Can you think about your life in terms of expansion and contraction?
Can you experience this moment in that way,
Contracting,
Expanding?
Let's begin by sitting upright,
Either in a chair or on the floor.
Relax your shoulders.
Take a slow breath in through the nose.
Feel the lungs expand.
Take a slow breath out through the nose or the mouth.
Feel the lungs contract.
Notice any areas of tension in the body,
And with each slow breath,
Release that tension.
Move your awareness through the body,
Gently releasing tension.
Inhale and collect the tension in that space.
Exhale,
Release it.
Allowing the breath to become natural,
Without any effort at all at this time.
Soft,
Gentle breath.
Let's start to become aware of different parts of the body,
While simultaneously relaxing those spaces.
Become aware of your sitting bones.
Notice how they support your position.
Become aware of the trunk,
The back,
And the front.
Notice how the muscles,
Front and back,
Work together to support your spine.
At this time,
Bring your attention to the crown of the head.
Let that space relax.
Become aware of the scalp.
Let it relax.
Become aware of the forehead,
And gently relax it.
Awareness of the face.
Relaxing the face.
Noticing the jaw.
Relaxing the jaw.
Notice the shoulders.
Allow them to relax.
The arms.
Release the arms.
The hands.
Let go of the hands and the fingers.
The neck.
The throat.
Relaxing.
The chest,
The ribcage,
The belly.
Relaxed.
The upper back,
Mid-back,
Lower back.
All relaxed.
Become aware of the right buttock,
Thigh,
Knee,
The right calf,
Shin,
Ankle,
Right foot,
All five toes.
Let them relax.
Become aware of the left buttock,
Thigh,
Left knee,
Calf,
Shin,
Left ankle,
Foot,
All five toes.
Let them relax.
In this moment,
Become aware of the ribcage.
Now beneath the ribcage,
The lungs.
Watch the lungs.
Watch the lungs expanding with the natural inhalation,
Softening with the natural exhalation.
Opening.
Closing.
Expanding.
Contracting.
Pressing out.
Pressing in.
Moving from one to the other.
Inhale becoming exhale.
Exhale becoming inhale.
A continuous rhythm.
Are these opposite states?
Open,
Closed,
Expanded,
Contracted.
Is this one continuous moving state?
An inhale that becomes an exhale that becomes an inhale again.
Can you think about your life in terms of expansion and contraction?
Can you experience this moment in that way?
Contracting,
Expanding.
There's no need to label the specific experience.
There's no need to put it in words,
Although that might occur organically for you.
It might be that you experience a sense of contraction and expansion.
Let's explore.
Physically,
What in you is expanding in this moment?
What in you is contracting?
Can you notice any areas in your body where you feel this natural rhythm?
Drawing out and drawing in.
Getting bigger,
Getting smaller.
Energetically,
What sort of energy are you feeling expanding through you?
What sort of energy do you feel becoming quieter within you?
Emotionally,
Is there an emotion that feels like it's growing within you?
One that's gently fading away.
Mentally,
What in you,
Mentally,
Intellectually,
What thought or idea in you is most prevalent,
Expanding in this moment?
What thought or idea in you is less prevalent,
Contracting?
Spiritually,
Can you sense your spiritual nature,
Your connection to something vast?
Does the spiritual nature expand and contract?
Or does our feeling of our spiritual nature and our awareness of it expand and contract?
Maybe spirit is always spacious,
But can you notice how your awareness of it flows?
Sometimes radiant,
Sometimes quiet.
Like a flame dancing or resting.
Expand your awareness of your spiritual nature.
Let it grow.
Let it draw out while drawing in into the inner depths of your being.
At this time,
Bring your awareness back to the space around you.
Feel the breath once again.
Flowing in,
Flowing out.
Feel the support beneath you.
Notice the sounds.
The light.
The sensation of being in this moment.
In this brief time,
We've cultivated a heightened awareness of expansion and contraction.
And we explored that awareness physically,
Energetically,
Emotionally,
Mentally and spiritually.
May your awareness of the laws of nature ever increase.
May they guide you to your truest self.
Namaste.
