Releasing Baggage

Taking a nice comfortable position,

Either lying down or sitting in a comfortable chair.

Starting to bring your awareness to your breathing.

Just noticing where the breath is coming into your body through your nostrils.

Perhaps feeling that there's a different temperature from the inhale and the exhale.

And starting to feel where the air is coming into your body.

You can feel the breath at the back of the throat.

Perhaps you can feel the ribs moving at the front of your body.

Maybe you can feel your ribs moving at the back of your body.

Maybe you can feel your ribs moving at the sides of your body.

You may be able to feel and see the belly rising on the inhale.

And the belly relaxing on the exhale.

Starting to relax your body,

Bringing your awareness to your feet.

And just allowing your feet to relax out to the sides.

Or relaxing the muscles in the feet and the toes.

Allowing the heels to be nice and heavy and soft.

Releasing the ankles.

Relaxing the lower parts of the legs.

The knees.

The upper legs.

Feeling balanced and relaxed to the hips.

Relaxing the belly.

The waist.

The lower back.

The middle back.

Upper back.

The sides of your body.

The chest.

Shoulders.

Upper arms.

Elbows.

Lower arms.

Backs of the hands.

Palms of the hands.

Fingers and thumbs.

Relaxing the neck.

The jaw.

The teeth and tongue.

Muscles around the eyes.

Allowing the eyelids to be heavy.

Relaxing between the eyebrows.

Forehead.

The scalp.

The whole of the head.

Relaxing both arms and hands.

Relaxing the whole of the torso.

Relaxing both legs and feet.

Your inner gaze just behind your eyebrows.

We're going to take a walk along the beach.

The waves are gentle.

What noises can you hear?

The sun is warm.

What can you feel underneath your bare feet?

You know that you are very safe at this beautiful beach.

There is a gentle breeze.

This is your safe,

Private place.

The beach is all yours.

You are safe.

Take a look at the water and see how vast it is.

See the different colours in the water.

See how the colours blend in amongst themselves and change when the waves come gently.

Hear the sounds of the gentle waves.

Like the ocean is breathing quietly,

Softly.

This water has travelled the world.

Feel how ancient and wise this sea is.

Starting to look around,

You notice there is a building.

It's an interesting looking building,

Like a small castle.

You are still feeling very safe and relaxed.

You take a wander up to the building and notice that the door is open.

You feel the building is safe and open to you.

It's okay to enter.

You notice as you walk in through the door that there is a gentle drop in temperature.

It's a lovely and refreshingly cool in the building.

It's a beautiful place as you look around you.

You notice ahead of you a staircase and you walk up to it.

You start to step towards the staircase but you notice that you are suddenly very heavy.

Like there is something weighing you down.

You notice you are wearing an incredibly heavy backpack.

Remembering what is in the backpack,

You understand why it is so heavy.

It is filled with your worries,

Anxieties,

Concerns and troubles.

No wonder your shoulders ache and your neck is tight and sore.

You have been carrying this backpack for a long time.

Full of these negative feelings weighing you down.

As you put one foot on the first step of the staircase,

You release one arm from your backpack.

You notice at once how much more comfortable you are.

Before going any further,

You release the other arm from the backpack.

It falls to the ground with a heavy thud.

Wow!

You feel so much lighter.

Can you feel the relief?

Maybe in your shoulders,

Maybe in your face.

You can now continue to climb the stairs with no weight attached to your back.

You feel so light,

So relieved.

Each step you feel more fun,

More joy.

This has been with you at all times,

This joy.

And you just didn't know it was inside of you.

There's nothing holding you back now.

You feel the release,

The freedom.

You're now at the top of the stairs and you feel so strong,

So clear.

You walk into a great room.

There is a comfortable chair to sit in that looks over a huge window.

You take a seat and you start watching the sea through the window.

You feel great.

This is your time and your special place.

Watching the sea moving just as it did before.

Like it's softly breathing in and out.

In and out.

Just like you are softly breathing in and out.

In and out.

You know that this is a very special place.

A place that you can come back to at any time.

Any time you want to feel free.

Any time you want to feel peaceful.

This is your safe place.

You can come here any time.

For now you decide that it's time to go back to the beach.

You stand up and start walking back to the staircase.

You feel so light.

You feel so free.

Gently holding on to the banister.

Stepping down the staircase.

As you reach the bottom of the staircase you notice your backpack.

You're going to leave your backpack there.

You're going to continue to feel light as you come back to the beach.

Starting to walk out the door.

Back down the track.

And come to stand looking at the sea.

So ancient and wise.

Yet so fresh and free.

You can rest here.

Or you may like to start coming out of the meditation.

Giving yourself a few moments.

To rest and breathe.