So if you want to find yourself in a comfortable posture,
Perhaps you'd like to start seated or maybe you want to lie down or sit in a chair,
Stand,
Whatever will work for you.
We're going to start by arriving here,
By grounding,
By meeting ourselves just as we are.
So wherever you are,
Breathing in and lifting the shoulders up to the ears,
Breathing out,
Rolling the shoulder blades down the back and coming to sit tall and you might like to have a loose gaze on the ground,
A few feet in front of you or perhaps you'd like to close your eyes and bringing your awareness into the body,
Noticing those parts of the body which are resting on the earth,
Those points of contact,
Of sensation,
Sensing in to these parts of the body,
Not the idea but the felt experience in this moment and slowly moving your awareness from here to the breath,
The waves of movement through the body,
Feeling the chest lift and expand as you breathe in and release and let go as you breathe out and taking a long slow breath in and a long slow releasing breath out and letting go of the day and we'll do that again,
Breathing in long and slow,
Feeling the energy draw into the body,
Pausing and breathing out with a sigh as you release and let go,
Letting the body follow the breath and letting the worries of the day melt away,
Letting the earth hold these for you and once more breathing in long and slow,
Pausing and releasing,
Relaxing,
Letting go,
Letting the mind follow the breath and release and gently releasing your awareness of the breath as you let the breath return to its natural rate and rhythm,
And moving your awareness now to the body,
Checking in with your body,
With yourself,
How are you feeling today?
What are you bringing with you onto the map?
Noticing if there's any points of tension,
Of tightness,
Be breathing into these,
Perhaps these are parts of your body that would like a little tenderness,
Would like a little gentleness,
Any pain or discomfort you notice,
Is it possible to notice,
Allow this,
It's already here,
May as well notice,
As well as noticing any parts of the body that feel comfortable,
That feel at ease,
These parts of the body might not be calling to you quite so loudly,
It's possible to notice these and those parts of the body that feel numb or neutral,
Noticing these too and when you're ready releasing awareness of the body and coming to notice what feelings are here,
What emotions are present,
What are you bringing with you onto the map today?
Knowing there's no right way to feel,
Whatever you find here,
Noticing,
Offering yourself a sense of soothing,
Knowing all feelings,
All emotions come and go,
We may not be able to choose how we feel but we can choose to an extent how we respond and knowing nothing lasts forever and releasing awareness of feelings and bringing your awareness now to the mind,
Noticing the tone of your mind,
Perhaps your mind is very busy,
Maybe there's a lot of thoughts in there today,
Maybe the mind is tired or slow,
Noticing the mind just as it is,
As you welcome all of yourself onto the map and offering and allowing whatever you find here and expanding your awareness now to take in the whole of yourself,
Your body,
Your feelings,
Your mind and everything else in between,
Welcoming yourself just as you are onto your map today and offering yourself the words soften,
Soothe,
Allow,
Soften,
Soothe,
Allow,
Beginning to release this meeting,
This awareness of yourself,
Letting go of this check-in,
Once more noticing this breathing body and we'll take a long slow breath in,
Pausing and a long slow releasing breath out and again breathing in long and slow and now breathing out with a sigh and you may like to place a hand on the heart or the abdomen,
Noticing the body on the earth,
Noticing the breathing body,
You have no reason to harbour any mistrust against our world for it is not against us,
If it has terrors they are ours,
If it has abysses these abysses belong to us,
If there are dangers we must try to love them and only if we could arrange our lives in accordance with the principle that tells us we must always trust in the difficult,
Then what now appears to us to be alien will become our most intimate and trusted experience,
How could we forget those ancient myths that stand at the beginning of all races,
The myths of dragons that at the last moment are transformed into princesses,
Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are only princesses waiting for us to act just once with beauty and courage,
Perhaps everything that frightens us is in its deepest essence something helpless that wants our love and taking a long slow breath in,
Breathing out as you release the arms down
