Welcome and thank you for joining me.
I invite you to make yourself comfortable sitting or lying down.
Just ensure that your arms and legs are uncrossed,
Your spine is straight although not tense.
You can wiggle around to settle into a comfortable position and make any micro adjustments that you may need to.
Take two strong deep breaths in through your nose and exhale through your mouth.
Let go of any tension in your whole body with that strong exhale through the mouth.
And return your breathing in and out through your nose,
Not controlling your breath in any way.
Breath in,
Breath out and allow your physical body to relax with each out breath.
Take your awareness to your face and relax your face with the next out breath.
Small muscles around the eyes out to the temples.
Next out breath down across the cheeks,
Around the mouth and down into the jaw.
You can wiggle your jaw around if you need to,
Allowing it to reset and relax into a comfortable position.
Moving down into the neck,
The front,
The back,
The sides.
The next out breath relax the tops of both shoulders.
Surrendering,
Letting go of any weight you're carrying on your shoulders.
Move down through the chest and the upper back,
The mid back,
Solar plexus area.
Soften the lower back and your belly.
Let go of any tension you might be holding in the abdomen.
Move down through your thighs,
The front,
The back,
The outside and the inside.
Relax now your lower legs,
Front,
Back,
Inside,
Outside and both feet,
The tops and the bottoms.
Both arms are relaxed and resting comfortably,
Allowing your arms to feel nice and heavy,
Nice and soft.
And just knowing that the physical relaxation to your body will increase with each out breath.
Physical relaxation comes with the out breath.
Taking your awareness now to your chest,
The very center of your chest,
Your heart center.
We are moving our awareness away from the thinking mind and placing our attention,
Our focus at the very center of your chest,
The heart center.
Feeling as if your breath is entering and leaving your body through the very center of your chest.
Noticing the rise and fall of your chest with each breath,
Not controlling in any way.
Some in-breaths will be strong and deep and some short and shallow.
Just go with it,
Allowing the natural pause between the in-breath,
The out-breath,
The out-breath and the in-breath.
And just noticing the rise and fall of your chest with each breath.
Keep your awareness,
Your focus and your breath at your heart center.
You could use a mantra if that helps you.
Simply rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Just coordinate this mantra with your breath.
Rising,
Falling.
Or simply focus on your breath and the rise and fall of your chest.
Slight expansion and contraction,
The heart center,
The rib cage,
Even your lungs.
Rising,
Falling.
Thoughts will continue to come and go across your mind.
We can't stop the thoughts nor do we want to.
And if your mind gets caught up in some thinking or looks for distractions,
Simply notice that.
Bring your awareness,
Your focus back to your heart center and to your breath.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Continuing to feel your physical body relaxing a little bit deeper with each out-breath.
Feel your heart softening with each out-breath.
Feel your heart expanding slightly with each in-breath.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Heart expanding.
Heart contracting.
Drawing in,
Letting go.
Continuing with your eyes closed as we prepare to leave this meditation.
You can of course stay here focusing on your breath and your heart center and the mantra if you're using it for as long as you like.
Be ready to leave this meditation.
I invite you to allow your next breath straight into your heart center to be very,
Very strong and very deep.
Feel your heart is so full it fills the entire cavity of your chest.
Allow this breath,
This sensation,
Pour out through your whole body.
Feel the aliveness.
The aliveness mixed with this,
With relaxation.
You can begin to wiggle your fingers and your toes.
You can very,
Very gently roll your head from side to side,
Just breaking the thread of concentration.
Take your time.
When you're ready you can open your eyes.
Just take a few moments to readjust to the space around you.
