Hello and welcome to this guided meditation on softening.
My name is Riva and I will be your guide in today's session.
As you feel ready I invite you to find a place where you can be undisturbed,
A place where you can be really comfortable.
Maybe that's seated,
Maybe that's lying down on your back,
Maybe that's somewhere out in nature.
Whatever place you choose,
Starting to make your way there now.
Once you've made your way there,
I invite you to take a moment here to allow yourself to settle,
Allowing yourself to land.
Perhaps to help you do that,
You can start to bring your awareness to the points of contact with the surface that is underneath you or behind you.
So noticing the parts of the body again that are making contact with that physical support.
If you can,
The invitation here is to begin this process of softening.
Maybe you do that by softening just one person to that physical support underneath you or behind you.
Maybe noticing anything that might happen inside as you do.
Now keeping your awareness,
If it feels okay,
On that physical support underneath you or behind you.
Also slowly starting to bring your breath.
So we're noticing the physical support underneath and behind us and we're slowly starting to notice the flow of our breath.
Perhaps you've noticed that by even just bringing your awareness to the breath,
Might have already started to slow down.
Whether it has or it hasn't,
Perhaps you can invite the breath to slow down even more.
You can do that by maybe extending those inhales,
Really extending those exhales.
As you start to slow the breath down here,
Perhaps the invitation is to see if you can make these the sweetest,
Softest breaths that you've taken all day.
And as you're maybe continuing to take these slow,
Sweet,
Soft,
Deep breaths in and out of the nose,
Perhaps you might start to notice some physical sensations in the body.
Is there any tension that you are noticing in the body,
Constriction that you might be noticing in the body?
If there is,
My invitation to you is to start to bring your breath there.
Maybe sending those slow,
Soft,
Sweet,
Deep breaths into these places of constriction,
To these places of contraction,
Tension in the body.
So maybe you're noticing that tension in the shoulders.
If you are,
Can you start to bring your breath into your shoulders?
And as you start to maybe bring your breath there,
Perhaps with each exhale,
Allow this tension to soften.
Maybe that softening is just 1% today.
And perhaps once you notice some tension start to soften into that first place that you noticed,
Perhaps there's another place that you might notice,
Another place where you might be holding tension.
Maybe you might like to bring your breath there.
Again,
Continuing with these slow,
Sweet,
Soft,
Deep breaths in and out of the nose.
Maybe slowly and surely inviting the tension and the constriction in our body to loosen.
Again,
Maybe that's just another 1%.
And if you haven't noticed any softening,
That's perfect too.
Just continuing to notice what you're noticing.
Continuing to take these slow,
Sweet,
Soft,
Deep breaths in and out of the nose.
And maybe once you've noticed even just a few percent of the tension and the constriction in the body,
Perhaps you might like to bring your awareness back to that physical support underneath imitation here is to see if you can soften another 3% in this physical support.
Can you allow gravity to bring you deeper into that support?
Just a little bit more here.
Continuing to take these slow,
Sweet,
Soft,
Deep breaths in and out of the nose.
Slowly,
As you feel ready,
Perhaps you can wonder on this idea.
This idea that perhaps the physical support underneath you can be a representation of the unseen support that is within you and all around you.
Each breath you take,
With each day you wait.
This unseen support being this greater intelligence.
It can't always be seen,
It can't always be touched,
And yet it can be felt.
It's this greater intelligence that makes the grass grow,
Allows our hearts to beat,
Allows our lungs to breathe.
Any effort or any trying on our end.
Rather,
All these things just happen.
They just are.
So maybe,
Just maybe,
The way that this greater intelligence allows all of these other daily just maybe this greater intelligence is also guiding and directing your life.
The lows and all of the spaces in between.
So if we can trust in this greater intelligence that allows the grass to grow,
That allows the Sun to rise,
That allows our hearts to beat,
That allows our lungs to breathe.
Maybe we could trust that whatever is happening in our lives may simply be part of this greater plan.
So if we can maybe open up our minds to this,
Or maybe we can accept it,
Or maybe we could at least be curious about it.
Might we be able to soften maybe another 5% trusting and knowing that this greater intelligence has got our back.
That this physical support underneath you and behind you is supporting you.
And as you receive these words,
As you ponder on this idea,
Just noticing what's happening in the body.
Noticing what it feels like to soften a little bit here.
Just taking a moment here to really enjoy some nice,
Slow,
Sweet,
Soft,
Deep breath.
The softening.
As you feel ready,
Slowly starting to invite movement back into the body.
Wiggling the toes and the fingertips.
Stretch.
That feels good.
As you feel ready,
Slowly beginning to open your eyes back into your space.
Taking a look around and noticing what you see.
Noticing anything you might hear in the background.
And if you have time,
I invite you to take a few moments here to journal and to reflect on this idea of softening.
What that was like for you and the body.
As I always share in my sessions and in my weekly breath for classes,
It's always such an honor to hold space for you and to support you on your journey of prioritizing your health,
Your well-being,
Your self-love,
And your self-care.
Wishing you a beautiful rest of your day.
And I look forward to meditating and breathing with you soon.
Take care.
