Twenty Minute Relaxation and Guided Imagery

In this meditation,

You will want to find a place where you can be undisturbed for about 20 minutes.

Sit upright if you are able,

With your feet on the ground in front of you,

Or lie down if you prefer.

You will have the opportunity to release stress,

To call up a deep sense of peace and relaxation in your body,

To create a feeling of stability within,

And to restore,

Replenish,

And recharge yourself.

To begin,

Take a quick inventory of where you are at.

Notice what you are feeling,

What you are holding on to from the day or week.

Note your stress level,

How busy or quiet your mind is.

Simply notice,

Without judgment,

Just taking inventory.

Set an intention that for the next 20 minutes or so,

This is an opportunity to be present to yourself.

Chances are that you spend a lot of time in your life doing for others.

Now you get to nurture yourself with your own undivided attention.

We will begin with a body scan,

An opportunity to scan your body from head to toe as I guide you through.

As you scan through your body,

Notice places where tension or stress may be held,

And gently invite it to release with each out-breath.

You might imagine that each out-breath is like a gentle breeze easing away tension,

Or like a cascade of water washing away anything you don't need to hold on to,

Or perhaps some other image that may come to mind for you.

Begin focusing your awareness at the top of your head.

Notice the muscles in your scalp,

Around your eyes,

Your face,

Your jaw,

Muscles of the forehead.

With each breath out,

See this as an invitation to let go,

To relax tight muscles,

To let any knots unwind.

Use your breath to invite any tension to ease from your body without forcing or pushing anything away.

With each breath in,

You can invite some breath into those places,

Allowing for relaxed,

Open spaces,

Allowing for a feeling of ease to come into your body.

Let this ease and relaxation flow down your neck and shoulders.

Bring your attention there and notice how these muscles feel.

Don't force anything,

Just invite the body to relax as it is ready,

In whatever way it wants.

If tension remains,

That is okay too.

See if you can be with what is there,

With an attitude of acceptance for what is.

As you breathe in,

Direct some breath into your neck,

Shoulders,

And upper back.

Breathe out and allow those muscles to relax.

Feel the breath flowing down into your lower back now.

Notice the muscles in your lower back.

What do you feel?

Take a moment to simply breathe as you rest your awareness in your lower back.

When you are ready,

Bring your attention into your torso,

Noticing the sensations in your chest,

Around your ribs,

Into your abdomen.

Imagine ease and relaxation flowing to these places,

Flowing to all of the internal organs in your body.

Invite your arms to relax from all that they do.

With the next out-breath,

Allow a wave of relaxation to spread down from the top of your shoulders all the way down into your fingertips,

From your head down through your torso,

And now gently guiding your attention into your hips,

And noticing sensations there.

With each out-breath,

You are giving your body permission to release and let go.

Follow the sensations down through your hips and into your legs.

Imagine the relaxation flowing down your legs into the tips of your toes and the soles of your feet.

Simply releasing whatever wants to be released.

If you notice remaining areas of tightness,

Simply be with those sensations in a compassionate way,

Acknowledging what is there,

Knowing that your presence itself is healing.

Now bring your attention into the soles of your feet.

Imagine you are growing roots like the roots of a tree that grow deep into the ground and spread far and wide into the earth.

Imagine your body as a strong,

Beautiful tree above ground,

With these deep roots that keep it stable,

Secure,

Grounded,

And safe.

Imagine what your tree would look like.

Imagine a picture in your mind's eye.

Imagine breathing up from the earth anything that you need – peace,

Calmness,

Energy,

Patience,

Trust,

Or something else.

Imagine drawing up through those roots anything that you need in this moment,

Allowing this to nurture yourself,

Replenish wherever you are depleted,

Restoring and renewing.

With each breath in,

You are drawing up through your roots anything you need and allowing that to travel through your feet all the way up into your body,

Bringing the breath up to the top of your head.

With each out breath,

You can feel the sunshine shining above you and take in the light,

Imagining the warmth traveling down your body,

Soothing,

Nurturing,

And bringing ease as it travels from head to toe.

With each breath in,

Allowing yourself to draw in anything that you need.

With each breath out,

Imagine a deep peace spreading throughout your entire body.

See your tree with roots as it is nourished under the warmth of the sun.

Your tree is strong.

The roots give it stability to withstand whatever might go on around it.

You might envision the weather changing.

Perhaps there are passing storms.

These storms are temporary.

They come and they go.

Your tree remains standing.

There may be strong winds,

Snow storms,

Blizzards,

Or heavy rains.

Imagine your tree remaining stable,

Deeply rooted.

Weather changes,

Weather passes.

Your tree remains strong.

Let the weather come and go,

Like the emotions in your life,

Like the situations that come and go.

See yourself as that tree,

Deeply rooted in the ground,

Stable and secure.

Now call up a time in your life when you felt completely safe,

Calm,

And at peace.

Take yourself back to that time or place if it helps you to access these feelings.

Allow your body to remember what that feels like.

To experience that feeling now,

In this moment.

You are safe.

It is okay to rest and recharge.

Giving yourself time for this kind of quiet attention is so important to your well-being.

As you call up feelings of safety,

Calmness,

And peace,

As you remember what that feels like in your body,

Simply open to the experience and notice what is there.

Notice how that shows up in your body.

Let that feeling spread throughout your body so that it envelops you,

So that it becomes familiar,

A place that you can return whenever you choose.

In a moment,

It will be time to return to the room.

Before you do,

Make note of how your body feels.

Note anything that may have shifted or changed since you began this meditation.

If you'd like,

You can pick an image from this meditation,

Or a feeling,

Or a word,

Or something else that will remind you of what you experienced here.

You can take this with you.

Call it up during the day or evening,

As a reminder to your body of what it feels like to restore and replenish,

To set aside attention just for you.

Take a moment to think about how you might continue to restore,

Replenish,

And nurture yourself in other ways throughout your day,

Throughout your week.

Take a moment to envision what that might look like,

Even if it's simply pausing for a minute to take several deep breaths.

Whatever that looks like,

Envision now that you're incorporating that into your day and your week ahead.

Now beginning to bring your awareness back into your body,

Taking a couple of slow,

Deep breaths.

You may want to wiggle your fingers or toes.

Press the soles of your feet into the ground.

At your own pace,

Come back into the room when you are ready.

Everything restored,

Refreshed,

And renewed.