Breathe For Awareness And Relaxation

Let's just start this practice now by connecting with your surroundings.

You may be lying down or sitting up in a chair.

Wherever you are,

Just make sure you feel comfortable,

Safe and secure.

Allow your spine to lengthen.

Allow your shoulders to relax.

And allow yourself to feel the surface beneath you.

If you're sitting in a chair,

Notice your feet in contact with the floor.

Perhaps you can wriggle your toes or gently rock your feet from side to side.

Until you feel your feet nicely connected with the floor.

And once you do so,

Imagine roots growing down deep down into the earth beneath you.

And if you're lying down,

Allow your back and the body to sink even more into the surface beneath you.

And once you feel comfortable,

Relaxed and quiet,

Just allow yourself to take a nice deep breath in through the nose and gently exhale if you can through the nose.

And if your mind wanders,

Just gently bring it back to focus your mind on your breath.

With no judgment,

Just gently bringing your mind back to your breath.

And if your mind wanders a hundred times,

Just gently bring it back a hundred times.

And as you feel yourself slowing down now,

You may notice the difference in the temperature of different parts of your body.

And just be curious.

Where do you feel most comfortable,

Most quiet?

What part of the body is feeling most comfortable to you?

And if you notice any areas of tightness or tension,

Just allow them to melt away as you keep breathing and bringing your attention back to your breath.

Gently breathing in through your nose and out through your nose.

You might like to scan your body,

Starting at the feet.

Notice how your feet feel as you move your awareness up now to your ankles,

Into your calves,

Your thigh muscles.

You may notice the sensations of your body in contact with the surface below it.

And as you bring your attention up now through your hips,

Your pelvis,

Into your belly,

Moving your awareness up into the chest,

The shoulders,

Down the arms,

Into the hands and right the way down to the tips of the fingers and thumbs.

Then you may like to bring your awareness back to your shoulders,

Up into the neck,

Into your face.

Allow your eyes to soften or close if they haven't already.

And just become aware of how comfortable you feel,

Relaxed,

Safe and secure.

And as you relax in this way,

Feeling calm and safe and secure,

We're going to begin to concentrate on drawing our breath into our bellies,

A practice,

A technique called belly breathing.

So I'd like you to place your hands on your belly.

Just rest them on your belly and now slowly begin to breathe into your hands so that you feel a gentle rise and fall of the belly.

Nothing forced,

Just feeling the gentle rise of your belly as you breathe in.

And as you exhale,

You feel the belly falling gently and slowly,

Nothing rushed,

There's no demand.

Just feel that lovely rise and fall of the belly.

So as you breathe in,

You breathe into your belly and as you exhale,

You allow the belly to fall.

And as you breathe in,

Allowing the body to relax a little more by creating a nice long spine and openness at the front of your body.

And as you breathe out,

You could imagine a sky hook from the crown of your head,

Just keeping you nice and elongated,

No tightness,

Just allowing that lovely lengthening of the spine.

And as you breathe out,

Allow the belly to fall almost like there's a piece of string attached from your navel to your spine.

So as you breathe out,

The string just shortens,

Pulling your belly button into your spine,

Exhaling all of that air from your lungs.

And just keep that going,

Breathing in through the nose,

Expanding the belly into your hands and breathing out through your nose,

Allowing the belly and the hands to fall.

And just continue that,

Getting into that lovely rhythm,

Your own rhythm,

The one that's right for you.

Some people like to imagine a straw going from their nose to their belly,

So that you can imagine that you're filling the lungs up from the bottom to the top.

And notice your chest and shoulders,

Allow them to relax even more.

Now creating that plenty of space between your shoulders and your earlobes,

Plenty of space to breathe.

And now you can feel that wonderful rise and fall of the belly.

I want you to move your hands to your waist,

To the sides of your waist,

So you can feel the bottom of your ribcage.

And as you do so,

You can now move your attention from your belly to your waist and begin to breathe into those hands again.

But this time,

Allowing the ribs to flare out to the sides.

Again,

Nothing rushed,

There's no demand.

So when you breathe in,

You allow the ribs to flare out into the sides.

And as you breathe out,

Allow the ribs to gently retract.

As you do so without any judgment,

Without trying to force any movement,

Just notice if there's any discomfort or difficulty.

And notice if it's easy.

No judgments,

Just notice.

And once you've done a few breaths here,

I want you to take your hands to your lower back.

Get a sense of breathing in to your lower back.

Notice how the body moves with your breath.

Breathing in to your back.

Taking nice,

Slow breaths in to the nose and out through the nose.

In through the nose and out through the nose.

And maybe you could place one hand at the front of your belly and one hand at the back.

Just notice how it feels to breathe into your hands,

Both forwards and backwards.

And notice as you take these nice deep breaths,

If any feelings come up for you.

Whether they're feelings of being calm,

Upset or frustration,

Happiness.

If anything else turns up,

Just notice it and acknowledge it and meet it where it is.

And then you may wish to move one hand to rest on your chest.

And as you continue those nice belly breaths,

Notice how the lungs fill up,

The chest moves up and out.

And then perhaps you can move your hands back to your belly and notice any changes.

And then perhaps you can move both your hands back to your belly and notice any changes.

Maybe there's more space when you breathe.

Maybe you notice that your hands rise more than they did at the beginning.

And as you continue to breathe into your hands,

You may want to consider using a nice affirmation.

Something like,

All is well,

I am safe,

I am calm.

All is well,

I am safe,

I am calm.

All is well,

I am safe,

I am calm.

And as you give yourself these final moments of really connecting with your breath,

Just slowly allow yourself to become aware of your surroundings.

Perhaps you can feel the surface beneath you.

Perhaps you can hear the sounds that surround you.

And as you do so,

You could begin to take a nice stretch,

Elongating your spine even more,

Stretching out your arms,

Stretching out your legs,

Wiggling your fingers,

Wiggling your toes.

And when you're ready,

Slowly and gently opening your eyes.

Well done.