keep holding that fist.
Right now we're experiencing that holding on tightly is a constriction in the hands,
But it could also be a constriction in a muscle or even a constriction around a thought.
There are so many places and ways that we hold on tightly,
That we grasp,
That we feel a need to control.
So now that you have a physical sense of that experience,
I invite you to slowly release that grip and let your hands open up very slowly like a flower opening its petals to the sun.
Now let your hands lie in your lap,
Relaxed and palms up and open.
Notice what that feels like.
So let's pause here for just a moment,
Palms up.
Reminding ourselves that we are open to give and receive whatever the moment brings here and now.
And now we'll turn our attention to the body.
So begin to slowly scan down the body from the crown of your head right down to the toes.
I'm going to walk you through this.
And as you move your attention through the body,
See if you can consciously relax and release any places where you're experiencing constriction or tightness.
So no judgment here.
We're just noticing,
Relaxing and releasing.
Starting with the crown of the head.
Breathing down through the temples in the area of the eyes,
Around the mouth,
Into the area of the jaw.
Relaxing around the back of the neck.
Moving our attention down into our shoulders.
Again,
Relaxing and releasing any place we notice constriction or pain.
Again moving attention through the upper back and the chest area.
Down through the lower back and the abdomen.
Through the hips and right down into the sit bones.
Breathing to the thighs and down through the knees.
And finally moving our attention through our calves,
Ankles,
Feet,
Right down through the toes.
Now consider your whole body and find one place where you experience some pain or tightness.
Just know where that is.
Now again will you make your hands into fists holding tightly.
And just as we did before we'll slowly open up those palms like a flower opening its petals to the sun.
And as you do this invite that part of your body to relax and release even more.
Opening up even more and doing so now.
And just as we scanned our body we're now going to scan our thinking.
What thoughts or emotions have dominated your consciousness within the morning,
The afternoon?
Is there something that you've worried about or that you've replayed over and over in your mind?
Or it could even be something pleasant that you're anticipating in the future?
Just notice what is taking up space in your thinking mind,
In your consciousness.
And take a moment to know what this is.
Now go ahead and articulate this as a thought in your mind.
Speak it to yourself and give it your attention for a moment here.
And just as we did before we're going to make a tight fist.
Again feel the tightness and the constriction.
And now slowly open those palms up like a flower opening its petals to the sun until your palms are open and face up.
And as you do this take your attention away from the thought.
Relax and release.
Back from the thought and let it go.
And for the last minutes of the practice we're going to sit in silence,
Palms open and up in our lap as a reminder to be open and relaxed.
So let the world flow through while we stay here in this still and centered place.
And I'm going to ring a bell periodically.
And if you find you're lost in thought or focused on an ache or pain when you hear the bell,
Let the bell prompt you to relax and release even more deeply,
Keeping those palms open and up.
This is our practice,
Not just while we sit but as we continue through the day.
Relax release rather than clinging to certain forms or preferences and maybe reminding ourselves of this periodically wherever we are just by opening our palms.
A gesture of our openness to give and receive,
To relax and release and to flow.
