Here's a practice that can be done even in the space of 10 minutes.
You can do this practice sitting down or lying down.
If it feels comfortable allow your eyes to close.
If not just have them either downcast or fixed to one thing so they're not moving around.
Notice where your attention is right now.
Is it here with you in the room or wherever you are in this moment or is it lost in thought?
Wherever it is,
Is fine.
If you can guide your attention into the room where you are and try to follow my voice as I guide you.
Take a few slow steady breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth like you're sighing out your exhale.
And now allow your mouth to close once again and breathe slow steady breath in and out through your nose.
We're now just going to bring a little stretch and movement into the body.
So let's start by stretching the back of the legs by lifting the feet off the ground slightly and pushing our heels away from us.
Hold this stretch for a few seconds and keep breathing that slow steady breath.
As you breathe out allow the feet to rest back on the ground and just notice how it is to let the muscles of the legs soften here.
Once again as you breathe in lift the feet off the ground just a few inches and push your heels away from you to stretch through the back of the legs.
Keep breathing see if you can hold this stretch for a good 3 or 4 slow steady breaths and notice where you feel the intensity of the stretch.
In the back of the thighs,
The calves.
On your next exhale again let the feet and legs rest back on the ground and allow the leg muscles to soften once again.
Really notice how it is to allow the leg muscles to be a little softer than they were a moment ago.
Now let's do something similar with our hands and arms.
As you breathe in lift the arms away from you and stretch the fingers away from each other as far as you can so you're gently stretching the little webs of the fingers.
Keep breathing as you hold this stretch.
Now curl the fingers in and make tight little fists with your hands and notice if this activates the muscles in your arms.
Hold this and breathe slow steady breaths as you hold.
As you breathe out let the hands rest on your thighs or chair if you're sitting or on the floor if you're lying down.
Just allowing the hands and arms to rest here for a moment.
Let's do that once more.
Lifting the hands away from you or the ground stretching the fingers and thumbs away from each other.
Hold and keep breathing.
Once again curl the fingers in and make fists and notice the muscles in the arms as you do this.
Maybe you can feel a shift in the muscles as they start to work harder.
Maybe not.
Hold and breathe here for a few slow steady breaths.
On your next exhale allow the hands to slowly open and soften and the hands and the arms to rest once again on the thighs or the chair or the floor.
Now we're going to bring the little stretch into the jaw muscles by opening the mouth slightly and wiggling the lower jaw a little just for a few moments.
Notice how it is to move the jaw in this way.
No expectations just notice how it is for you.
If you have tightness in your jaw it may feel a little achy to move it at first.
Go slow take your time there's no need to move quickly.
Just slowly moving the lower jaw around.
Now we'll open our mouth as wide as we can and hold that for a few slow steady breaths.
Again notice any sensations around the jaw as you hold this stretch.
And now allow the upper lip and lower lip to come together and notice how it is for the muscles around the jaw to soften a little.
Having stretched the body a little we're going to move our attention around the body in a slightly still way.
So let's start by just noticing the feet on the ground.
How is it to allow your attention to just notice your feet on the ground?
Try not to have any expectation about how it should or shouldn't be.
Just see if you can be with the sense of the touch of whatever part of your feet is resting on the ground.
And if your mind keeps wandering away back to thought that's okay just gently try to guide it back following my voice as much as you can even if it's only for a few seconds at a time.
And now bring your attention to your breath.
See if you can gently slow the pace of your breath if it feels quite quick.
You can exhale through pursed lips to help slow your breath down if you wish.
And now bring your attention back to your jaw.
Notice if your teeth are pressing together or if your tongue is pressing into the roof of your mouth.
And see if you can allow your lower jaw to slacken away from your upper jaw and allow the tongue to rest away from the roof of your mouth.
Notice how it is to let there be some space in your mouth.
And now bring your attention to your neck and your shoulders.
Do you notice tightness there?
If it's possible in the position that you're in perhaps you might want to roll your shoulders back and down making big circles three or four times just slowly noticing how it is to move your shoulders in this way.
Slowly move your head to a lower little stretch in your neck stretching however you feel you want to stretch it.
The sides,
The front of your neck,
The back of your neck.
It may be a little achy to begin with if you carry a lot of tension in your neck and shoulders but in time moving them in this way can help soften that muscle tension.
And now bring in your attention to your stomach.
Do the muscles around your stomach feel tight?
Can you allow there to be movement there as you breathe in and breathe out allowing there to be softness even if only a little more softness than a moment ago.
And finally allow your attention to come back to the soles of your feet or whatever part of your feet is in contact with the ground right now just noticing the ground beneath you.
And as we come to the end of this practice when you're ready if your eyes are closed allowing them to open.
