Hello,
My friend.
This is Wendy Lauder with a special meditation for you.
Welcome.
Come with me into the stillness where you will,
In time,
Find your peace.
Let's begin by being comfortably seated and gently close your eyes.
Take a few deep breaths in and out through your nostrils.
Really fill those lungs up.
As you exhale,
You may have the urge to sigh or feel like you need to yawn.
Go ahead and let that happen.
That's your body releasing energy and stress.
It's really good.
So go ahead and just don't judge it.
Just let it be.
Go with it.
This is your time,
Your quiet time to dedicate to yourself.
No to-do list.
Not for the next few minutes.
It's all about you stepping into stillness.
Now go ahead and as you breathe in,
Count to four and then hold it for a count of four.
Then breathe out for a count of four and then hold it again for a count of four.
So we're going to keep repeating this light,
Comfortable breath of even four-sided breathing.
So we're breathing in for four,
Hold for four,
Out for four,
Hold for four,
In for four,
Hold for four,
Out for four.
Hold for four.
Continue on your own.
Nice and even on all four sides of the breath.
We want to keep it really relaxed.
So when you're holding where it's really more like you're simply stopping the breath in and out,
You want that to be a really soft feeling on your throat.
No need to tense up.
Nice and even on all four sides.
If you're feeling comfortable with the pace of your breath right now,
I invite you to stretch the breath.
This is where we slow the countdown just a smidgen,
Still keeping it even on all four sides.
And this can result in even greater relaxation.
So go ahead if you want to give it a try.
Stretch that breath.
If you're feeling like you need to gasp by the time you're inhaling,
That just tells you to tighten it back up.
Slow it slow it up on all four sides again.
No judgment.
It's just about playing with it.
It's a really unique experience.
At some point,
Your body will release and relax enough that you can stretch it again.
And you can sit with doing the just this part of the exercise.
This breath work,
The four sided breathing is fantastic on its own as a relaxation practice.
So continuing on with the four sided breathing.
Nice soft jaw,
Relaxed throat.
Now coming back into your regular breathing,
We can let go of the counting and sit feeling heavily relaxed.
And our mantra we're going to be repeating today is going to be all about giving yourself permission to relax and giving yourself permission to release whatever's weighing on your mind today.
And maybe that's something that is just in your thoughts,
You haven't been able to shake it.
Maybe it's been around for a few days or a few weeks.
Maybe it holds itself somewhere physically in your body as well.
Maybe you feel tight in your stomach area,
Or maybe you're a jaw clencher when you get stressed.
So as we continue,
Nice and relaxed with our eyes closed,
Go ahead and do a little body scan and locate that area in your body that might be holding any any sort of negative energy,
Any angst or worry.
And once you find it,
I want you to take a nice deep breath all the way from the depths of your belly,
Up through your lungs,
And your nose really let it go in and come back up and out.
Trying not to judge the physical manifestation of stress,
Acknowledging it,
It is there,
We're not pretending it isn't.
But giving yourself permission to move beyond it into relaxation and releasing for the time that we're together in this meditation practice.
In your mantra,
As we're breathing in,
Silently say to yourself,
Breathing in,
I relax.
As you breathe out,
Say to yourself,
Breathing out,
I release.
And really let yourself feel your body relaxing.
As you say the breathing out,
I release.
Breathing in,
I relax.
Breathing out,
I release.
Breathing in,
I relax.
Breathing out,
I release.
And you continue on in silence,
Repeating your mantra.
And we'll be still together for the next few minutes.
I'll watch the time and let you know when we can move back into the rest of the meditation.
Breathing in,
I relax.
Breathing out,
I release.
Breathing out,
I release.
Breathing in,
I relax.
Breathing out,
I release.
If you notice you've started thinking about things again,
No judgment,
Perfectly normal,
Just gently bring it back to this mantra.
In this practice and this meditation,
Just breath out deeply,
Come and sit still for This is your time.
Give yourself permission to let go for these few minutes.
Releasing,
Relaxing,
Relaxing,
Releasing.
Releasing,
Relaxing,
Releasing.
Continuing with your eyes still closed.
Gently wiggle those fingers and toes.
Move around a little bit.
Maybe rock side to side where you're sitting.
You could roll your shoulders.
Quickly enter back into activity after being so still.
Now with a nice deep breath in and out.
Go ahead and softly open your eyes.
I thank you for taking time to turn compassion inward.
Divine.
Okay.
