Inner Refresher | Guided Breathing & Meditation | 24 Minutes

Why not begin today by welcoming yourself into your practice?

You might even say internally,

Welcome back.

Then allowing the body to receive the start of your practice by landing and really choosing to be here.

Notice what parts of the body are resisting the stillness that we're starting to work upon it.

Notice any fidgety,

Any tense or fizziness in the body.

See if you can over the next few moments just let the body start to really,

Truly land.

Like the muscles get the memo that they can soften around the bones.

Like the eyelids get the memo that they can soften over the eyelids.

If you're choosing to keep a soft,

Focused gaze that is also an option.

Over the next 10-15 seconds just allowing the body to find stillness and then witnessing what happens when you start to still the body.

When you're ready take the deepest breath you've taken all day in through the nostrils,

Fill up the body system and then exhale however feels good,

Mouth or nose.

Two more deep arrival breaths in through the nose and then letting it go.

Slowly down,

Last one.

And then I'm going to invite you to place one or two hands onto your stomach.

Notice the way that you touch your body,

Can you bring a bit of compassion into the hand as you do so.

A warm,

Kind touch towards self.

And then allow the hand to rest there on the stomach as we're going to be navigating the breath there.

Just notice how the stomach moves as you're breathing naturally.

Notice if there's no movement at all,

That's okay too.

And most of us spend most of the day breathing up in our chest,

Glavicular breathing.

And in order to utilise our lungs for their capacity that they can gift us,

We must start to breathe deeper and lower into our bodies to activate the diaphragm.

And most of us when we say breathe in naturally draw our stomach in but to gain optimal breathing,

When we breathe in we're meant to allow the belly button to drift out in space.

So the belly inflates with the inhale and with the exhale the belly gently draws in.

So we're going to be workshopping this together,

Keeping the hand placed on the stomach.

I invite you to release whatever breath is present.

And then breathe in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Belly inflates,

Breathing out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Belly softens.

Breathing in,

Feel the stomach expand into your hand.

Breathing out,

Feel the stomach gently naturally drawing back in toward the spine.

Continue your abdominal breathing,

Breathing in to expand the hand up and out.

And breathing out to allow the hand to hover back toward the spine.

Abdominal breathing.

And see if you can make this smooth,

As smooth as possible.

If this could be a material,

Maybe imagining silk or velvet.

We'll be exploring this for some time longer so really start to allow yourself to drop into this practice.

Now you know the mechanics,

Sit back and receive,

Take 5% of the effort out.

Enjoy the breath floating the hand up and down.

If you'd like to take this one step further today,

Feel free to add in the ocean sound to your breath.

So in yoga we call this Ujjayi breath.

And it's a slight drawing in of the vocal folds,

The glottis,

To create a hush-like quality to the breath.

It might sound something a little bit like this.

And that just brings your awareness to the breath even more and quietens the mind even more.

It also creates a gentle inner warming to the body system.

Feel free to just remain with belly breathing or to add the layer of oceanic breath.

Your choice.

Feel free to take 5% of your breath now.

We've got just a little bit longer in our breathing practice.

For the last 60 seconds or so,

Are you able to let go even more and just notice the body breathing itself?

The mind can take a back seat.

The breath can do the movement now.

Each deep breath that we gift ourselves is a note to the nervous system that says you're safe and that you're in control.

The breath can alter so much within.

And from within we alter our external world.

The breath is a beautiful gateway to that front seat.

Taking your final round of abdominal breathing.

And then feel free to just allow the breath to work its way back to a natural flow.

You can release the hand from the stomach if it was there.

And then allowing the hands to find a new resting place.

Again the muscles soften even more around the density of the bones.

The shoulders,

The jaw,

The hips,

Legs,

Arms,

Chest,

Everything softens a little bit more.

And you just become aware of the natural flow of breath.

You might choose to begin our Alapanna meditation at the tip of the nose or the nostril region.

Witness the breath here for the next few moments and every time the mind wants to take you away are you able to catch yourself gently and bring yourself back to the breath?

You might choose to place a mantra on the surface of the inhale and exhale.

As you breathe in you might say,

Breathing in.

And as you breathe out you might say,

Breathing out.

See if you can strip back to the simplicity of the breath.

As the mind takes you elsewhere come back to the breath.

As you breathe in you might say,

Breathing out.

Notice where you are right now,

Are you with the breath or elsewhere?

Can you courageously return to the breath?

Imagine your breath at the nostrils or using your mantra.

And you're doing beautifully.

Can you stay with the breath a little bit more?

And if you do wander off and you notice yourself doing so,

Know that that's where the meditation is at play in those moments of deeper awareness.

Can you expand that awareness by noticing what you're thinking about?

Is it about the past,

The future,

Something right now?

Just become aware if the mind does take you out,

Where do you go?

And breathing in,

Breathing out.

Breath awareness.

And for the last segment of our shared time together,

You will experience a little bit of visualization meditation.

Try not to search for these images but allow them to come to you.

So to start with let's work from the breath.

With the next inhale,

Sense the breath expanding out from your body to the corners of the room.

Filling up the room with beautiful breath and energy.

And as you exhale,

Imagine that energy drawing back in toward your center.

Inhale expands the breath out to the edges of the room and the exhale draws it back to your center.

Notice what that does for you,

If anything at all.

And now I'd like you to imagine yourself sat by the side of a lake.

Now this lake might be somewhere you have been.

It might be imagined,

Make believe.

Imagine that it is that beautiful time of day where everything is softening,

The sky is turning a milky hue of pink and blue.

There's a fragrance of natural flowers in the air.

And it's been a warm day but the water looks inviting and cooling.

And you're sat by the side of this lake,

Hips and sit bones connected to the ground that you're sat on.

And within yourself you choose to stand up and walk toward the lake.

You get to the edge of the bank before the water's edge and if you're wearing shoes you take them off.

You see your bare toes and you allow them to feel the ground beneath you.

You take a couple of steps closer to the lake,

Now allowing your toes to submerge in the cool water.

That cooling,

Refreshing feeling washes up the legs all the way through your body.

And you decide it's time to go in.

Gently wading into the water you feel this cooling,

Refreshing,

Revitalising sensation wash through you.

Going under you feel the cooling through your hair,

The top of your head.

You take the deep breath when you re-emerge and you think it's a good idea to float and lie on the surface of the water,

Soaking up the last of the days rays.

Feeling that softness of the sun against your skin and the coolness of the water beneath you.

And you just let yourself float,

Suspended in time,

Nourished and purified by the water.

You choose to stay a little while,

Suspended.

And after some time where you feel like you have received the rebalancing that you were seeking you start to gather yourself to move back on out of the lake.

Finding the warmest,

Cosiest towel folded by the side of the bank,

Freshly washed.

You gather yourself into the towel,

Sit by the lake and admire the changing sky.

You reflect on the day that has been and with that reflection you find something to be grateful for.

What are you grateful for today?

Take the next few moments to sense that and invite it in.

Bringing that gratitude deep into your heart,

You allow the image of the lake,

The end of the day sky to gently dissolve and you come back into the felt experience of your physical body here.

You might notice the sounds in your environment once again.

You might feel the atmosphere around you.

And then taking a few deeper breaths.

Start to bring some gentle movement into the body however that looks for you.

And only when you're ready you can start to blink the eyes open,

Coming back into the different.

You you