As you settle in for this practice,
Find a comfortable position lying on your mat or your bed.
If you are doing this Shavasana following a Hatha yoga practice,
It will deepen your body's integration of the postures you did on your mat today.
The more you relax,
The more you let go,
The more benefit you'll receive from this practice.
As you now settle back,
Put aside your thoughts or concerns,
And instead open to an awareness of what it is to be in your body at this moment.
Focus on what you physically feel.
The more you still your mind,
The more your body can begin to communicate with you.
Listen through your senses,
And trust your body to do what it knows how to do.
We'll now begin to scan through the body and fully experience the sensations at each place as we go,
Softening and releasing any clenching or holding you might discover.
Bring your full awareness to the crown of your head,
Noticing any sensations there.
And your forehead,
Especially eyebrow center.
Notice the sensations around the eyes,
Your eyelids soft,
And across the bridge of your nose.
Experience sensation around the ears and temples.
Feel the muscles around your mouth,
Softening that place where the upper lip and lower lip touch.
Allow a little space between the teeth.
And relax the soft palate at the roof of your mouth,
And the root of your tongue.
Relax along your jawline from your chin to the base of your skull and back.
And follow the back of your neck down to the shoulders as you let them settle a little more deeply into your mat.
Relax the muscles in your upper arms,
Your elbows,
Forearms,
Wrists,
Your hands,
And all of your fingers.
Now bring your awareness to your chest and imagine the space behind your breastbone opening and softening.
The space around your heart expanding,
Naturally creating more space for the breath.
Feel the pectoral muscles across your upper chest,
And allow your chest to broaden,
Releasing your shoulders even more.
Relax the space between your shoulder blades and back,
And soften those intercostal muscles between your ribs.
Notice how your floating ribs at the bottom of your rib cage flare out slightly as you breathe.
The whole of your rib cage now open,
Allowing the breath to find the deepest lobes of your lungs.
Now bring your awareness to your upper abdomen.
Your diaphragm attaches here inside the bottom of your breastbone.
Don't be surprised if your body spontaneously calls for a deep inhale here,
As you open this area to the natural fullness of breath.
Now relax the whole of your abdomen,
Noticing the subtle internal sensations.
Focus especially on your lowest belly muscles,
The transverse abdominals just above the rim of your pelvis.
And imagine your breath opening into your waist and low back.
Now relax all those large muscles that attach around the joints of your hips and buttocks.
Allow your thighs to settle a little more.
And feel the joints of your knees open and soften.
Relax your lower legs,
Your ankles,
Your feet,
And all of your toes.
And finally,
Experience your whole body from your toes to the crown of your head.
And for the next few minutes,
Experience the fullness of what it is to be alive in your body.
And I'll bring you back with the soft bell sound.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Bring your awareness back to the breath and experience the texture of the air as it moves through the nostrils,
The sinuses,
Your throat,
And chest.
Allow your body to open to the possibility of a deeper breath,
Almost imperceptibly at first,
Each breath a little deeper than the one before,
Like those first yawning breaths as you awake from a deep sleep.
When you feel the urge,
Stretch into your arms and legs and out into your fingers and toes,
Adding any movements that your body needs for the transition.
When you're ready,
Bring your knees to your chest and rock a little bit from side to side,
Releasing any stiffness in your low back.
Now reach your right arm over your head and roll onto your right side,
Resting your head on your arm.
Pause for a moment as your body adjusts.
And when your body tells you it's ready,
Press your left hand into the floor in front of you and push up to a comfortable seat,
Your eyes still closed.
The first evidence of yoga practice is a 5,
000-year-old figurine found in northwest India depicting a yogi sitting in stillness as you are now.
As you now sit at the end of this practice,
Know that you are carrying forward the tradition and more importantly the wisdom of the ages.
Let that ancient wisdom guide you in all that you do.
Namaste.
