Hi,
Welcome,
My name is Dia and I'm happy to be your guide this evening.
Take a moment to settle in wherever you are,
Putting aside any distractions and then finding the comfort of your bed,
Your chair,
Whatever it is you are sitting or lying on.
Take a moment to adjust the pillows,
Feel the weight of your blanket and let your body find its natural center.
You've spent the day doing,
Managing time,
Managing your business,
Your family and now the invitation is to let go and bring yourself here fully present and fully relaxed.
We're moving away from the world of doing and we're stepping towards the world of feeling,
Releasing,
Dropping.
So take a deep breath,
Imagine a heavy velvet blanket being draped over your legs and your torso,
Allow yourself to feel the weight of the blanket as you settle in more deeply.
There's nowhere else you need to be,
Nothing you need to fix and feel the earth rise to meet you as you yield,
Feel the support of the earth,
Feel the support of whatever it is you are resting on.
And then from here,
Let's begin by setting an intention for your practice and it could be a simple I am statement,
I can release into the surrender of my heart and be held.
See if one of those resonates for you or create your own I am and fill in the blank.
Deep within yourself and to all yourselves,
Knowing that you are entering into the darkness of sleep,
It's safe to plant your seed of intention here.
Repeat your intention three times to yourself.
To the gentle rise and fall of your breath,
The way it moves your body as you inhale and the way your body softens as you exhale.
And we're going to count in five breaths to anchor us here.
Number five,
Breathing in,
Feeling the space you're creating in your body and as you exhale,
Let the weight of your body just drop down,
Down through the hips,
The legs,
The soles of your feet,
Hailing deepening into the support beneath you,
You are held,
Leasing yourself to gravity,
Surrendering to gravity,
To the weight of rest.
Bring your attention up to the crown of your head as you begin to release any heavy thoughts weighing on your mind,
Drawing down to your forehead and widening the space between your eyebrows,
Softening your eyelids,
The eyelids to be heavy,
Releasing any tension around the temple,
Letting there be space between the upper row of your teeth and the bottom row of your teeth.
As you feel the natural curve of your neck,
Move away from the earth and you soften and drop the shoulders heavily down,
Allowing the weight of your arms to just release here,
Letting go the doing with your hands and all the caring that you give to others.
Give yourself permission to let that love and care and now bring your attention back to your breath as you breathe in and soften through the collarbones and down through the front of your chest and behind your shoulder blades,
Moving down through your solar plexus.
Take a breath and watch the dance between your lungs as you inhale and your rib cage lifting and as you exhale,
Find that rhythm of softening together through the rib cage and the lungs.
This beautiful mechanism working together,
Lungs filling,
Rib cage lifting,
Exhaling,
Lungs emptying,
Rib cage softening,
And then moving down towards your belly again,
Take a breath,
Creating space for your organs to rest as you inhale and as you exhale.
Just be like a wave that relaxes and softens your body,
Moving now down towards your hips,
Releasing any tightness of the day that you may be holding in your hips,
Breathing,
Allowing the oxygen to flow and create space as you soften down the lines of your hamstrings behind your knees,
The back of your calves,
Your ankles,
And through the soles of your feet and up along the tops of your feet,
Your shins,
Your knees,
Your quadriceps,
Back up through the belly,
Up through the solar plexus,
Up through the heart center,
The pit of your throat and pause here,
Breath and continue up as you soften again,
Your jaw,
The space between your eyebrows and up to the crown of your head.
Taking a breath and feeling your whole body drop like the soft raindrops of a summer's eve rain.
The smell of the damp earth fills your nostrils as you allow the rain to wash clean any worries,
Lingering thoughts.
You can put those to rest now.
You're okay.
Just like the earth takes rest throughout the winter.
And with each breath,
Feel yourself walking more and more into the deep stillness.
You will feel rested,
Recuperated,
And light like the breeze of a warm spring day.
Give yourself permission to let go.
Give yourself permission to let go.
And all will be well for you.
You will find your way home.
A sound of my voice will begin to slowly fade.
But the music will remain to keep you company and as a container of rest for you.
And if you wake in the middle of the night,
The music will be here to remind you that you are safe.
Your body knows how to heal.
Your mind knows how to rest.
You are enough exactly as you are in this stillness.
Be at peace.
Rest in the home of your heart.
Rest in the home of your heart.
Be at peace.
You're okay.
And all will be well.
