We begin by finding the posture of Savasana.
Recline on the back with a support under the knees,
Perhaps a bolster or a pillow.
And find a small pillow for support of the head.
And honoring the shape of Savasana,
Allow the arms to relax and the palms to face upward.
Make any modifications to your posture to be completely comfortable here in Savasana.
Setting the stage for our restorative breath practice.
And let us begin by deeply relaxing the body.
Noticing that simply resting on the floor,
The table,
That you are already surrendering to the support of Mother Earth below.
Sense the body becoming heavy,
Already letting go of tensions.
As you truly surrender to the support,
Surrender to gravity,
Mother Earth reaches up and cradles you in totality.
Sensing you are supported.
And allow your awareness to move to the very center of your forehead.
Feel the space smooth and soften.
The smoothing moves from the forehead over the top of the head and to the back of the head.
Signaling the release of the cranium into the support of your pillow.
The eyes sinking into the sockets,
Even the eyebrows smoothing from the center to the periphery,
Merging into the temples a spiral release here.
Feel the nose relaxed,
The jaw released.
And as the jaw releases,
The tongue rests in the bottom of the mouth,
The teeth and the lips gently parting.
Feel the ears relaxed,
Even the space in between your ears softens and becomes receptive.
Sense the length of your neck and the softening of the throat.
From the base of the throat,
A deep well of expansion broadens over the collarbones,
Moves into the shoulders,
Allowing the shoulders to rest back.
And from the tops of the shoulders,
A fluid release down the upper arms,
To the elbows,
The wrists,
And all the joints of the fingers.
Sense the chest relax,
Especially around the sternum,
A softening of the heart.
And as the chest relaxes,
The upper spine unwinds,
Mid-belly relaxes,
And mid-spine also unwinds.
Low belly softens,
And low spine releases.
The sense of the whole spine spacious and surrendering now even more.
The hips,
The sacrum,
The buttocks all settling back and softening.
Whole floor of the pelvis also at ease.
The thighs are heavy,
Knees supported by the bolster.
Shins and calves relax,
Ankles releasing,
Tops of the feet at ease.
And a sense of broadening the soles of the feet,
Allowing each and every toe to totally relax.
From the tips of the toes to the top of the head,
I am completely relaxed.
And in the state of relaxation,
Let us bring to mind the intention,
The why of the practice.
What is it that you seek?
And taking a moment for silent prayer.
And with prayer and intention,
Deeply seated in consciousness,
We draw all mindfulness to the breath.
Recognizing that as we work with the breath,
We work gently breathing in through the nose and out through the nose.
Welcoming the breath as an invitation,
Never any forcing through the practice.
If at any time you feel the breath needs to move in a different way than how I am coaching,
Please honor the inner teacher of the breath.
To begin with,
Breath awareness.
I simply invite you to place your dominant hand on the belly and the other hand on the chest.
And simply notice which hand moves first,
The one on your belly or the chest,
Or perhaps they rise and fall simultaneously.
There is no right or wrong answer.
This is a simple inquiry.
And with this awareness of where you're breathing,
We'll now release the hands from the body.
And invite a few conscious deeper breaths,
Allowing the inhalation to be a little bit longer and the exhalation to empty completely.
After a few fuller,
Deeper breaths,
We'll return to simply being aware of the breath once again.
And your choice,
You may place the hands back on the body or simply bring all mindfulness to the natural breath as it is.
And inquiring now,
What is the quality of my breath?
Is the breath fast or slow?
Smooth or choppy?
What else comes to mind to describe the quality of your breath?
And release from observing to come back into subtly lengthening the inhalation and releasing the exhalation consciously more fully.
Here we notice the difference between consciously expanding the body with the breath to simply being the witness.
Notice which is easier for you.
Is it easier to observe the breath?
Or is there more of a desire to control the breath knowing that both are necessary for releasing habitual breathing habits?
Let us now place all mindfulness on the low belly space.
You may use your dominant hand as a guide here,
Placing the hand on the low belly.
And just notice that simply the weight of the hand may be a subtle invitation for the breath to arise in the space.
We begin to sense the rise and fall of the breath in the low abdomen.
And notice if it is easy or difficult to isolate the breath in this low abdominal space.
Does this feel natural?
Or does it require concentration?
Several rounds of breath into the low belly with acceptance of the breath in the space.
The in-house sensing the expansion of the abdominal space.
On the exhale a sense of letting go.
Sensing and feeling as you breathe into the low belly all that is here.
Opening to that sense of acceptance.
The sensations and the feelings in this space.
We'll invite one more round of breath into the low belly.
And then releasing the hand from the belly at the end of this exhalation.
Allow your breath to move wherever it wants.
So we let go and allow the natural breath to respond to that subtle coaching of the breath in the low belly.
Remain curious,
Present,
Aware as the breath shifts in the body.
Surrendering to a few more cycles of what we call the innate breath.
Exploring the art of undoing here.
The more we surrender and allow that inner experience,
There is a relaxation response,
A release of congestions and tensions.
Not only in the body,
But in the emotions,
Mind,
And even spirit.
We will return now to guiding several rounds of breath,
Moving upward on the torso to the middle breathing space.
I invite you to place your hands at the lower rib cage.
The fingers will wrap around the front of the rib cage and the thumbs wrap around towards the back.
Similar to your hands on your hips,
But a little bit higher.
And again,
Just notice the weight of the hands here.
And perhaps the breath is already moving towards the hands.
Can you catch that wave and invite the breath just very gently to expand towards the fingers and contract with the exhalation.
And as you breathe here,
Is this easy or difficult?
Is there more or less tension than when you were breathing in the belly?
How does it feel to breathe in this low rib cage space?
As you inhale,
Allow the breath to expand from the center to the periphery,
Sensing and feeling any congestion or tension here and dissolving it with your exhalation.
Staying present with what you sense and feel as you breathe in this low rib cage space.
Accepting that expansion between the intercostals,
The ribs,
And that letting go completely on the exhalation,
All the way to emptiness.
And then removing the hands and once again allowing your breath now to breathe you.
This is allowing for that natural innate cycle,
The response of the breath to the coaching.
Remaining relaxed,
Yet totally present.
Several rounds of natural breath in response.
Notice any shifts in energy in the body,
Sensation or feeling.
And as the innate cycle begins to wane,
Allow now for our awareness to travel up the torso,
Beyond the sternum,
All the way up into the upper lobes of the lungs and the shoulder area even.
And the hand position for this space is to simply place your thumbs in the underarm area and the fingers to drape over the top of the chest.
And if that's not comfortable,
You're welcome to omit the hands.
And again,
Feeling the weight of the hands here and how they even invite the breath to arise in the space.
As you breathe into the upper chest,
Notice how it feels to breathe here.
Is this an easy or difficult space?
Are there any blockages or tensions here?
Is the mind present in the space or is it wanting to wander off?
As you inhale,
Feel even the sternum stretching and the breath moving all the way up into the upper lobes of the lungs and softening on your exhale.
Filling with vitality as you inhale into the space.
Releasing those restrictions on the exhale.
So several rounds of breath into the upper space,
Just letting go more and more with every exhale.
Remembering that this is an invitation.
We are never forcing the breath.
Perhaps even just meeting an edge here and softening.
How much can you soften in this upper breathing realm?
For there is always more to let go of.
And at the bottom of this exhalation,
Fully empty the breath.
Release the hands and allow the breath to now breathe you.
Present,
Awake,
Aware.
Is there a sense of tuning in even more to the subtle,
Direct experience?
That beautiful inner journey of the breath and energy.
Our breath is very much like the waves of the ocean.
Always ebbing and flowing.
I invite you now to guide for yourself for a few moments where in the body you feel more called to breathe.
Perhaps there is a sense of wanting to breathe the whole torso from the belly to the chest.
Perhaps there is a sense of needing to return to isolate the belly space.
We are yearning to expand more three-dimensionally through the center body.
Knowing that the breath is the teacher,
Our guru.
Allow a few moments of self-guided practice.
Real honor with the body is communicating.
Find this as a very freeing opportunity.
This space is calling out for a little more freedom.
A few more conscious breaths,
Sensing that ebb and flow just like the ocean waves.
And after this exhalation,
We will let go completely and allow your innate.
Allow that natural breath to move however it would like,
Knowing that it knows exactly what to do.
There is no right or wrong.
Accepting this breath exactly as it presents.
And we return now to the body.
Breath continues to move however it would like.
We place all mindfulness,
All awareness into the toes.
Feeling each and every toe.
Awareness moves to the soles of the feet,
The tops of the feet,
The shins and calves,
The knees,
Thighs,
Hips,
Sacrum,
Buttocks,
The whole region of the pelvis,
The lower body at ease.
The low belly,
Low back,
Mid belly,
Mid back,
Chest,
And upper back.
Relaxed.
Shoulders,
Arms,
Hands and fingers.
Released.
Back,
Throat,
All muscles of the face.
Completely soften.
Top of the head and back of the head.
Relaxed.
Ears.
And returning to the space between the ears.
We return to intention.
And knowing that that which we seek,
We truly already are.
That is within.
I invite you now to allow your inner gaze to move up to the space between the eyebrows.
Enter into stillness,
Into meditation.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
Relaxed.
And very gently begin to draw your awareness back to the breath,
Back to the body.
And as you become more and more aware of the body and the breath,
Gently begin to guide the breath into the low belly.
As you breathe into the low belly,
Breathe with the intention of grounding here.
And in the low belly,
Feeling the body and the breath more and more.
Sense of presence.
Before you move too much,
Take time,
Time to reflect on your practice.
You may even want to transition into journaling,
Recording your experience,
Or following the practice.
Take as much time as you need here.
And I thank you for connecting to the breath.
Many blessings.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
