Welcome to day 9.
Find yourself in a comfortable position with a straight back and relax your belly and shoulders.
How are you today?
Often we reply to this question with a quick,
Okay,
Everything's fine.
But if you follow your breath for a moment,
How do you really feel right now?
And however you feel,
See if you can allow these feelings to coexist within you.
Let's try something new.
Try to turn your hands into fists and tense them as hard as you can.
And then relax.
And then one more time.
Tense.
And relax.
Do you feel the difference between tension and relaxation in your hands?
When we move through life too fast,
Way beyond our body's speed limit,
The body accumulates tensions.
Tensions in our shoulders,
Chest,
Hips,
Neck,
Jaw,
Just about anywhere.
These tensions come from our unawareness,
And only our awareness can release them.
Here comes the tricky part.
You can't force relaxation.
It's like falling asleep.
The harder we try,
The worse it gets.
But you can create the circumstances for relaxation.
What are these circumstances?
Well,
There is little room for relaxation in a 60-hour work week with 10 cups of coffee per day.
Relaxation is more likely to happen when you take a break from everything and rest in this present moment.
So take this opportunity to slow down.
Feel your breath.
Feel your body.
Begin with your shoulders.
Just notice how they feel.
There is no need to change anything.
Become aware of your neck and back,
All the way down to your legs.
When you feel a tense area,
It's easy to become frustrated and try to get rid of it,
Which seldom helps.
The good news is that you don't even have to do anything.
The same moment you become aware of the tension,
The relaxation process is activated.
Your mind sends a kind of inner email or message to your tense area.
Let's say your shoulders are tense,
Then your mind whispers slowly,
Hello,
Shoulders.
Everything is alright.
You can drop down and relax.
But your shoulders probably have a very stacked inbox with hundreds of messages telling them how much of a disaster everything is and how they need to buckle up and build tension to the point where they become like steel.
Now try to send this inner email to all the parts in your body.
Everything is alright,
Belly.
Relax whenever you feel like it,
Dear chest.
It's okay,
Feet.
We are safe now,
Throat.
We made it through the day,
Dear neck.
If you pay close attention to the exhalation,
You'll notice that it automatically sends out a mass email to the whole body.
Everything is okay.
Time to take a break.
So keep following the breath,
Sending the emails of relaxation with every wave that flows through your body,
From the ocean of air around you.
Congratulations!
You finished the ninth day.
Take a moment to reflect.
How do you feel in your body now after this break?
Remember that you can always take some moments to send these inner emails throughout the day.
