Learning Stillness (Live)

Learn how to create stillness and peace in your life with this 22 minute body scan and guided meditation. Settle in and relax. Recorded live during a workshop. (c) 2017 William R. Wood II.

Transcript

So,

Go ahead and do this.

Whatever posture is comfortable is fine.

I'm not going to tell you how to sit.

And I'm going to invite you to close your eyes.

Let's go ahead and start with the first step,

Which is the breath.

There's no particular way to breathe.

The question is,

How would you need to breathe to first and foremost connect to your body?

You might try a couple of different things.

You might try slowing your breathing down.

You might try breathing a little deeper.

There's not really a right or wrong way to breathe.

Just notice that your breath can be used to calm the body,

To calm the mind.

The second step is to start to relax the body.

Some of you will do this very well and others will need to practice before you get very good at it.

Let's start with a small muscle group like the eyes.

It doesn't have to be.

What if you were to pay attention to your eyes?

First off,

Just notice how they are.

Is there tension?

What about the small muscles that actually attach to the eyeball themselves?

Are you holding any tension in the eyeball?

Before you notice what's there,

Just invite the eyes to relax.

Bring your awareness to the back of the eyeball.

There's a little nerve there called the optic nerve that runs down deep into the center of the brain.

I wonder if you can become aware of that.

Just invite the optic nerve to relax all the way down deep into the brain,

Letting the brain relax as well.

What about the jaw?

So many people carry tension in the jaw.

What is the state of affairs,

So to speak,

In the jaw?

Are you holding tension or tightness?

Are you already relaxed?

See if you can invite the jaw to relax 10 or 20 percent more than it is right now.

That may mean that your jaw opens just a little bit.

Your mouth opens.

That's okay.

Like when you're lying down in bed and the mouth opens just a little bit.

See if you can relax the jaw 10 or 20 percent more.

What would you need to do to bring that kind of rest and relaxation into the jaw?

The neck and the shoulders,

Drawing your attention,

Your awareness to the shoulders and the neck.

First off,

Notice is there a position that you can adjust the head into to make the neck and shoulders more comfortable?

There may be.

Sometimes just a half an inch one way or the other will make all the difference.

You're breathing your awareness into the neck and the shoulders.

Just invite the neck and shoulders to release,

To let go of any tension or tightness that's there.

There you go.

Some of you are already starting to feel pretty good and others are just beginning to become aware of the body.

Some people will be so disconnected from their body that this is hard to do.

That's okay too.

Whatever your experience is,

Is just fine.

Scan your arms from shoulders to fingertips.

Notice how the shoulders and arms and hands can become quiet and still if you allow it to happen.

Once again,

Giving yourself any permission to change posture or to make little movements that allow that kind of rest and stillness.

Into the hands,

Into the arms.

Can be quite pleasant.

It's like you're taking a little break or you're giving your own mind permission to notice your body,

To appreciate your body,

To be still.

Scan your back from the base of the neck all the way down to the tip of the tailbone.

Just allow every muscle,

Every nerve,

And every cell to relax,

To let go,

To release the tension of the day.

Totally completely thoroughly.

That's right.

Now draw your attention down to the heart,

Deep in the center of the chest.

First acknowledging the heart with your attention and your awareness.

Can you sense the beating of your own heart?

If you can with some gratitude,

Just express appreciation for the continued movement of the heart,

Nourishing the body with its strength.

Just invite the heart to soften just a little bit with relaxation as you give it a gift of letting go of any tension or stress or tightness.

Every breath is a breath of release.

Then the organs and intestines,

The deep inner workings of the belly,

Becoming still and quiet and calm.

Giving the organs and intestines permission to take a pause for just a moment in a meaningfully deep and peaceful way.

What about your hips?

Bring your awareness to your hips.

Invite the hips to settle in and to relax,

Letting go of all the tension and tightness from the hips all the way down to the knees and all the way down to the toes.

Just hold on to your relaxation while we review the first two steps.

Step one is the breath to connect with the body.

Begin the process of calming the mind and the body with the breath.

The second step is to relax,

Scanning the body quickly this time from the eyes to the toes,

Releasing any remaining tension or tightness or awareness.

You have permission to relax.

The third step is to activate the imagination.

This is really the first major step towards communication with the subconscious mind.

Everything else is just preparing for it.

I wonder if you can imagine a really peaceful place.

Could be some real place or it could be some imaginary place.

But everyone has some kind of place that causes a deep stillness and peace to settle into the body and mind.

And I wonder,

Can you invite yourself to be there now?

What is it about that place that's so relaxing to bring such deep stillness and peace to you?

Or what's there with all of your five senses here in this relaxing place?

There may be things that you see that lets the body know it's time to let go.

It's time to be calm.

It's time to be still.

Perhaps it's the sounds of that place or the stillness that almost automatically triggers the body to let go a little bit deeper,

To relax a little bit more,

To become a little more quiet.

Depending on your place,

There may be smells,

Tastes,

Textures,

Sensations.

In the body that speak deep peace.

How does your body respond to what's here in this peaceful place?

One client once described it as a deep internal opening of peace.

What kind of experience are you having?

What are you aware of?

How is your peace,

Your peace unfolding?

How does your body respond to what's here in this peaceful place?

One can learn something deeply important by giving the mind space to imagine.

To peace.

One can learn deep and important things about rest and stillness.

So I invite you to bring these learnings with you back into the present moment.

Reorienting your attention to the here and now.

Opening and allowing the eyes to open as you bring this peace back into this moment.

Outside.

Feeling good as you do,

Having learned something very important as you come back.

Take a moment,

Sometimes it helps to wiggle the fingers or toes a little bit,

Or stretch or yawn.

Whatever you do is fine.

However you reorient yourself,

Just give yourself the space to come all the way back,

All the way back to now.

Reviews

Really nice meditation, thank you 🙏🏻

Great! Really relaxed. Thank you.

Very relaxing....in fact I fell asleep towards the end. Will listen again so I hear the end next time . Thanks 😊