Good evening and welcome to this meditation practice to help you wind down at the end of the day.
For this practice,
You can start in your comfortable meditation position,
Either seated with the spine long,
Feet flat on the floor,
Tailbone rooted into the support beneath you with the crown of the head lifted slightly,
Or if you'd like to lie down,
Finding some support,
Perhaps a pillow beneath your knees to make sure that your low back is flat and comfortable.
Whichever position feels good for you to wind down here at the end of your day.
Once you have found your comfortable meditation position,
I invite you to place one hand on your heart and the other hand on your abdomen,
The lower part of your belly.
Close your eyes,
Soften your gaze behind your eyelids,
Drop the shoulders down towards the earth,
Soften the muscles in your face.
We'll start our practice with three clearing breaths to remove any energy from the day before you and allow you to fully arrive here at this moment in your meditation practice.
Let's start by inviting a deep breath in through the nose.
Feel the breath fill up the chest behind your hand and fill up your belly.
And open mouth exhale,
Feel the breath reverse its journey out of your body,
Sinking the belly in,
Softening the chest.
Take another deep inhale,
Feel the breath fill up your chest,
Then fill up your belly.
And open mouth exhale,
Feel your navel sink in a little bit closer towards your spine.
Allow the chest to soften.
We'll take one more deep breath just like that.
Take a deep inhale through the nose,
Feel the breath swirling throughout your body,
Feel it reach on any point of tension.
And as you exhale,
Breathe all of that tension out of your body.
Feel your body slightly sink away from your palms,
Clearing out the day with your breath.
Fully clearing any energy that you've taken on throughout the day.
Come back to your natural rhythm of breath.
And just feeling how your breath interacts with your palms.
Feeling the feedback of just the motion of your breath.
Hands are soft and relaxed on your heart and on your belly.
Inviting this moment fully immersed in your breath to feel the aliveness of your body.
The breath is the quality of your vitality.
And with your hands you can feel your own breath.
Moving alongside the belly.
And shift your attention to the beat of your heart behind your palms.
Engaging with the rhythm of the beat of your heart and the flow of your breath.
Take a few moments to ground down into the sensation of your body by fully immersing in the beating of your heart and the flow of your breath.
Take one more breath in.
Feel the breath press up against your palms,
Touching each other with the sensation of your heart.
Kiss of life.
Then as you exhale,
Slowly soften your hands beside you or on your lap.
Allow them to relax wherever feels natural for you.
Then we'll begin a practice called a slow rectangle breath.
If you happen to be on a yoga mat,
This visual will be helpful.
But if you're not,
With our breath we're going to imagine a rectangle being formed around your body,
Creating a field of peace and protection around you.
So we'll begin by inhaling through the nose for a count of four.
Imagine this breath drawing a line at the top of your imaginary yoga mat.
Then exhale for a count of seven.
Feeling the breath draw a line that is the long edge of your mat.
Inhale for four,
Closing off the edge for the back side of your mat.
And exhale for a count of seven,
Completing this rectangle,
Sealing all four corners in.
We'll take this breath again,
Imagining each breath drawing a rectangle around you.
Starting again at the beginning,
Inhale through the nose for four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale slowly out the mouth or nose for seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale the back edge of your mat for four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale slowly out the mouth for seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Take another round of breath on your own,
Imagining each breath drawing a line of this rectangle.
Inhaling the short edge for four.
Exhaling the long edge for seven.
Feeling each breath strengthen this aura,
This energetic field of peace around you.
You're safe inside this rectangle,
Inside this imaginary yoga mat.
Take your last breath to seal in this rectangle.
Then gently let go of this breath,
And arrive back gently with your natural rhythm of breathing.
Then begin to take yourself back to the moment you woke up today.
How did you feel in that first waking moment?
What did you expect from your day?
What was the first thought that popped into your mind?
You woke up.
Now take yourself to this moment at the end of your day.
Notice how you feel right now,
Here,
In this very moment.
Allow any and all emotions to be present with your experience.
Even if you feel drained,
Satisfied,
Fulfilled,
Gratified,
Or proud.
Any sensations or emotions are welcome here.
It's important to just observe how you feel,
Despite any expectations that you had for your day.
And reflect,
Is this how you thought your day would go?
Where did you make space for flexibility?
Or what part of your routine brought you just a little bit of extra joy today?
What is the last thought you want to have before you close your day?
Now invite the sensation of gratitude in your body.
With this feeling of gratitude in your heart,
Begin to send it to all the little mundane moments of your day.
Even something as small as doing the dishes,
Opening your door.
Have gratitude for the fact that you were merely alive to experience them.
That is a gift in and of itself.
Honor the experience of the day you just had.
No matter how amazing or difficult it was.
Embracing the human experience in these little ways builds on the frequency of gratitude through this appreciation of life.
As we can observe our day objectively without labeling,
Forming or fixating on negative emotions or false stories around it,
We can let the day be exactly how it was meant to.
Allow these few final moments in your meditation to just cherish the gift of another day here alive in your body.
As you feel ready to close your meditation practice before you reawaken,
Invite another deep breath in through your nose and open mouth exhale,
Sighing it out.
Gently bring some life back into your body by inviting gentle movement and when it feels right to you,
You can open your eyes.
Take a moment to fully absorb the space surrounding you and then continuing on with your evening.
Thank you for trusting me to guide you through your meditation practice.
I hope you have a beautiful rest of your evening.
