Lying down in a comfortable,
Relaxed,
And resilient posture,
Preferably on your back or on your side in fetal position,
We're emphasizing two essential feelings and states of being in these practices.
One is relaxation,
Calm,
This ability to manage and ultimately reduce feelings of stress and anxiety by entering a state in between sleep and awake,
As restful as you can comfortably get while remaining conscious.
Yet,
While doing any of these practices,
If you'd lately fall into a short sleep,
That's fine too.
It's your body telling you that's what you need and go with it.
We're listening to our bodies to lead us to where we need to be at this time.
We're dropping out of the thinking mind,
Out of the monkey mind that's linguistic and linear and logical.
We worry about the past and ruminate about the future that's constantly planning,
And we're just learning how to access a state that puts us in the present moment,
Moment-to-moment awareness,
Non-judgmentally as we move through the seconds and the minutes,
The hours of our daily life.
We've learned to bring a heightened sense of curiosity to our state of being in this moment.
We learned to bring a state of being non-judgmental.
We're not trying to be perfect.
There's no pro-level of meditating in this way.
Being comfortable with the thought that part of the practice is when the mind wanders is that we note it,
And we learn to non-judgmentally bring it back to the practice.
Accessing a feeling of being able to let go and let be.
And finally,
Doing these type of practices is a recognition.
The recognizing that relaxation,
A state of calm,
Is just as much a part of being healthy and well as eating well and exercising.
That relaxation is not the absence of productivity.
That sleep and rest are just as essential for the health of our physical,
Mental,
Psychological,
And emotional well-being as all the other things that people talk about when they talk about health and wellness.
Us as humans are meant to be in a mostly relaxed state with very short periods of activity,
Slight,
Small bursts of stress,
And then we're meant to come back to a relaxed state of mind.
So making that connection,
Making the agreement and understanding with yourself that these are health practices.
Same as going to the gym,
Same as running or lifting weights or playing a sport.
In this practice we're going to work a little more on ability to be a little more open,
Choiceless,
A sense of almost free-floating awareness.
So as you connect with the feeling of the body lying here,
Take the body as a whole.
And we're not just going to focus on the foot or the shoulder or the belly rising or falling.
Take your own time.
Let the awareness go where it just floats to.
We're not trying to control awareness here.
Just being with what is and just running our awareness throughout the body very slow.
If there's some part of your body where you have some ache or pain,
We're not trying to disassociate ourselves from that.
If that's where the awareness goes,
Then be there.
And just be with feeling,
With sensation.
Not trying to control or manipulate anything.
Just let the awareness go.
Let it be.
Now bring your awareness to the breath.
Note the feeling of the breath.
Let's first feel the breath as the body breathes as a whole.
Maybe that just is a rise and a fall of the belly.
Maybe you have some sensations in the chest or in the back.
Maybe in a very subtle way you're feeling the body slightly different on the inhale and exhale actually throughout the whole body.
But just being with what is,
Being open,
Just experiencing the body breathing.
Now connecting to the rhythm of the breath.
Just be with this flowing feeling,
Like a slow-moving river or like a calm ocean.
Gentle,
Flow,
Deep,
Soft,
Whatever your feelings are in the body.
Just connect with that.
Now for the next couple minutes,
As we inhale,
Connect with a feeling of curiosity.
Completely open sense of curiosity.
So as you inhale,
You might be curious about how the belly feels or the arms or the shoulders.
Perhaps something through the neck or the face.
We're not trying to control,
We're just being aware.
And maybe on one breath,
It might be on the belly rising.
On the next breath,
You might notice a feeling through the shoulders or the face.
Just being curious with the inhale.
And then as we exhale,
It's a feeling of letting go.
Inhale curiosity,
Being with whatever sensations or feelings arise.
On the exhale,
Just let it go.
Let your exhale be really long.
Let the exhale come through the mouth with pierced lips.
Make the lips in the shape of an O,
Like you're doing a very soft blowing out of a candle.
And let the exhale go as long as you possibly can.
As we finish up this practice,
Recognizing you can return to this anytime you need to during the day.
One minute,
20 minutes.
Just bringing this sense of awareness,
Curiosity,
Non-judgmental,
With a feeling of letting go and just letting be.
With the understanding that we could have the ability to regulate our nervous system in amazingly short periods of time and start to influence our state of being by turning stress and anxiety into feelings of calm,
Relaxed,
Content mode of being.
Thanks for joining me.
