And whether you're starting your day or you're ready to wind down from the day that has been,
I invite you to simply take this moment to meet yourself,
You've been on the run mentally,
Just meeting tasks or moving through things,
And you haven't spent a moment to actually meet yourself.
Today,
This is the opportunity now to sit with yourself,
To quiet in the noise.
So I do offer you this short visualization,
Your hand holding an empty glass jar,
The lid off to the side,
And you plucking all of the tasks,
All of the stories,
All of the cycles of your mind,
Anything that's keeping you in a certain cycle or pattern,
Taking all of that in your other hand and then pushing it into this jar.
Anything else that might create a barrier to you meeting the present moment in this practice,
Go ahead,
Gather it up,
Put it in the jar,
Find the lid,
Seal it off,
Pop it on the shelf above you.
Know that those things are there,
Should you wish to take them back,
You could just leave them in the jar if that feels good too,
But know that just for now,
Just for this practice,
You can leave them to the side.
And with that,
I invite you to take three smooth and steady breaths with compassion as you breathe.
A tender,
Kind,
Caring way of breathing,
Deepening your breath to tell your body that it's safe.
Each deep breath that we take is like a love note to the nervous system.
So over the next few moments,
You just start to allow a little bit more space through the breath.
Trying not to force it,
But just creating an openness,
A relaxed state of your mind,
Your body so that the breath can take up more residence.
Letting go of any tension in the jaw,
Shoulders,
Forehead,
Softening to open and deepen.
Allowing the lower lobes of your lungs to receive air,
Releasing any stagnant air that might have been stuck there that we haven't taken a deeper breath to clear just yet.
Just over the coming moments,
You just start to allow the body to fill with breath and then empty.
Letting the breath teach you about the present moment that it comes and it goes.
The breath being a beautiful gateway to pure presence.
We're going to do a really simple but beautiful breathing technique for today's compassionate practice.
And that is our four,
Six breath.
I like to call this serene breath because when we extend the exhale longer than the inhale,
We're supporting our parasympathetic nervous system to move into the rest and digest cycle and systems of healing and restoring.
So when you're ready,
Let's just clear the breath.
Go ahead,
Take a really deep breath in through the nose and through an open mouth.
Let it wash away.
Breathing in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Breathing in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Breathing out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Breathing in for four.
Breathing out for six.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
In.
Continue as your own teacher.
In for four,
Out for six,
Just a couple more cycles.
Beautifully done.
Take 5% of the effort out now and continue for just one or two more rounds,
Letting it feel a little bit more easeful,
Not so regimented.
And then gently when you're ready,
Returning to a natural breath in and out.
We're going to do just a little bit more breathing together to really support a compassionate moment for ourselves.
For the next breathing technique,
There will be some breath retention that I guide you through.
If you're pregnant,
Please don't retain the breath,
Just flow into the next part of the breathing technique.
We're going to do triangular breath.
There's going to be an inhale for four,
A pause for four,
And an exhale for eight.
You can visualize a triangle as we go.
So let's clear the breath to begin again.
In through the nose,
Wash it away with love through the mouth.
In two,
Three,
Four,
Suspend two,
Three,
Four,
Out two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
In two,
Three,
Four,
Suspend two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Suspend but relax two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale slowly three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Continue in for four,
Inhale,
Hold and suspend,
But soften and open for four.
And with control,
Sustain the breath for an out of eight.
Just one or two more rounds,
Triangle breath.
And when you finish your round,
Returning to an easy fluid breath with no retention,
Just letting the breath flow now.
Noticing how good it feels to not control or shape,
But just let it flow freely.
You're gonna do a little tension dissolver now.
So I'd like you to gently begin by scanning your body and find an area in your physical body where you do feel a little bit more tense.
It's all welcome.
Become aware,
Maybe the whole body feels amazing and you can't find anything,
But usually there will be one part that feels a little bit more tense than the others.
So I'd like you to find that place and just remain with your awareness there.
And I'd like you to bring in the visualization,
The sense memory of brick,
Like a brick wall,
Something very hard and tangible,
Solid.
And I want you to inhale fully.
And as you exhale,
Imagine this brick wall softening by 5%.
Do this a few times.
With each exhale,
The consistency of the bricks changing and it's moving towards a dissolving mist.
And from that brick to the mist,
With every exhale,
You get closer to dissolving that tension.
Softening into that space,
Letting the breath move through it.
And with each exhale,
You might even silently whisper to yourself,
It's okay to let go.
I choose to let go.
In letting go,
I create more space.
With that space,
I look forward to what will grow.
And allowing the breath to fully travel through that area that feels a little bit more tense.
And just notice how that area feels,
If anything's changed through that awareness activity.
And then gently just allowing your awareness to spread throughout the entire body,
That dissolving mist quality going to all areas of the body.
And just allowing any density,
Any stagnancy to be released and dissolved.
Spend the next few moments just sensing into that,
Taking your awareness to different parts of you and choosing to let go.
The colored mist might be different in different parts of your body.
You might choose still to use that modern mantra,
I choose to let go.
It's okay to let go.
Letting this be like a light of compassion moving through you,
Letting go of any stuckness.
So that you move closer to a steadier breath,
A kinder heart.
And a deeper integrated calmness and clarity of your being.
We'll close our practice today with some affirmations.
After each affirmation,
I'll leave a little bit of space for you either to repeat internally,
Or just to bathe within,
All through the lens of compassion today.
I choose to meet myself exactly as I am.
I acknowledge the need to deepen my connection to myself.
I allow myself to find balance between action and non-doing.
In the non-doing,
The stillness is able to emerge.
I allow myself to find balance between action and non-doing.
And in the stillness,
I remember my deepest self.
I choose to look upon myself with compassion and kindness.
I choose to share unwavering kindness with others today.
Take one final deep breath in,
In our shared practice.
And slowly,
Softly let it go.
Sensing into your house,
Your body.
Sensing into the room that you're in.
Noticing any sounds in your environment.
And when you're ready,
You'll start to bring some subtle movements back in through the fingers,
The toes.
If you're lying down,
It might feel really nice to stretch the hands up and overhead,
Reaching toes to fingers,
Fingers to toes.
And when you're ready,
You can blink the eyes open and come back into your space.
Take all the time you need with compassion.
