Tension Release For When Life Is Tough

Welcome.

This meditation is written and designed for when you are feeling the tensions of life at their peak,

When your body is restless,

When you feel unbalanced and you are looking for a pathway out.

You may need to continue to return to this practice in smaller bite-sized chunks on a daily basis,

The parts that you enjoy and then just if when you can really lean into the depth of this longer version when you have the luxury of a little more time or maybe before you go to bed at night.

So taking a moment now to get yourself relaxed,

Relaxing your body into a shape of either sitting or lying down but not so comfortable that you're going to fall asleep but using your body as a guide as to where you need to shuffle.

Maybe you need some warmth,

Maybe you need a new position.

Just all that little shuffling that we need to do.

Definitely make sure you've got your phone turned off if you can on do not disturb and then move or even adjust your surroundings so that you don't get disturbed where you are and giving yourself the next say 20-25 minutes or so for your own self-care.

If you do feel at any point that you need to move or readjust for comfort you get an uncomfortable or achy or grumpy part,

Just know that you are allowed to move and keep this thought close to the surface so that no matter where you are you are always comfortable.

If it feels right,

If it feels right closing your eyes softly and begin to soften your jaw and your eyelids,

Opening your ears to the soundscape of your outer world,

The sounds that are far far away,

Just noticing the busyness of life or maybe if you're lucky the absence of sound if you're in a really nice quiet space.

Even if you are in a quiet space deliberately lean into the sounds that are close to your ears.

Maybe you can hear your breath,

Someone close by,

Bird noise.

With your senses more finely tuned drawing your breath into your nose to identify any scents or smells that are close by labeling them if you can.

What can you smell?

Even notice the temperature of the air that is close to your nostrils,

Maybe the coolness,

Maybe it's warm air,

Just noticing.

With your eyes closed is there any light that dances behind your eyelids,

Shadows and relaxing the outer edges of your eyes and letting your eyelids just surrender to the softness of that delicate skin.

Letting your eyes be soft and lazily moving your attention to where your body touches where you are sitting.

Maybe the feel under your bottom or your calves or your shoulders,

Possibly the softness of your clothing or the blanket.

And while we're focusing on that sense of feeling maybe you can feel how your breath changes the shape of your body each time you inhale.

And for a few breaths or so just notice where your breath is naturally resting and residing in your body today.

Just noticing,

Not changing.

Resting with that breath.

Awareness of your outer world experienced through open ears,

Attuned at your nostrils,

Through closed eyes.

Experiencing your outer world through all of your senses now.

Anchoring back to your breath if and when thoughts begin to rise to the surface.

Thoughts are natural,

They're meant to be there.

But today we're just going to allow as a thought comes in just to serenely try and lengthen your breath on the inhale and then let the lightness of the thought back out to the ether on your exhale.

Using these long,

Slow,

Grounded and anchoring breaths to keep releasing any thoughts that come in.

If the thought feels heavier or denser as some do or you're feeling problems weighing on you,

Try to put a little bit more effort into your exhale for the release here.

And working together now on a few long,

Slow breaths with purpose.

Let's take a breath in for 1,

2,

3,

4,

5.

That long,

Slow breath out for 1,

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7.

Let's do one more round together.

Breath in 1,

2,

3,

4,

5.

Exhale 1,

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7.

One more on your own now.

Breath in for 5,

Breath out for 7.

Long,

Low,

Soft exhales.

Using your body as a guide again and your mind as the explorer to find peace and pause in your inner world.

Breathing into your torso now through your nose.

Make it the biggest breath of this session together today.

Take that big breath in.

Now hold that breath and then intentionally super slowly release that breath from your body.

Let it go.

Wow.

Beginning at your shoulders,

Breathe into your shoulder area.

Feel the rise of your shoulders,

Feel the expansion through the shoulder growth here.

And then when you're ready,

Exhale and release the tension that is held at the top of your shoulders.

Let it go.

Let the weight of that world on your shoulders just release.

Shifting now to your heart space,

Your diaphragm and your mid lungs.

Breathing into or breathing awareness to your body here.

Take a big breath into the heart,

The diaphragm,

The middle of your lungs.

Breath in.

Just pause momentarily and then a long,

Slow releasing breath out.

Soften through the middle of the body.

One more on your own now.

Big breath in heart,

Diaphragm,

Mid lungs,

Pause.

And then a slow,

Soft breath out through the middle of your body.

Easing your awareness to your belly now.

Take a long,

Deep breath into your abdomen,

Feeling it fill right up.

That's it.

And then the slow unwinding of your breath out of your belly here.

Let it go.

One more back into your belly,

All the way into your abdomen.

Feel the belly distend and your navel press up.

And then that long,

Slow contraction where the navel slowly like a press button attaches itself to your spine.

That's it.

Scanning to your heart.

Discovering what the lowest of your belly and your torso feels like today.

Sometimes we hold a lot of emotion down here,

A lot of tension.

It's where our anxiety resides,

That in our belly.

And just easing the lowest breath down into your belly as much as you can.

Sometimes it's nice to put your hands on that lower pelvis region.

So breathe in to the lowest of your belly.

And then out again,

Just soften through this place,

Releasing all that tension.

And then sense into the top of your legs,

The place where it meets your pelvis.

And sliding down through your muscles,

The largest of your muscle groups here.

And just let your legs feel heavy for you here.

Almost like you were trying to loosen the muscles away from the bone.

Almost the muscles melt their way off the bone.

Settling at your calves,

Your knees,

Ankles and feet.

Sliding the awareness down to your toes.

And with breaths in and out,

We're going to breathe in,

Drawing your toes back now.

Draw them back.

So bring them close to your body.

And then exhale,

Point the toes forward,

Just moving the feet with your breath.

Breath in,

Draw the toes back.

Exhale,

Point the toes forward.

Three more the same.

Moving the heels and the toes with each long,

Slow breath.

Even curl into the tips of your toes if that feels good.

That's it,

Just moving through your feet,

Stretching them back,

Moving them forward.

If you feel like the tension is being held in your ankles here,

Just maybe even do a couple of rolls with your ankles.

Again,

We're using your body as your guide.

So stay in pause anywhere that you know is giving you that release.

So gliding all the way up to your shoulders now.

So resting awareness at shoulders.

And then slide down to your elbows,

Into your wrists,

Your hands,

And then your fingers.

Just a couple of little long stretches here.

But then with your next inhale,

Draw your fingers into a fist.

Breathe it in.

And then exhale and stretch your fingers and palms wide,

Really stretch them out.

Breath in,

Draw them into a fist.

Exhale,

Stretch the hands out,

Even wiggle the fingers.

Three or four more times,

Just on your own,

Using these hands that are long meridian release points that come from your chest and your belly and your whole body here.

Use these fingertips to dissolve tension that can come up and out through your body and dissolve through your fingers.

Sometimes even flicking the fingertips just feels right and feels good.

So squeezing tight,

Just relative to how much stress you feel like you've been carrying through your body.

That's it.

Just a few more if need be.

And moving your awareness now to linger somewhere inside your mind.

Just breathing in,

Re-sensing into your eyelids and your jaw for full softness across your forehead,

Your ears,

Your lobes,

The crown of your head here,

The back of your neck.

We always hold lots of tension there.

You might want to just tuck your chin into your chest,

Maybe move your head from side to side.

And just moving,

Guiding.

And just pausing for a moment now.

Just noticing if there was any part of your body that really you felt you had the tension there.

And just taking a moment to return so that you can replenish,

You can release,

You can remove the tension just with breath to breathe into that location.

And just feel it either exit through your toes,

Through your breath,

On the edges of your fingers,

There's going to be a natural exit point that just feels right for you.

Just repeating this a couple more times.

Shoulders or belly,

Your toes,

Your hands,

Your mind.

And with full permission now for your outer world to pause,

Your outer body to pause,

So that we can rest in our inner world with renewed calm,

More peace inside your body than what we began with,

More peace inside your mind,

And more peace in your soul.

And continuing for the next few minutes just to breathe into your body softly,

Breathe into your body consciously,

Breathe into your body intentionally.

And then rest your awareness where you feel most at home,

Maybe your heart space,

And then really soaking and immersing yourself in what total relaxation feels like.

Slowly coming back,

Just freeing yourself breath by breath of the tension that holds your mind and your body hostage.

Returning to your own pure breath,

Clear,

Maybe a little sleepy,

Maybe a little bit of positive intervention.

And now merging your inner world with your outer world with your next breath.

Just feeling your awareness rising,

And maybe bringing with you any insights that just wanted to surface,

That's looking for your attention.

Sometimes we have the best ideas,

Interesting thoughts,

Or sometimes nothing and that's all good.

If you are a journalist,

This is your time to bring pen to paper.

If you're not a journalist,

I would always challenge you to give it a go.

But if you feel like you are more rested and relaxed and you are ready for sleep,

Or you're ready for your day in a better frame of mind,

And that you're more integrated into a more connected and whole version of you,

Then very slowly open your eyes,

And hold the quality of this comforting work that you've just done close by.

Don't let it go,

Be really selfish.

Really integrating this at a deeper level for your own healing,

And a safe place to return to whenever needed.

Thank you for joining me today.

My name is Kylie.

Taking from this meditation everything that worked for you and leaving behind what didn't.

From my happy place in the world to yours,

Namaste.