You are listening to the Motherhood to Unstress podcast and I'm your host Liz Carlisle.
Thank you so much for tuning in,
For making the decision to take some time for yourself,
For your mental,
Physical,
And emotional well-being just by getting still,
Focusing on your breathing,
And connecting to who you really are.
So let's begin.
We don't have a lot of time to do these exercises,
These practices,
But the time that you do take matters a great deal and has an enormous effect on the rest of your day,
Not just your mindset but on a physical level.
Because right now when we focus on our breathing,
We're dropping down our blood pressure,
We're calming down our nervous system,
And even if it's the first thing in the morning,
You know when you wake up,
Cortisol goes through the roof so that you're able to get up and function and do everything you need to do.
Well we're bringing that into balance.
We're making amends,
We're coming to meet that cortisol with an intention of doing what we need to do for the day,
But not being overwhelmed by it.
So let's take a deep breath in now together,
Filling up your lungs more than you would like,
And then releasing.
Again,
Deep breath in.
One more step,
And release.
And deep breath in.
One more step,
And release.
This last one together,
Deep breath in.
One more step,
Two more steps,
And let everything go.
And if you could keep going,
Keep going until there's nothing left in your lungs.
And then return to a gentle,
Rhythmic breathing where nothing's forced,
But you're being more intentional with your breath.
You're not just reactively breathing,
You're really focusing on breathing the air in,
Transmitting it across your lungs and your body,
And then breathing it out,
Getting all of that carbon dioxide out in this natural rhythm that we've done since the moment we arrived and will do into our last breath.
Your breath is your friend,
And when you start to feel uncomfortable emotions like stress,
Like anxiety,
Like frustration,
You can always come back to your breath.
It's always going to be there for you,
Always.
And you have the power to control it,
So keep breathing.
Keep managing your breath,
Falling in love with your breath,
Feeling gratitude for your breath,
How much it does for you,
How much your body does for you.
I say this almost every week,
But I find that when I fall into the meditation like this and I start focusing on my breathing,
I just feel such a sense of appreciation for my body,
Of love for my body.
And I find that the more you realize how much it really does for you and you actually feel it,
You know,
You could get chills right now,
Just the realization of that,
I find that it just works so much harder for you.
And if you've ever abused your body through eating bad foods,
We all have,
Or not exercising,
Or maybe exercising too much,
You know that your body always wants to come back to support you,
To be there for you,
To show up for you.
So right now we're showing up for it.
We're sending gratitude to every cell,
Every organ,
Every system and process.
And I know it sounds woo,
But I think it can hear you.
I think it can sense your gratitude and appreciation.
And then it shows up even more in your life for you.
You're stronger,
More well rested.
Everything is working in conjunction together,
Total synchronicity.
There is no disease,
There is no dysfunction.
You support your body and it supports you back.
For the next minute or two,
I want you to work again on focusing on your breathing,
Just the gentle rhythm.
If you find your mind starting to wander,
Which of course it might,
Just bring it back to your breath.
And then if you need more help,
Just do a gentle body scan from the top of your head to the tips of your toes inch by inch while still focusing on your breathing.
And then bring it back up.
For me today,
I'm feeling called to continue to just send my body love and appreciation for all that it's doing for me,
For all that it's done.
It brought two babies into the world and it's still strong and healthy.
I'm grateful for that.
What are you grateful for,
For your body?
What has it done for you?
What would you like it to do for you?
Meditate on that the next minute or so.
And when it's time to come out,
I'll bring you back.
If you'd like to stay longer,
Sink deeper into this meditation of gratitude for your body,
Your physical presence here on earth,
Please do so.
If you're ready to come out,
Begin your day or perhaps drift off to sleep if you haven't already.
You can start to wiggle your fingers and toes.
Do some gentle neck rolls.
Do some gentle stretching.
If you've got water next to you,
Drink the glass.
If you don't,
Go fill up a glass and enjoy the sensation of nourishing and hydrating your body,
Giving it what it needs so that it can give you what you need to realize your fullest expression while you're here in this short time on earth.
Thank you for doing this work,
For connecting to your amazing body,
To your amazing soul.
I don't know where you are in the world,
But I feel connected to you.
Thank you for tuning in.
Until next week,
Namaste.
