Hello,
Welcome.
I'm Jo Howard of Inner Retreats.
Let's aim to get your body and mind relaxed enough to have you falling into a nice deep nourishing sleep.
Laying down on your back to begin with,
Getting comfortable.
Checking with all parts of you that you are as comfortable as possible.
Is there anything you need to be even more comfortable?
Settling into your bed,
Feeling the support of the mattress,
The coziness of the covers and grateful for the comfort.
Notice the gentle pull of gravity,
The weight of your body towards the earth,
Like you are being held.
Can you feel it,
That little tug towards the ground?
Let's take a nice long slow breath into your belly and your chest and a big open mouth sigh as you let it all go.
Settle,
Sinking down.
Another long breath,
Letting go.
Letting go of the day now,
It doesn't need you anymore and setting all else aside.
Giving yourself full permission to just be here now.
Surrendering to this present moment.
There is only ever now.
One more deep breath and letting it all go.
This is time for just you and your nourishment.
We're going to begin by tensing and releasing the physical body.
So let's begin with the toes.
Wriggle,
Wriggle the toes and then curl them toward the soles of your feet and then draw them back towards your face.
Pushing the heels away,
Feeling that nice stretch in your calves.
Now let them go,
Relax.
Bring your awareness to the backs of the knees.
We're going to push the backs of the knees down onto the bed.
Feel the thigh muscles squeezing onto the bone,
Activating those muscles and then relax.
Let them go,
Heavy and still.
Then bring your awareness up to the buttocks,
Squeezing the glutes together,
Activating those big strong muscles.
Hold and then release.
Soften,
Allow.
Traveling up to the belly,
Let's draw the navel in towards the spine and invite the lower back to gently press down onto the bed and release.
Moving up,
We'll squeeze the shoulder blades towards each other,
Raising the chest,
Breathing in and relaxing the chest and upper back completely as you exhale.
Spreading down onto the bed,
Migrating your awareness down to your hands now.
We're going to curl the fingers into fists,
Creating tension.
Transfer that tension into the forearms,
The upper arms and up into the shoulders,
Squeezing the shoulders and then completely letting the shoulders and arms relax back down to the bed.
Softly uncurling those fingers.
Traveling up to the neck,
Rocking the head gently from side to side and resettling,
Becoming aware of the face.
We're going to squeeze and scrunch up the eyes,
Purse the lips,
Scrunch the nose,
Get the whole face squeezed up including the scalp and then make any strange faces and expressions you can.
Maybe opening the jaw,
Stretching the face open and anything else you can do to get all those 43 facial muscles moving.
Then relax them all back down and scan from your head back down through your body,
Scanning for any last tension or tightness or gripping that you can let go of now.
Letting everything go,
Giving yourself full permission to relax now.
You are free to rest,
Park everything else.
This is your time to fully surrender.
Bringing your awareness back down to your feet,
To the soles of your feet.
Imagine a beautiful,
Warm,
Lava-like liquid flowing into the soles of your feet,
Melting and softening the soles and then flowing into the feet now.
Choosing a temperature of the lava light to suit you in this moment.
Lava light flowing in and around those small bones and muscles and ligaments of your feet and into each of your toes.
Relaxing the feet down as this gentle lava light flows into and around the ankle joints.
Relaxing the ankles even more.
Noticing this liquidy light roll into your calves,
Your shins as you notice the muscles getting heavy and loose,
Falling away from the bone.
Flowing in and around your knees,
Relaxing your knees even more.
This loving,
Healing liquid light fluid into your thighs,
The bone and the muscles getting heavy and spreading out onto the bed.
Spreading out like liquid.
Light flowing now into the pelvic bowl.
Allowing all the muscles and ligaments attached to the bone to loosen and spread.
Flowing now into your abdomen and your lower back.
Having the lower back muscles relax even more.
Spreading out onto the bed,
Softening.
The organs in the belly can settle now.
Flowing into the upper torso,
The chest,
The ribs and into the back muscles.
The back can completely spread out and relax now like liquid.
Having this golden light flow across the collarbones,
In and around the shoulders and down the length of the arms.
The upper arms are melting under this healing liquid light.
Flowing lava in and around the elbow joint and melting down through the ligaments.
Muscles and bones of the forearms,
In and around the wrists,
Into the hands.
Flowing in and around the small bones and into both thumbs and each finger.
Flowing like little rivers of light along and out each finger.
Gently flowing up through the throat now.
Relaxing the inner muscles of the throat,
Creating space and then flowing up into the head,
In and around the brain,
Creating peace as it calms and stills the mind.
Have this liquid lava light flow under the scalp,
Between the scalp and the skull,
Creating space,
Allowing the scalp to get floppy and loose and then flowing up under the forehead.
Forehead and brows soften and drape over the face,
Letting gravity do its gentle pull.
Softening and settling all the micro muscles around the eyes.
The eye sockets,
Allowing the eyeballs to fall back.
Eyelids soft,
Flowing in and softening under the cheeks and cheekbones.
In and around the teeth and the gums.
The jaw,
Allowing the jaw to unhinge,
Settle back,
Creating space between your upper and lower teeth.
Lips and tongue.
The tip of the tongue,
Centre and root of the tongue.
Spreading,
Relaxing back.
Whole body.
Deeply at peace.
Deeply relaxed.
Bringing a sense of deep calm.
Deep stillness.
Sense the whole body.
Deeply at peace.
Knowing yourself as the calm,
Clear,
Deep spaciousness of who you really are.
Allowing yourself to fall into yourself.
To fall into yourself.
This peaceful,
Infinite,
Calm space.
Your true self.
The omnipresent essence of being.
I am calm.
I am deeply relaxed.
I am supported.
I am at peace.
I am home.
All is well.
I am more than my body,
Mind and emotions.
I can rest back in this knowing of who I am.
I can let go now.
Allow myself to surrender.
I am at ease.
Spacious.
Drifting.
Drifting now.
Drifting away.
Into a deep,
Deep sleep.
Letting go now.
Falling deeper and deeper.
Allowing.
Settling.
Drifting down.
