by Jennifer Cai
Relax and unwind with a soothing meditation guiding you through releasing stress from your body and surrounding yourself with compassion. The meditation includes progressive muscle relaxation, which can be helpful for sleep.
Meet your Teacher
Portland, OR, USA
Transcript
So starting with just getting comfortable. Maybe you're laying down right now. Letting yourself just start to settle in. Wherever you are. Let your body start to rest against whatever's underneath it. Starting to feel the feet relax. Bringing your attention down there, Noticing the feet. You might wiggle your toes a bit. Really feel the sensation in the feet. With the inhale, You can try tensing and flexing the muscles of the feet. And with the exhale, Letting go. Imagine any tension there is just draining away. I'm sending some gratitude down to the feet too. The feet carry us. Place to place. Let us walk and move. Sending gratitude down to the feet. Wishing them ease and comfort. Letting your attention drift up. Noticing the lower legs and the knees. And noticing what sensations are present here. Allowing whatever it is you notice. If there's ease, If there's tightness. Just allowing. In the space of mindfulness. There's nothing that needs to be fixed. Nothing that needs to be changed. You're giving yourself and giving your body. Permission to just be. Also noticing. The lower legs and how they are. Perhaps the same way you would with an old friend. You check in with how they are and whatever they have to say. Welcome. Where you would compassionately and kindly listen to an old friend. Making space for our body. And wishing our bodies ease. And comfort. And with the inhale, You could tense up the muscles in your lower legs. And then with the exhale release and let go Imagine tension draining away. Inviting in ease and relaxation. Letting your attention drift up to the upper legs. And the hips I'm checking in with this part of the body. What do you notice here? And again, It's all totally welcome. You might gently move the upper legs a little bit to help you get your attention here. And with the inhale, You can try. Tensing up. You have for lunch. The legs overall. I want to exhale, Releasing and letting go. Inviting in relaxation. And bringing gratitude to the legs. So these legs that Allow us to move. Play. Get us from place to place. These legs that tolerate sitting for long periods, Perhaps. Or maybe standing for long periods. Also just sending in your deep gratitude to your legs and your feet. And all they do for you. And wishing them ease and comfort. Letting your attention drift higher. Noticing now your belly, Your back. Your chest, This middle section of the body. So much can be happening here, Can be held here. So we've got our hearts and our lungs. Our digestive system working. You can send in gratitude. To these vital organs of the body. I keep you going. And if there's any discomfort here. You can take a hand and place it on that part of the body. Just sending that gentle pressure and warmth. That reassurance to the body. I'm saying I've got you. Whatever you're experiencing right now is okay. You can be exactly as you are. It's all okay. Feeling the gentle rise and fall. The breath. And with the inhale, If you want to, You can tense up. The belly, The chest. Maybe it's squeezing the shoulders up to the ears. And with the exhale, It's relaxing and really letting go. Tension draining away. If you want to, You can repeat that in the shoulders and squeezing the shoulders back. And with the exhale, Letting them go back and down. Resting and releasing. If it feels good, You can wiggle them around in any way. Make them really get comfortable, Or as comfortable as they can get. Letting your attention glide down your arms and hands as well. Noticing what's here in the arms and hands. And sending in your gratitude. The arms and the hands. Ability to reach for things, To write. To use the computer. So many different things we get to do to reach out and touch something. Feel a warm puppy. Just extending that gratitude. The arms and the hands. With the next inhale, You could practice tensing up. The arms making fists with the hands. And with the exhale, Releasing. Not even really let go. Letting the attention drift up. And noticing now the head and the face. Letting yourself gently walk through the face, Relaxing each part. Relaxing the forehead. Relaxing the cheeks and the jaw. Relaxing the area around the eyes. Relaxing the neck. With the inhale, If you'd like to, You could tense up the face, Scrunch it up, Raise the eyebrows. With the exhale really relax the face Let it deeply let go. Deeply relaxing. Deeply let it go. Noticing the mind. Sending gentle wishes to the mind. For it to be able to let go. Maybe visualizing the mind. It's a fluffy cloud being surrounded with something soft and fluffy. Letting it just let go. For right now, There's nothing it needs to do. This is break time. And reassuring the whole body. There's nothing expected of it right now. It gets to just be. Extending your gratitude to the overall body. Thanking it for all it does. Often in the background of our day. Often with little conscious effort on our part. Thanking it for its wisdom. It's steadiness. It's reliability. And visualizing it warm and comfortable. Sending in wishes of ease and comfort. Letting the body let go reassuring the body that however it is right now. Is perfectly fine. Thanking it for being exactly as it is. And letting it just let go. And letting yourself be. Exactly as you are. Loving yourself. Rest. And let go.
