And if you haven't already,
Gently closing down the eyes or keeping a soft yet focused gaze toward the ground.
If you are closing down the eyes,
Letting the eyelids start to feel a little bit heavier as they soften over the eyeballs.
Starting to drop in now,
Moving from the external stimulus to the internal world of you.
Letting everything drop away that has been present with you up until this moment today.
And we come to our centering thought to find focus in these initial moments.
Today I meditate to experience calm.
Today I meditate to experience calm.
And with that,
Why not take the deepest breath you have taken all day in through the nose,
Wash it out through the mouth.
Take two more like that and as you do this breathing,
Imagine any tension,
Any stress,
Any worries being released through the out breath,
Washing it away.
And then allowing your lips to gently seal,
Continuing to breathe intentionally through the nose and starting to get curious about the breath that is here with you as you do so.
How does it feel to shine a light of awareness on your breath?
How is the breath behaving?
And over the next few moments that we share together,
Start to allow the breath a little bit more space,
Opening,
Relaxing the body to receive fuller,
Optimal breaths,
Employing the diaphragm and the ribcage with each breath in and each breath out.
And as you breathe with this opening and softening quality to the body and the mind,
Just notice what parts of your body are connected to the ground or to support beneath you and allow yourself to feel held,
Supported,
Noticing the quality and the stability that this support provides you.
And in acknowledging this,
You relax and release the body even more,
Trusting that you're held.
Feel the muscles releasing that fraction more with every breath,
The forehead,
The jaw,
Shoulders,
Hips,
All of the body starting to relax into practice.
Take the next 60 seconds or so to intentionally relax the body and observe this moment.
Body opening to gravity,
Body relaxing even more.
And with the body resting peacefully,
Starting to explore the breath once again,
Starting simply with an inhale for the count of four and an exhale for the count of four,
Counting up and down with the breath,
Equal breath in,
Equal breath out,
Explore,
Intentionally smoothing out the breath,
Making it spread through that count to four.
And if this breath pattern is working for you today and you want to stay within it,
Please remain.
Continue to work into that equal breath.
Otherwise,
If you want to explore the calm breath that is designed to support you resting and digesting further,
You'll breathe in for a count of four and you'll breathe out for a count of six.
See how you go.
Explore the breath for six breath,
Supporting your nervous system,
Supporting your state of being by shaping the breath consciously,
Curating the way that you'd like to feel from within.
Notice if you're still within the breathing technique or you've drifted off.
If you did drift,
Gently return to the breath.
Just a few more rounds of calm breath here,
Four,
Six,
Beautifully done,
Exactly as you are.
Wonderful practice.
Gently coming to the end of that breathing.
So when you come to the end of your count of six,
Just returning to an easy natural breath.
And here I invite you to become aware of anything that's altered through the breathing technique and then placing now your awareness through the body once again,
Noticing your physical form here in space.
And I invite you to visualize or imagine that you are lying or seated on a beautiful beach,
The comfortable warm sand beneath you,
The warm sky above you,
Clear blue in its colour with the warmth of the sun shining through.
You're not far from the ocean's shore and the waves are gently lapping up and down on the shore.
There's a subtle breeze in the air that keeps you comfortable.
And here on this beautiful beach,
You allow your body to relax even more.
You invite a very subtle smile through the lips here on this beach,
Feeling the corners of your lips gently drawing up.
And even if it feels a little bit artificial,
See what it does for you to have a subtle smile on your face here in your meditation practice.
Sometimes it can create a light,
Sometimes it can create another colour through the visualisation,
Sometimes it can just cultivate a feeling of lightness.
What does it do for you today?
And as you notice this gentle smile upon your face,
You might choose to gently let it dissolve,
Relaxing the face once again.
And here as you relax the face,
We're going to gently scan through the body here on the beach.
The entire face,
The eyes,
Eyebrow,
Nose,
Cheeks,
Lips and teeth,
The top of the head,
The ears and the back of the head.
Here on the beach,
The whole head,
Relaxing,
Softening,
Releasing.
Imagine any worries,
Thoughts,
Concerns that are present here in the headspace,
Gently drifting up and out of your head,
Blending into the infinite blue sky,
And then continuing to move with your awareness as your own teacher through your physical body,
Continuing down through each part of the body until you meet your feet.
Take your time,
Scan through your body bit by bit,
Explore,
Noticing where your awareness lies,
And if you drifted off from the body,
Gently come back to it and continue to scan until you meet the soles of the feet,
Placing your awareness down in the soles of your feet,
Imagining the water only a metre or so away from your feet,
Up and down the shore surface.
The air is fresh,
The body is so comfortable and warm,
And you're in the holiday feeling,
Where time stands still and you just get to pour back into you to replenish and restore.
From here,
I invite you to place your awareness into the centre of your chest.
And here on this beautiful beach,
We're going to explore some affirmations.
I'll leave a space between each statement for you to repeat should you wish to,
Otherwise simply let them ripple through you,
Supporting your mindset,
Your heart set,
As you listen in.
I am whole and complete.
I am calm and content.
I did my best today.
Tomorrow is a new day full of potential.
I choose to meet this new day with my best foot forward.
I choose to meet this day with optimism and hope.
I find a sense of calm through intentional breathing.
I continue to explore my inner world.
I am the curator of my inner world.
And if there's any other statement that you would like to bring into your awareness here in this moment,
Maybe it's a couple of statements,
Bring them in now to yourself,
From yourself.
With those beautiful affirmations trickling into your system,
Start to deepen the breath once again,
Feeling the back of the rib cage animate with the breath,
Breath starting to pour out into the tips of the fingers,
Tips of the toes,
Starting to increase the inhale,
Releasing the exhale,
However feels good for you,
Noticing your surroundings,
Where you are,
Any sounds in the space,
Any sensations in the body here in the space.
It might feel nice to start to wiggle the fingers a little bit,
Wiggle the toes,
A full body stretch could be a good idea,
Reaching the hands up and overhead,
Stretching toes to fingers,
Fingers to toes,
And in your own time,
You could blink the eyes open.
