Finding a comfortable place for our body,
Arms and legs at rest,
And having a few deeper breaths as we take our attention inwards.
Next time we inhale,
Let's lengthen our spine a little and as we exhale we can relax a little.
So we've got a bit of alert and a bit of relaxed and a balance between both.
Muscles of the face a bit more relaxed and shoulders soft.
Let's use a cleansing breath to change our mood both physically and mentally.
So when we're ready,
Exhaling through slightly pursed lips as much as we can,
Emptying the lungs without strain and then filling the lungs as much as we can comfortably and then letting it all go.
Notice if that changes how our body,
How our energy feels.
So let's relax the body a little.
Imagining a wave of relaxation starting at the crown of the head,
Visualising it flowing over our body and as it does all the muscles become softer and looser.
The temples and the forehead relaxing,
Scalp,
Cheeks and the jaw,
The head and the neck becoming softer and falling into neutral,
Shoulders relaxing away from the ears.
Our back still tall,
Lengthened but without rigidity but neutral,
Using as little effort as we can to hold ourselves up.
Arms are soft and heavy,
Hands are still somewhere comfortable.
Let's allow the belly to relax,
Hips,
Pelvic bowl becoming relaxed,
Legs relaxed and comfortable,
Thighs and knees and lower legs letting them rest for a moment,
Ankles and feet and each toe soft and relaxed,
Whole body feeling a bit more relaxed and we'll find some mental relaxation as well.
So we'll go to a place in our mind that feels really good when we're there.
It might be somewhere we've visited often or an imaginary place.
What's important is that we enjoy it.
So let's go there now,
Really milk that good feeling,
Get every drop of goodness out of it that you can,
Appreciate the things you love about it.
If your mind wanders we just come back without any criticism,
Just return to the focus.
So feeling more physically and mentally relaxed,
Let's allow ourselves to come into a slower,
Deeper,
More relaxed and healthy mental state.
So I'm going to count from 10 down to 1 and I invite you with each number to let go of whatever comes up for you,
Just for a moment.
10,
9,
Setting aside our concerns for the rest of the world for a few moments,
8,
7 and allowing ourselves to pause,
6,
5,
4,
3,
Everything becoming slower,
2,
Resting our body and our mind as best we can.
If we're concerned we're not doing it properly,
Can we put that aside and be just as we are.
Our beliefs frame our world,
Our beliefs create,
Contain our world,
Our life.
So that if we believe we aren't doing it properly,
This is true.
And if we believe we're doing just fine,
This is also true.
So if you had that thought,
Oh I must be,
I'm still worrying about so and so,
I'm doing it wrong.
I invite you to create a new belief,
Doing it just right,
Just now is just right,
I'm doing fine.
Or some other words that sound right to you and I invite you to use that as an affirmation for a few moments.
So we'll say that affirmation silently in our head and see how that feels.
Again if your mind wanders just come back,
I'm doing fine,
I'm doing well,
All is well.
Feel the energy of doing well,
Praise instead of criticism.
And if you still doubt that you're doing well,
That you're not doing well rather,
Imagine if you were,
If you really believed you were doing well,
If you were doing it just right,
Feels good.
So you've heard of fake it till you make it,
You've got to talk yourself into it.
I really am doing well.
Releasing that affirmation and resting with our current energy as we look a little closer at our beliefs.
A belief,
Just a thought you think a lot,
You repeat often in your head,
Maybe even be unconscious and unexamined.
We absorb a lot of them from our surroundings as we grow up,
Particularly when we're young we don't have the mental apparatus to challenge them and so they just become part of us.
And I invite you to imagine your beliefs as if you're inside a child's climbing frame,
However you want to imagine that.
So they're the structure.
If you believe you can do something,
If you believe you have the ability,
Then you go off and do it or try.
If you believe something is out of your reach,
Well then it's out of your reach.
But I invite you as an adult to look at these limitations around you,
At the structure around you.
Now you have your full mental capacity and decide if these beliefs serve you or do they limit you and make this structure a little bit tight and uncomfortable,
Maybe very uncomfortable.
Because some of us have had very difficult experiences and our beliefs will reflect that.
And when that structure around us is too small,
It hurts.
We feel it.
So let's bring to mind one of these beliefs that we might question today.
They're going to be a little bit different for each of us but they often follow similar lines.
For example,
I don't have enough of something.
Oh this bad thing always happens to me or I attend to the needs of others before my own because that's good.
So I invite you to look at your own belief system.
Pick a belief that you think you might challenge that causes you pain and suffering.
This is how we cause ourselves suffering.
So for example,
The belief that I attend to the needs of others while neglecting my own.
Of course you wouldn't say that.
That may be what happens.
So your new belief might be something like when I see someone else's need,
I will ask my heart,
My inner being,
If I can help this person and still be happy.
And if the answer is yes,
Then I will gladly help this person.
And if the answer is no,
I will honour my own self and on this occasion say no,
Thank you.
And I invite you to feel the energy of that reply to yourself.
I'm seeing their need.
I'm asking my heart,
My inner being,
If I can satisfy their need and still have my own self-respect,
Honour my own needs.
If yes,
Let's do that.
Let's help them.
And if no,
I will respectfully decline.
Feel how that feels.
So yours may be different.
But whichever limiting belief you choose,
I invite you to ask if it's really,
Really true or if it could be different and if that different would feel better.
And you may say,
Well,
It isn't true.
I don't have enough of money,
Energy,
Whatever it is.
But remember,
This structure creates your world.
Change the framework and your world must change to fit,
Or at least run the experiment to see if it does.
So selecting now a belief that we'd like to challenge,
Turning it on its head and creating an affirmation that says,
I have enough.
I am enough.
I do enough.
Or whatever it is for you.
And we'll sit with that affirmation and it'll roll around your head for a little while.
See if it can become a new belief and that will take some repetition,
Some persistence.
Let's see how it feels.
Please begin.
And I'm hoping as you say your affirmation silently that you're smiling because it feels good.
We're releasing the mantra for now.
But if we really want this to become a new belief,
It'll take a little bit of time and effort and repetition,
But let's notice if we believe that can't happen.
Or if we believe that is a possibility of creating new beliefs,
Then you're right.
If you believe it'll take a long time,
You're right.
If you believe it's quick and easy,
You're right.
So put it in your pocket,
Stick it by your bedside table,
On your mirror,
Take a crystal,
Make it mean your affirmation for you.
Whatever works for you.
Keep it with you.
Keep it close and think of it often.
Just noticing how we feel after our practice and we will gradually return to our waking state.
Our beta brainwaves.
So let's take a few deeper breaths and let it energize us.
And starting to move our body and stretch and return to the external world.
Take your affirmation with you.
Thank you for practicing with me.
