A warm welcome to this relaxation meditation,
Designed to give you a break from your busy day,
Where your body and mind can rest deeply.
This practice can be used at any time,
You might try it before bed to help you find a deep sleep,
Or perhaps during the day as a moment to recharge and rejuvenate.
You can also sit or lie down for this meditation,
It is possible that if lying down you might drift off to sleep,
Which is completely fine,
The music will continue for a little while if you wish to keep relaxing.
Now begin by finding a quiet comfortable place,
Allow your body to settle and your eyes to gradually close,
And we will do some steady breath work,
Through this you want to inhale through your nose ideally,
But if you are unable to do this,
Then inhale through your mouth.
Let's start by exhaling any remaining breath that you have,
All the way out,
And when you are ready to breathe in again,
Inhale slowly through your nose,
Allowing your belly and your chest to expand,
Pause for a moment at the top,
And as you exhale,
Try to do so through gently pursed lips,
Allowing the out breath to be long and steady,
Good,
Again inhale deeply through your nose,
Hold,
And release through gently pursed lips,
Exhaling all the way out,
Again breathe in slowly,
And exhale.
Continue to breathe in this way in your own time,
And if it helps to count your inhale,
Your breath hold and your exhale,
Then please feel free to do so,
And as you go deeper into the practice,
Try to lengthen your out breath even more,
As much as is comfortable,
A longer out breath will really help your deep relaxation,
It will calm the nervous system and help you to slow down.
You are doing fantastic,
Keep allowing your breath to be smooth and effortless,
Imagine it as a gentle wave creeping up the shoreline before trickling back out again,
Each cycle of breath brings your body into a deeper state of relaxation and dissolves any remaining stress or tension,
And you can breathe as you normally would now,
Just noticing any new feelings or sensations,
You can trust that your body knows how to relax,
All you have to do is simply allow,
Let go of any holding on and just be,
Imagine now that there is a golden orb pulsing above you and starting to cover your body with its light,
With this light also comes a new warmth,
Gradually now the light begins to narrow,
Becoming more focused on your feet,
And soon it will slowly trickle up your body,
All the way to the crown of your head,
And as it does so,
You can just notice these areas more acutely,
Paying attention to the sensations through your body,
Bring your focus to your feet now,
Where the warm golden light is concentrated,
And as you focus here,
You can start to notice how your feet are resting at the moment and what surfaces they are in contact with,
Maybe your heels are pressing into the carpet,
Or you might notice your feet touching your socks or your shoes or even the air,
Just observe here,
Focus on the very bottoms of your feet now and notice any new sensations here,
You might feel a new warmth,
A tingling sensation,
Or perhaps you just have an awareness of the soles of your feet,
There is no right or wrong here,
We are just being curious,
And as this orb continues to travel,
You can take a few moments to keep noticing the sensations in different parts of your body,
Golden light moves over the tops of your feet now,
It trickles up to your shins and around your calves,
The light passes over your knees and up into your thighs,
It moves into your hips and across your buttocks,
You feel the light trickling up and down your spine and spreading across your whole back,
The golden orb hovers above your stomach now and slowly pulses over your belly and your chest,
You can sense it splitting into two smaller orbs and moving down your arms,
Into your biceps and triceps,
Through your elbows,
Down your forearms,
Into your wrists and hands,
All the way to your fingertips,
The lights move back up your arms,
Coming together above your chest,
Before pulsing over your shoulders and your neck,
Very slowly,
It moves up over your face bit by bit,
Shining its light on your chin and your lips,
Your jaw,
Your cheeks and your eyes,
Your brows and your forehead,
And,
Gradually,
It reaches the very top of your head and circles over your crown,
Now,
The orb moves back up above your whole body and pulses in one big golden spotlight above you,
Now,
Your breath flows gently with this steady pulse and the light grows brighter with each inhale and darker with each exhale,
Almost completely leaving a very soft golden glow over you,
Barely visible,
And now you can just start to turn your focus outward,
Tuning in to anything that you might be able to hear or sense around you,
Now,
Maybe you can hear the rhythm of your breath,
Cars passing by outside,
Or maybe a clock in your room,
Whatever it might be,
Try to observe it without any judgment,
And,
If you notice a few different things,
Just allow your attention to drift wherever it would like to go,
Again,
There is no right or wrong here,
And now,
We can return to our breathing from the very beginning of our practice,
Inhaling all the way through your nose,
Pausing for a moment,
And releasing all of your breath through gently pursed lips,
You can do this a few more times and feel free to breathe at whatever pace is comfortable for you,
And slowly,
Now,
Return your breathing to its natural rhythm,
And just allow your awareness to rest gently in your body,
Wherever your focus takes you,
Your chest,
Your forehead,
Or anywhere at all,
Thoughts may come and go,
And this is completely normal,
You can simply observe them like passing clouds,
Here for a moment,
And then gone,
And there is nothing to fix or to solve at this moment,
You are in a state of deep rest,
Connecting deeply with your body and your breath,
And allowing yourself to relax completely,
And,
If you are using this practice during the day,
You can bring your awareness back to the room around you,
Gently wiggle your fingers and your toes as you slowly emerge from today's practice,
Otherwise,
You can continue to stay in this relaxed state,
And if you would like to,
You can trust your body to fall asleep and to let go of the day,
To trust the stillness and to drift off into peace.
