Whenever you're ready,
You can allow yourself to settle back and settle in,
Just noticing the chair you're sitting in,
How it's interacting with your back body.
You might even like to make the most microscopic movements with different muscles in your upper back,
In the back of your shoulders,
Against the back of your chair,
So tiny that you're not even moving.
You might like to do it with the middle of your back,
Letting your back muscles feel the firmness or the softness of the surface you're leaning on.
Perhaps let your sacrum communicate with that same surface,
Noticing how it feels compared to when your shoulders noticed it.
Then very slightly tensing your butt muscles and releasing them.
A conversation with your muscles and the surface they are resting on,
The back of your thighs,
The back of your calves,
Even if it's air that they're touching,
And the bottom of your feet.
So many muscles in the bottom of your feet.
You'd imagine just your little toe creating a little bit of pressure on the side of your right heel,
Isolating different parts,
Letting yourself drop deeper and deeper into this conversation.
And when you're ready,
You can lift your hands up to your head and begin a new conversation between the tips of your fingers and your scalp.
So,
Noticing what the tips of your fingers want to do.
Does your palm want to get involved to cradle your head?
Where do your hands want to go?
Gently,
Slowly,
In slow motion,
Letting your hands travel over the beautiful expanse of your head.
Beginning to notice what changes when you cradle your own head.
Your own head.
Just allowing your head to be as it is in your hands.
Just allowing your hands to follow their instinct as they travel around your head.
Breathing into your hands.
Letting them begin to travel down your face.
And noticing,
Do you like to explore your face with the whole of your hand or just the fingertip?
What happens when your hands stay still?
Where do they rest?
How does your face relax when it's cradled by your arms?
How does your face let go when your hands allow it to be whatever it really is?
I wonder if your face relaxes into a smile.
But does it dissolve into tears?
I wonder if your cheeks sag or your mouth turns down.
I wonder what really emerges when your own fingertips create the safety for your face to just be,
To just feel without masking,
Without holding,
Without trying to be.
I wonder what your own fingertips allow.
Only you will know that.
And only you can feel that for yourself.
Letting your hands slowly drift down to your neck,
The same allowing.
Where do those fingertips go when you don't try to guide them with your mind?
Down your collarbones,
To your shoulders,
Down your sternum.
Perhaps you'd like to tap or pat yourself.
Feeling the edges of yourself and the space in the room.
Letting your hands cradle your belly.
Breathing into your hands.
Noticing the safety and warmth your hands bring as they wrap your belly in kindness and compassion.
Letting your hands tap over your hips and the tops of your thighs.
Wrapping themselves around your knees.
And all the way down the front of your legs to the top of your feet.
Keeping on noticing what your own hands bring to your body.
Perhaps it's a sense of containment.
Perhaps it's soothing.
Maybe it's healing.
You feel seen by your fingertips.
You're felt by your palms.
Your own hands allowing you to be exactly as you are right now.
Now when you're ready,
You can gently lay your hands in your lap or wherever else they would like to rest.
Notice what arises in your body as you sit and meet it here right now.
Quiet and calm.
Perhaps a little bit of peace.
Or maybe all this noticing made you realize that you're feeling something right now.
Whatever it is that you might be feeling,
Imagine your hands,
Your fingertips,
Resting around it.
Holding it.
Cradling it.
Containing it.
Allowing it.
I wonder if your hands can be the allowers of whatever is happening for you here today.
Your own soothing presence.
Your own caring.
Your own validating.
Your own loving response to whatever is arising right now.
Even your hands know that your body is wise.
That your body knows what to do.
Your hands can meet that knowing and help you in any moment.
Perhaps your fear to speak your truth makes your throat ache.
Your hand can gently support you.
Perhaps your belly is tight with fear,
Bracing against an unsafe world.
Your cradling hands can help you reassure yourself that you are indeed safe here in your own body.
Perhaps your heart has been hurt too many times.
And the grief clutches in your chest.
Your own hands can hold you while you move through it.
Perhaps you're anxious and your neck is so tight your shoulders heavy.
Your own hands can cradle that sensation and help you find your footing.
So many different ways in which your own body can both express,
As well as process and contain whatever is arising for you.
Letting yourself meet each moment knowing that it's safe to allow,
That it's safe to be with,
That it's safe to move through.
Your body showing you what it needs and then you through your hands giving your body what it needs.
What a beautiful dance.
What a beautiful language that you're learning to speak.
Let your body thank your hands.
Let your hands thank your body.
Let your body thank you.
As you begin to wrap this practice up and prepare yourself to come back into the present moment.
Notice what you learned and more important notice what you did to get that learning.
And slowly at your own pace you can gently come back into the room.
Welcome back.
