Relax Into Release: Loosen The Grip Of Anxiety & Stress

Welcome.

I'm so grateful to be here with you in this meditation practice.

This special time that we take away from all the doing and the external pressures and to-do lists.

So I thank you and you should give some gratitude to yourself for showing up here today.

Let's begin with settling into our space physically.

If you can simply start to check in with yourself,

With your body as you have found a place to sit or lie.

Simply scanning through if any area is kind of waving a flag for some attention.

Maybe in the form of some aches and pains in our joints or in our muscles.

Maybe it's tensions or feelings of holding on to stress or energy in the body.

And we're just going to acknowledge them right now.

Acknowledge the purpose that they have in our life to signal us,

To tell us when maybe something's wrong.

So we won't condemn those aches and pains but we'll just simply notice them.

And our intention is to not allow them to distract ourselves,

Our mind from the practice today.

So giving those aches and pains,

Those tensions,

Those feelings in the belly and the body,

Maybe in the heart with some sadness.

Whatever you're carrying with you just imagine giving it a little bit of a hug saying thank you and I'll get back to you after this or maybe I won't.

And now we move to checking in with the breath.

This breath that's been going on all day or evening without our efforts.

And just notice where your breath is kind of taking an inventory of how full it's like.

Maybe that causes you to take a deep breath in to move some air in the body.

Feeling it kind of swirl around and then letting it go.

And I encourage you to notice the breath in the body feeling it in the belly.

The softness of the breath kind of pushing.

The breath in the chest and the lungs.

On each inhale the expansion that happens.

In the upper chest,

Maybe feeling it kind of come in through the throat into the collarbones as it stretches and widens the body.

On the inhale and then the body seems to kind of contract and fall back into place on the exhale.

Can you feel the breath coming in through the nostrils?

Making its way up the bridge of the nose.

And then it comes down the back of the throat.

And then be with the whole cycle for a few breaths feeling it all fill in and make its way moving like one beautiful breath flowing in and out.

I'm going to scan through the body today with no other intention than to check in and just offer a sense of putting down.

A sense of maybe releasing.

A sense of just noticing as I walk through the body calling out each part.

Can you be with that part for just that moment and sense it and feel it and be into it?

And if you are not fully able-bodied,

If that doesn't resonate with you,

Just imagine that part of the body.

We always begin with a sense of groundedness in our body scanning.

So I encourage you to imagine yourself either standing rooted down like a tree or standing on the earth itself maybe feeling like there's grass beneath your feet.

But connecting with the energy of grounded of earth and feeling its strength so as we offer release and letting go of tensions we allow this earth grounding energy to move it for us to release it to let it go.

And with each body part that we scan just allowing yourself to give yourself to gravity to support letting someone else something else carry you for once.

So as we begin taking a deep breath in through the nose together and then collecting all the energies in the body and letting it out and your exhale.

Again a deep breath in through the nose collecting everything and then releasing and exhaling it all out imagine it disappearing into the air.

And one last one together.

And then full release letting it all dissolve and melt away.

Gently closing the eyes if they are not already.

Softening the gaze.

We bring our awareness down to our feet imagine being rooted into the ground feeling the four corners.

The heel strong that carries us.

The ball that helps us pivot and be quick on our feet at times or flexible.

Balance.

Sensing the whole foot.

Carrying all our weight around through the days if we are able-bodied.

Imagining the toes,

The big toe that balances us.

Do you notice any sensations or feelings as we walk through the body just noticing them?

Not allowing us to fall into the water or the water.

Not allowing us to fall into the water.

Not allowing us to fall into the water.

Not allowing us to fall into the water.

Fall into a trap of pain or feeling into it too much just noticing and breathing in as we continue to go through the toes.

Making our way down to the smallest one.

Can you barely notice it?

Can you feel it not moving it just sense it being there?

Moving to the right ankle.

The right shin,

The whole front area.

The right calf.

The right knee both front and back.

Our joints can cause us pain but we're not here to be part of that story right now.

We're here to just sense that part of our body to gently place awareness and be noticing,

Observing,

Moving to the right thigh.

If you're sitting or laying down can you feel any connection with something below you?

The fabric of your clothes or perhaps the softness of a pillow or the hardness of the floor.

What can you sense?

Moving to the left ankle.

The left shin,

The front of the leg.

The calf.

The knee,

The left knee both front and back just noticing and being aware.

If you feel nothing as we enter space in the body just simply noting in the mind nothing.

The left thigh.

The back of it feeling it supported and connected.

We feel the hips now so enduring in the space that connects us to our core,

Our center.

The right hip and the left hip,

Imagine them melting down into the ground feeling lifted and supported.

Kind of breathing into the space,

Imagine your breath as you take it in,

Sending it down here into the hips and softening and letting anything in that space just kind of dissolve with the breath.

As we begin to move up the lower back,

Begin to bring your imagination to the very root of your spine,

That tailbone.

Can you sense into this space?

We can never really feel this unless you injure it but imagine the sensation of drawing energy up through the spine from the earth.

Feeling the softness of the belly as you release any holding in the lower abdomen just allowing the breath to kind of massage and be in this space.

I like to remind us how much happens in this abdomen,

This core center of our being.

That is where food becomes energy,

That is where so many vital organs live to sustain us.

And it is where we carry and feel so many of our emotions.

We can feel anxious and excited,

Little butterflies,

We can have belly laughs and we can feel really upset in this space.

So let's be with this kind of core,

Abdomen space,

Breathing into it and just noticing what you feel.

It tells us when we're hungry,

When we're full and have so many messages that we can tune into at any time.

The breathing in through the nose,

Imagine all the air kind of collecting and just supporting the whole abdomen.

And we begin to notice the breath filling in and out and bring awareness to the lungs.

Feeling the lungs expand into even the low and the mid-back,

Can you feel and imagine each vertebrae just kind of melting and releasing in the back,

Just letting go to gravity.

The shoulders,

You may notice you've been holding them or clenching them,

Can you just put that weight down that you're holding up with each breath,

Just letting it go even further or melting even deeper.

Feeling the heart center,

Another space that continues to work behind the scenes.

We can also carry our emotions here.

And so simply breathing into the heart center.

Imagine it radiating out through the entire body with every heartbeat.

As we continue scanning,

Feeling the collarbones wide and stretched.

The throat,

The back of the neck.

The place where the neck and the jaw meet.

Sometimes we really have to actively notice if we are gripping,

We have to put our attention there on purpose to see where we are clenching and causing undue stress on ourselves.

Breathing all along the jaw,

The chin,

The lips.

The cheeks.

The forehead.

The eyebrows and the eyes.

Feeling the nose,

The tip of it and the bridge.

The back of the head if you are laying down,

Feeling what you are connected to.

You sense the hair on your scalp if you have it.

And the very crown of the head.

And we begin to sense the entire body as one whole body.

Feeling the entire body in the space that you are in in the room.

Whatever you are seated or lying upon,

Feeling your whole self being supported by the earth.

Positioning just being that lifted up self light.

Taking a deep breath in,

Imagine drawing all that energy into the body from the feet,

Pulling it from the earth and all the way up through the crown of the head.

Deep breath in.

Then imagine as you exhale a dissolving into the air all around you.

With each breath the body becoming lighter,

Giving itself over.

Deep breath in.

And a nice soft slow exhale.

As always I offer so much gratitude to you for showing up for yourself and being with me in community with others.

And until the next time,

May you be well.