Coming into a comfortable position,
Lying down on your bed or the floor or yoga mat.
Making sure your head and neck are comfortable,
Preferably under a light pillow.
Make sure your lower back and the legs are comfortable.
Possibly putting your legs up on a cushion or a chair.
Or feet flat,
Knees up.
Or putting yourself in Savasana,
The position where the legs are out,
Flat and long,
Shape of a V and feet splayed out to the sides.
Just feeling into the body.
Making sure if you're lying on your back that you're very comfortable and the lower back is in alignment.
Take your time,
Find your optimal position.
Once again,
If you'd like to lie down on your side in fetal position,
That's okay for this practice as well.
If you're going to be using this practice to go into sleep,
Lying on your side is fine.
So bring your awareness to your face.
Attention to the forehead and the temples and the eyes.
Soften,
Relax the cheeks.
Relax through the whole facial structure and the chin and jaw.
Ensure that your head is in good alignment by making sure that your forehead is the same height or slightly higher than the chin.
Your neck is long and aligned,
But relaxed.
The shoulders are down,
Loose,
Relaxed,
The opposite of uptight.
So take a little time making sure you're not bringing any poor posture or tension from earlier in your day into this practice.
So bring your attention to your shoulders,
Down,
Loose.
The back feels comfortable and aligned,
Especially the lower back.
Remember by having the legs up a little,
It's our lower back in better alignment.
With this breathing practice,
We're going to be breathing in through the nose and breathing out very slowly and gently through the mouth with pierced lips.
As if you're slowly and gently trying to blow out a candle,
But not strong enough to actually blow it out.
So pierced lips like the lips are making a shape of an O.
And as slow as you possibly can,
Let the exhale go out through the mouth.
So inhale through the nose.
And then through pierced lips,
The longest exhale you possibly can make.
Start to connect with this feeling at the end of the exhale.
When it feels like there's absolutely no breath to exhale more,
Exhale another second or two.
We're extending the exhales.
So inhale,
Feel the breath in the body.
Exhale as long as you possibly can.
So for the next couple of minutes,
Have this feeling as you inhale.
Feel the breath in the body,
The expansion like a balloon of the lower belly and the torso.
And a feeling of just dissolving with the exhale,
This very long extended exhale.
Breathing out through the mouth with pierced lips,
Lips in the shape of an O.
Inhale,
Just feeling the breath.
Exhale,
We dissolve,
Dissolving any tension in the body.
Letting go of any thoughts,
Worries,
Ruminations.
Just a complete dissolving,
Letting go feeling with every exhalation.
I have the feeling with the exhale that you're just following the breath out as it goes off into the distance.
And as you're following it out,
It's almost like at the end it just falls off the edge of a cliff.
Breathe it in,
Feel the breath through the whole body as you breathe out.
Follow the exhale out.
Three meters,
Five meters,
Ten meters.
And as it gently just drops off the cliff.
Dissolving the sense of self.
Softening,
Dissolving the tension in the body.
Dissolving the worries and thoughts.
Just letting go.
Three more breaths like this.
Let me do one more breath altogether.
So finish your exhale.
Breathe it in.
And as you breathe out,
Just let it go.
Breathing out.
Breathing out even more until there's absolutely nothing left.
And let's hold at the bottom of this exhale.
Just be in the body.
And take a nice relaxing breath in.
And whether you're using this as a bridge into sleep or just a nice gentle break in your early afternoon.
Taking this calm,
Relaxed state with you for the rest of your evening,
Night,
Or day.
