Deep Relaxation

Relaxation meditation.

So beginning this practice by finding a comfortable place to lie down.

So coming to lie on your back and you can either have your legs stretched out in front of you or you can bring your knees up in the air and have your feet flat on the floor if that's more comfortable for your lower back.

And then just allowing your arms to come to rest by your sides.

Resting the head down.

If the neck isn't comfortable then maybe grabbing a pillow or a cushion to pop underneath your head as well.

So just coming into stillness,

Letting go of any any effort.

Just easing back,

Settling down into the body.

And the invitation in this meditation is to really just take it easy.

So rather than needing to work hard to follow the guidance,

The invitation is to simply let my words come to you and just allow the practice to unfold by itself.

Allowing the body to do the practice for you.

So as you lie here you might just have a sense of the heaviness of the body.

Different points of contact through the back of the head,

The arms,

The buttocks and the legs.

Perhaps just having a sense of giving up the weight of the body into the ground or whatever you're resting on.

With each breath letting the ground really support your body.

And then feeling the heaviness of the head.

Really just letting go of the weight of the head into the ground,

Into the cushion.

Letting go of the head,

The head heavy.

Letting go of the weight of the arms.

The arms are heavy.

The legs and feet long,

Stretched out,

Solid,

Heavy.

So the head is heavy,

Arms heavy,

Pelvis is heavy and the legs are heavy.

The whole body solid,

Dense and heavy.

Body warm,

Body soft,

Body at peace.

Nothing to do right now,

Nothing to achieve.

Simply resting here in stillness.

And then when you're ready the invitation is to become aware of any sensations that are here right now in the mouth.

So sensations in the floor of the mouth,

Sensations in the roof of the mouth,

Feel of the sidewalls of the inner cheeks,

The upper teeth and gums and the teeth and gums in the lower half of the mouth.

So allowing sensation to gradually emerge into awareness in the mouth.

Perhaps having a sense of the lower jaw,

Allowing the lower jaw to relax often.

Sense of the tongue resting in the middle of the mouth,

The hollow in the middle of the tongue.

Allowing the whole of the mouth to be sensitive,

Receiving sensations of aliveness in the tongue,

Sides of the mouth,

The teeth and the gums.

Becoming aware of sensation in the back of the throat and flowing down the throat and out into the inner ears.

Vast tunnels of sensation here in the inner ears.

Aliveness,

Tingling vibration.

Flowing out into the external parts of the ears,

The folds of the outer ears.

Then coming around into the entirety of the cheeks,

The space,

The air around the cheeks.

Feel of the nose,

The outer nose and also the nostrils,

The feel of air flowing in and out through the left and the right nostril.

Becoming aware of the eyes,

The eyeballs and the eyelids.

Maybe having a sense of the hollow,

Hollow depression in which each eyeball floats.

Flowing up into the forehead,

Temples on the sides of the forehead and also the middle of the forehead.

Falling into the body,

Really allowing yourself to really become absorbed in sensation of the eyes and the forehead.

Flowing up onto the top of the head,

Feel of the hair,

Skin of the head.

And sensation on the back of the head,

Feel of contact and weight.

Feeling the back of the neck,

Sensation here on the back of the neck.

And then coming around to the front of the neck and the notch at the base of the throat,

Allowing attention to flow down into the right shoulder,

The upper arm,

The right elbow,

Forearm and wrist.

Allowing the feel of the right hand to emerge into awareness.

The right thumb,

The index finger,

The middle finger,

The ring finger and the little finger.

Feel of the palm of the right hand and back of the hand and the entirety of the right hand.

Feeling the whole of the right hand.

The right wrist,

Front and back.

The elbow,

The hollow of the elbow.

The upper arm,

Hollow of the armpit and the shoulder.

Coming back to the notch at the base of the throat.

Flowing across into the left hand and arm.

Attention flowing into the left shoulder,

Upper arm,

Elbow,

Forearm and the wrist.

Bringing attention into the left hand.

Slightly becoming aware of the left thumb,

The index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Middle finger,

Palm of the hand,

The back of the hand,

The entire hand.

The feel of the left wrist,

Front and back.

The lower arm,

The elbow,

The hollow of the elbow,

The upper arm,

Hollow of the armpit and the shoulder.

Becoming aware of the sensation in the upper chest,

The upper chest and the front of the body.

Also the back of the upper chest.

The feel of the solar plexus in the middle of the chest.

The lower abdomen.

Also the lower back.

The feel of the kidneys,

The back,

The lower body,

The pelvis,

The tailbone.

The feel of the right hip,

The large thigh of the right leg.

The feel of the right knee.

The hollow in the back of the knee.

The lower leg.

The ankle.

The sole of the right foot.

The top of the foot.

The big toe.

Second toe.

The third toe.

Fourth toe.

And the little toe.

Feeling back up into the pelvis.

Shifting over into the left hip.

Left thigh.

The knee.

Lower leg.

The ankle.

The sole of the left foot.

The top of the foot.

Big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

And the little toe.

Becoming aware now of the entirety of the face.

The whole of the head.

The entire right arm.

The entire left arm.

The whole of the torso.

Front and back.

The pelvis and the tailbone.

The entirety of the right leg.

The whole of the left leg.

The whole of the body.

Joining all of the different body parts together into a global body awareness.

Sensing the lower half of the body.

The pelvis and the legs and feet.

The upper half of the body.

The head.

Arms and torso.

Feeling the whole of the body.

Feeling into the right side of the body.

The right arm.

The leg.

And feeling into the left hand side of the body.

Left hand.

The left arm.

And the left leg.

Feeling the whole of the body.

The whole of the back side of the body.

The whole of the front of the body.

The whole global body feeling.

Feeling the volume of the body.

Feeling the skin on the surface of the body.

Feeling the whole of the body.

Feeling the inside of the body.

Feeling the space around the body.

Feeling the whole of the body.

And the space around the body.

Falling more and more into the body.

Completely absorbed in sensation.

Feeling of the body and the space around the body.

Nothing to do.

Simply existing.

Feeling the body and the space around the body.

Feeling the space around the body.

Feeling the space around the body.

Feeling the space around the body.

Feeling the space around the body.

Feeling the dense heaviness of the body.

Contact with whatever surface you're resting upon.

Feel of the breath in the body.

Perhaps just beginning to wiggle the fingers and the toes.

Maybe rolling onto your side.

Having a little bit of a stretch.

And then beginning to transition very slowly out of the practice.

And just being gentle with yourself as you transition into the rest of your day.

Thank you.