This is Susan Ginsberg with Stop and Breathe.
Special Place Relaxation.
Please sit or lie down in a comfortable,
Quiet place and gently close your eyes if it's safe for you to do so.
If you're already doing so from a previous exercise,
Now is a good time to make any necessary movements or bodily adjustments to get as comfortable as you possibly can be.
Let's begin by softening your entire face.
Gently roll your shoulders down and away from your ears.
Connect with your breath as you begin to follow your inhalations and your exhalations.
I want you to envision a place that you feel is really special to you.
It makes you feel wonderful when you think about this place.
Somewhere out in nature,
Preferably,
You're alone but you feel very safe and very protected in this wonderful special place.
This place that makes you feel peaceful,
Secure,
Happy,
And relaxed.
Begin to picture this place in full detail using all of your senses.
How does it look?
Are there any sounds that you can hear?
Any smells?
Let it come in front of your mind's eye in three dimension.
Let the colors become more vibrant and brilliant than you've ever seen.
Take it all in.
Bring yourself there and just lie down right in the middle of this beautiful special place,
Becoming a part of the surroundings.
With each in-breath,
Take with you all the wonderful feelings that you experience when you imagine this special place.
Surround this space with anything that makes you feel even more comforted.
Like an artist with a blank canvas,
You're painting this beautiful picture.
Add into this picture anything else that you'd like to add.
Be totally at peace.
Take several deep belly breaths.
With each one,
Feel more and more immersed in your surroundings.
Picture yourself in the middle of this beautiful special place with a very content look,
Feeling wonderful.
Begin to imagine this special place becoming smaller and smaller and smaller,
Yet still retaining all of its features.
Eventually it becomes so small that it can literally fit on the tip of a pin.
When it is this small,
Breathe it into your whole body with your next breath,
Literally merging with this special place.
And then when you exhale,
Feel this special place expand and fill your entire body up with the beauty of this special place,
Letting it become a part of you.
Enjoy this feeling that you have created in your own mind knowing that it is always with you and you can always travel to this place whenever you want to.
