Welcome to your guided relaxation.
Begin by bringing yourself into a comfortable position lying on your back.
You might find a pillow,
A blanket,
Any other supports that can help you be most comfortable here.
Get settled with your feet about as wide as your hips or a little bit wider apart.
Let your feet and your legs just gently roll to the side,
Relax.
Let your arms rest.
You can have your hands about a foot away from the sides of your torso.
Your palms facing up if you're feeling a little open or down to ground and connect with the floor and the earth beneath you.
Notice if there's any places you could make an adjustment in your body,
In your clothing,
In your props or supports to help increase your comfort here.
When we relax,
It's really important that we are as comfortable as possible.
So sometimes just smoothing out the little wrinkle on the back of your shirt or getting the last little wiggle out of the fingers or toes can make a really big difference.
So do whatever you need to make sure that you're really comfortable here.
So for our practice,
We'll be going through a guided body scan to help release any tension or tightness that might be carried in your muscles that is below your awareness and that is not needed to maintain your position here.
So to do this,
I will guide you through the body scan and invite you just to bring your awareness,
Your attention,
Your mind to the different places in your body as I say their name with the intention of letting any tightness,
Any stress in those areas release,
Melt away and let go.
We'll begin at the crown of the head.
Invite your attention there to the crown and the scalp.
Let any tightness,
Any stress release.
Then move down to the forehead and the temples.
The eyelids and the eyes.
The cheeks.
The nose.
We'll pause here at the nose and connect with our breath.
So bring your attention to the movement of air flowing in and out of your body through the nose.
You might notice that it comes in a little bit cooler from the environment around you.
And it leaves your body as you exhale a little bit warmer from your internal environment.
And you can let go of that awareness and bring your attention down to your chin,
Your jaw.
Release the tongue that's pressing against the roof of the mouth.
Relax the neck and the shoulders.
The upper arms.
The elbows.
And the forearms.
The wrists.
The hands.
The palms and the backs of the hands.
The wrists.
And the fingers all the way to the fingertips.
We'll pause again here to bring our attention back to our breath.
And here at the fingertips,
Breathe as if the air is flowing in and out of your body through your fingertips.
On the inhale,
You can feel that cool air coming into your body through the tips of the fingers,
Up the arms,
All the way to the shoulders.
And as you exhale,
Release down from the shoulders,
Out the arms,
Through the fingers.
Then bring your attention from your fingertips back up the arms to the shoulders.
Relax the chest and the upper back.
And the mid-back.
And the ribs.
You can follow the ribs from the spine around the sides of the torso to the front of the chest.
And let your attention now settle at the base of the sternum,
The breastbone.
This is the heart center.
We'll pause here again to breathe as if you're breathing from this space now,
From your heart.
With each inhale,
You invite in some new air,
New energy,
Some life from the world around you into your body through the heart.
Nourishing all of the vital organs in the torso,
Bringing them energy to carry on.
And as you exhale,
Release out anything in the torso from those vital organs that you no longer need,
That no longer serves you,
And let that be released out through the heart.
And you can release that awareness and bring your attention now down to your abdomen.
Relax the upper and lower abs.
The ribs.
The sides of the torso.
And the low back.
The hips.
The glutes.
The thighs.
The knees.
The shins and calves.
The ankles.
The feet.
The tops and the soles of the feet.
The toes.
All the way to the tips of the toes.
We'll pause here once more.
Breathe now as if you're breathing through the tips of your toes.
With each inhale,
You feel the cool new air,
New energy coming into your body through your toes,
All the way up your legs to your hips,
Bringing some nourishment to the lower part of your body.
And then as you exhale,
Release any stress or tension from the hips,
The legs,
Down and out through the toes.
And then bring your attention from your toes back up the legs to the hips,
Up the torso,
The neck,
Back all the way to the crown of the head.
Now breathe as if your whole body is breathing together as one cohesive unit.
With each inhale,
You feel a gentle expansion throughout the entire body.
As you're inviting in that new air,
New energy,
New life to come into your body and nourish your whole body.
And with each exhale,
You feel a gentle release,
Letting go,
And cleansing your body of anything that it no longer needs.
On your next inhale,
Gently deepen your breath,
Bring in a little extra air on the inhale and release a little extra on the exhale.
Do that a couple more times at your own pace.
Inhale a little deeper and exhale a little deeper.
And let your breath settle back to its natural rhythm and gently bring some motion back into your body.
You might wiggle your fingers,
Your toes,
You rotate your ankles or your wrists,
Gently rock your head from side to side.
And you might like to take a full body stretch here.
If you reach your arms overhead and just get a nice big stretch,
Start to bring your awareness back into your whole body with a little bit of movement.
And when you're ready to move a little more,
You can roll onto one side and rest there,
Kind of in the fetal position.
Just take a moment or two to readjust to a different way to be supported by the floor,
By the earth.
And when you're ready to move again,
You can gently press yourself up into a seat.
And bring your palms together.
If your hands are a little chilly,
Rub your hands together to make them warmer.
When your hands are warm,
Bring your palms to your face and let your eyes gently open into your palms.
You can gradually spread your fingers,
Let some light back into your eyes,
Let yourself back into the space around you.
Slowly lower your hands down.
Thank you so much for joining me for relaxation,
Wherever you are and whenever it is.
Hope you have a beautiful rest of your day.
