The Art Of Relaxation

Hello and welcome to the art of relaxation.

For many people relaxation does not come easy.

Our lives are constantly moments of microstresses,

Whether it's living in a big city,

Crossing the road,

Difficult conversations at work or traumatic events that might have occurred to us during our lives.

This leaves a mark on the body making it really difficult to fully let go and surrender.

Making it difficult to fully relax.

And relaxation is a key component in life.

Relaxation leads to restoration.

How can we expect to lead full,

Healthy,

Happy lives if we are not dedicating time to our relaxation?

This track is for all the people that find it difficult to relax or can only feel relaxed through external stimuluses such as alcohol,

Cigarettes,

Porn,

Netflix,

The list goes on and on.

Join me as we dive deep into the realms of relaxation.

So begin by lying down,

Grab a blanket,

A pillow,

Any cushions or props that you might need to enhance your relaxation experience.

We're going to be working through some gentle and soothing breath based practices that are going to help you to fully let go and surrender.

Each of these practices are easy to understand and follow and I will explain each practice before leading you into the practice and then leading you out of the practice.

All you have to do is follow the sound of my voice.

So begin by finding that comfortable position,

Lying down on the floor,

Making sure that you're surrounded by pillows,

Blankets,

Making sure that you're surrounded by comfort.

And just make any last movements that you need to make before allowing the body just to drift into stillness.

And I want you first to become aware of all the sounds,

The colours,

The lights,

All of the external stimulus that's happening around in your room.

With the eyes closed,

Just begin to paint a mental picture of your surroundings,

Whether that's you in your bedroom or in your home or in your living room.

Just become aware of everything that is around you.

And then we're going to slowly bring our awareness from outside of us towards us.

So I want you now to really just focus and concentrate on your forehead.

And just allow a sense of softness to begin to take hold of your forehead.

So meaning there's no frowning,

There's no cringing,

There's no clinging,

Simply just allowing the forehead just to soften.

And then slowly just feeling the weight of the eyelids as you close your eyes if you haven't already.

And just closing off to your external world and beginning to open up to your internal world.

And just bringing that softness down now into the sides of the face.

Softening up around the temples,

Moving down into the jaw,

Releasing,

Letting go of any tension that you may be holding on to,

Any pain,

Any regret,

Any grief,

Any anger.

Use the power of your mind to just begin to slowly dissolve it,

Slowly melt it.

As you allow yourself just to drift into a state of complete stillness,

Of complete relaxation,

Letting your body sleep,

Letting your body restore.

As you bring that softness now into the neck,

Softening up around the neck,

Moving down and spreading like the ripples of a pond,

The shoulders begin to experience that softness,

That surrender.

And you're invited to let go of all the weight that you've been carrying on your shoulders.

Surrender it for this moment,

Trust yourself,

Trust the ground and just allow the shoulders to fully soften.

And simultaneously the softness begins to spread down both arms as we just begin to switch off all the muscles and the fibres and the ligaments that keep our body standing up straight,

Keep our body walking,

Keep our body running,

Moving,

Doing all the things it has to do in order to live your life.

We're giving the body a break here,

We're giving the body a chance to restore and replenish,

Feeling a heaviness beginning to take over in the arms now as you fully surrender and allow yourself just to drift.

Drift into a state of complete and utter relaxation and letting that softness now spread from the heart like a gentle wave it moves through the chest,

Making its way all the way down the abdomen and then slowly just seeping into the hips,

The emotional centres of the body,

Fully letting the hips just sink into the floor and just allowing the body,

The mind to drift.

To drift into a state of complete relaxation,

Complete presence and bliss as that softness now seeps through the hips and down the legs,

Slowly making its way to the feet until you begin to feel this full sense of softness take over in the body,

A full sense of surrender,

Just completely letting go and just allowing yourself,

Giving yourself permission just to drift.

Drift into a state of complete softness,

Complete relaxation,

Complete presence where nothing else exists,

Nothing else matters in this moment apart from your relaxation.

Your relaxation is the key,

Is vital in order for you to live this healthy,

Happy and fulfilled life.

This is your time.

Take one long breath in through the nose and sigh and now bring your attention back to the breath,

Bring it back up to the breath now and just notice what you notice about your breathing,

Notice the sensation of your breath,

Notice the flow of your breathing.

Is it short?

Is it long?

Is it fast?

Really just focus in your complete presence onto the breath and just allow yourself to experience each breath.

Take one big breath in now through the nose and sigh,

Breathe in and sigh,

Breathe in,

Sigh,

Keep going,

Breathe in and sigh,

Keep flowing with this breath and allow the inhale to be expansive and soothing and the exhale just deepens your softening,

Deepens the relaxation,

Deepens your journey into the realm of relaxation.

Breathe in,

Breathe in and one more sigh and just relax your breathing here and just bring your awareness inward now and just notice what's arising in you,

Notice what's happening inside of you,

Notice how you feel,

Where is the body at,

Where is the mind at and just take a moment just to allow the practice just to seep into all the fascia and the ligaments and the tendons and just allow it to unwind any tension and then in one moment we're going to move on to another practice where we're going to be inhaling for four,

Holding for seven,

Exhaling for eight.

So with me we're going to inhale for four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Hold,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Exhale,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Inhale,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Hold,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Exhale,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Inhale,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Hold,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Exhale,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Last round,

Inhale,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Hold,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Exhale,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

And let go.

And again just settle,

Settle the breath and just allow the softness to unwind any tension,

Unwind any stress,

Unwind any niggles,

As it allows you just to journey deep into the state of complete relaxation.

And for our next practice we're just going to engage now with some gentle humming.

So you're going to inhale through the nose as slowly as you can and hum but very quietly,

Very softly and continue this theme of deep relaxation as you inhale and you hum and you inhale and you hum inhale let go hum one more breath and just relax your breathing now completely and just allow everything to soften,

Allow everything to settle and just take a moment to reflect on where you are,

Reflect on how you feel,

Reflect on what's alive in you in this moment,

What's real.

And you can stay here at the end of this recording and journey into a deep sleep if that feels right or not.

And what we're going to do is we're going to take one last breath in and we're going to sigh and we're just going to move the body now.

So we're just moving the body very softly,

Moving the body very softly,

Very slowly with complete presence and attention and just take a moment just to slowly open up your eyes if that's what you need.

And I just want to thank you so much for joining me in this session.

If you've enjoyed it please leave a review at the end of the track and I'll see you back here again.

With love,

Jake