Speaker 1: Welcome. You have arrived here in this moment, and that
Speaker 1: is exactly enough. There is nowhere else you need to be,
Speaker 1: nothing else you need to do. The world outside this
Speaker 1: room will wait. The tasks on your list will keep.
Speaker 1: The conversations you have been replaying in your mind can
Speaker 1: be set down now like a heavy bag you have
Speaker 1: been carrying for miles. Right now, this time belongs to
Speaker 1: you and you alone. I want you to know something
Speaker 1: before we begin this practice.
Speaker 2: This guided body skin is not about fixing anything. It
Speaker 2: is not about becoming somewhat different or reaching some perfect
Speaker 2: state of peace. It is not a test you can fail.
Speaker 2: This practice is about meeting yourself exactly as you are
Speaker 2: in this body, in this breath, in this moment. Your
Speaker 2: body has been carrying you through every every single day
Speaker 2: of your life. It has weathered fevers and heart breaks.
Speaker 2: It has tensed when you are afraid and softened when
Speaker 2: you felt safe.
Speaker 3: It has been awake a three in the morning worrying,
Speaker 3: and it has been dancing in the kitchen with music
Speaker 3: playing too loud to night. We give it the quiet,
Speaker 3: focused attention it has always deserved. So settle in, find
Speaker 3: a position that feels right. You might be lying on.
Speaker 1: Your back, with your arms resting at your sides, palms
Speaker 1: facing upward, like open bulls catching rain. You might be
Speaker 1: reclined with a pillow beneath your knees, which takes the
Speaker 1: pressure off your lower back. You might be seated in
Speaker 1: a comfortable chair with your feet flat on the floor
Speaker 1: and your hands folded loosely in your lap. There is
Speaker 1: no wrong position. The only requirement is that you feel
Speaker 1: supported and that you can let go of holding yourself up,
Speaker 1: let the surface beneath you do all the work you
Speaker 1: have spent all day propping yourself up, pulling yourself together,
Speaker 1: holding it all in place. Right now, You can stop.
Speaker 1: Close your eyes when you are ready.
Speaker 4: Not because the darkness matters, but because closing your eyes
Speaker 4: sends a quiet signal to your nervous system that says,
Speaker 4: we can rest now.
Speaker 1: We do not need to watch, We do not need to.
Speaker 4: Scan the room for threats or keep track.
Speaker 2: Of what is happening around us. We are safe, we
Speaker 2: are held. We can close the shop and go inside.
Speaker 1: Saber breath not a deep one, not a special one,
Speaker 1: just a normal, ordinary breath, the kind you take without thinking.
Speaker 1: Notice what it feels like. The cool air entering your nostrils,
Speaker 1: sliding past the soft tissue of your inner nose, carrying
Speaker 1: with it the faint scent of wherever you are, the
Speaker 1: smell of your room, your sheets, your skin. The air
Speaker 1: fills the space behind your roobs, pressed outward against the
Speaker 1: walls of your chest.
Speaker 5: Notice the brief pause at the top where the breath
Speaker 5: simply exists, neither arriving nor departing a held note in
Speaker 5: a song. And then notice the exile warmer, now carrying
Speaker 5: the faint warmth of your own body, leaving through slightly
Speaker 5: parted lips in a slow, visible stream. If the air
Speaker 5: is cool enough, you do not need to control this breath.
Speaker 5: You are simply observing it, the way you might watch
Speaker 5: a leaf jot across a still pond, or a cloud
Speaker 5: moves slowly across the afternoon sky.
Speaker 1: It goes where at once. It has its own intelligence,
Speaker 1: its own rhythm. Your only job is to notice, And
Speaker 1: if you notice nothing at all, that is fine too.
Speaker 1: The breath is there, whether or not you pay attention
Speaker 1: to it. Feel the weight of your body pressing into
Speaker 1: whatever surface holds you really feel it. This is gravity
Speaker 1: doing its ancient, faithful work. Notice the specific points of
Speaker 1: contact between your body and the world. The back of
Speaker 1: your head against the pillow, a gentle crescent of pressure
Speaker 1: at the base of your skull, your shoulder blades, two
Speaker 1: smooth stones resting in sand, the broad shelf of your hips,
Speaker 1: the single point of your tailbone, your heels, the edges
Speaker 1: of your hands, the backs of your thighs where they
Speaker 1: meet the surface. Each point of contact is a small
Speaker 1: conversation between your body and gravity, and gravity says, always
Speaker 1: and without fail I have you. You can let go
Speaker 1: if your mind begins to wonder, and it absolutely will.
Speaker 1: That is not a failure. That is not a sign
Speaker 1: that you are doing this wrong. That is simply what
Speaker 1: human minds do. Two grocery lists and email threads and
Speaker 1: that thing you said three years ago that still makes
Speaker 1: you cringe. When you notice your thoughts have wandered away
Speaker 1: from your body, congratulate yourself. That moment of noticing, that
Speaker 1: gentle awareness that you have drifted is the entire practice.
Speaker 2: It is the bicep curl of meditation. You've just done
Speaker 2: one repetition. Now, gently, without judgment or frustration, guide your
Speaker 2: attention back to the breath, back to the body, back
Speaker 2: to this moment.
Speaker 6: We begin at the very top of your head. Bring
Speaker 6: your attention to the crown, a soft, warm place where
Speaker 6: your skull curves to its highest point. If light could
Speaker 6: enter through your skin, this is where it would pour
Speaker 6: in a gentle, golden glow. Notice whatever you find there,
Speaker 6: perhaps a faint tinkling, as though tiny electrical currents are
Speaker 6: dancing beneath the surface. Perhaps warmth, the accumulated heat of
Speaker 6: the day still radiating from your scalp. Perhaps nothing at all,
Speaker 6: and that is perfectly fine. Not everything needs to announce itself.
Speaker 6: Some of the deepest work happens in silence. Now, let
Speaker 6: your awareness drift downward, like warm honey pulling slowly across
Speaker 6: your forehead. Feel it spread across the smooth plain of
Speaker 6: your brow, seeping into every tiny four un breeze.
Speaker 1: Notice if there.
Speaker 2: Is any tension held here, many of us clench our
Speaker 2: foreheads without knowing it, especially when we are constant or
Speaker 2: worried or trying to make sense of something confusing. The
Speaker 2: frontalus muscle, the white flat sheet that covers the front
Speaker 2: of your skull, can hold tension for hours without our awareness.
Speaker 2: If you find tightness here, do not fight it. Simply
Speaker 2: breathe into it.
Speaker 1: Imagine your inhale sending a wave of warm water across
Speaker 1: your forehead and your egg's hail, washing that tension away,
Speaker 1: like sand being pulled back by the tide. With each breath,
Speaker 1: lit muscles of your forehead unspool, releasing the quiet grip.
Speaker 1: Your eyebrows, so expressive, so accustomed to moving on your behalf,
Speaker 1: to rising in surprise and knitting together in concern. They
Speaker 1: hold so many micro movements that we have consciously chee
Speaker 1: lit them. Soften. Now, Let the spears between your brows widen,
Speaker 1: the way your field opens up when you step past
Speaker 1: the gate. Feel the muscles release, and notice how even
Speaker 1: the tiny change creates a wave of relief that spreads
Speaker 1: across your entire face.
Speaker 7: Your eyes closed and resting.
Speaker 1: Feel the delicate weight of your eyelids, thin as silk
Speaker 1: draped over the gentle curves of your eyeballs beneath. There
Speaker 1: is a soft pulsing behind them, the faint glow of
Speaker 1: blood moving through the tissue, the darkness patterned with subtle fossamines.
Speaker 1: Your eyes have been working hard all day, reading and
Speaker 1: scanning and focusing and adjusting to different lights. Let them
Speaker 1: rest now, feel the.
Speaker 2: Tiny muscles that control your eye movement, letting go the
Speaker 2: sick small muscles per eye, finally unclenching from their constant vigilance.
Speaker 2: Your temples, those two smooth hollows at the sides of
Speaker 2: your head, just above and behind your cheekbones. This is
Speaker 2: a place where headaches often begin, where the temporal muscle
Speaker 2: stretches thin over the bone. Press gently into your temples
Speaker 2: with your fingertips if it feels good, or simply direct
Speaker 2: your breath.
Speaker 1: There I much warmth pooling in those hollows, dissolving any tightness,
Speaker 1: any throbbing, any accumulated pressure your cheeks. Feel them soften
Speaker 1: and settle into the pillow or the air. The muscles
Speaker 1: here are so used to smiling, to chewing, to holding
Speaker 1: expressions in place. The zygomatic major, the massiter, the bucstinat,
Speaker 1: or all those laps names for muscles that have been
Speaker 1: faithfully serving you. Right now, they have nothing to do.
Speaker 8: Let them be slack and peaceful, the way a child's
Speaker 8: face looks in deep sleep, all softness and innocence, All
Speaker 8: the masks set aside your jaw. This is where so
Speaker 8: many of us doore the heaviest tension, our unspoken words,
Speaker 8: our swallow frustrations, the things we wanted to say but
Speaker 8: did not. The massiter is one of the strongest muscles
Speaker 8: in the human body, pound for pound, and it clenches
Speaker 8: with tremendous bores when we are stressed.
Speaker 1: Till the hinge of your jaw those two small joints
Speaker 1: called the temporal mendobular joints. Oh, your skull meets a
Speaker 1: boom that holds your teeth. Let your jaw drop open, just.
Speaker 2: Slightly, a fraction of an inch. Let your teeth part.
Speaker 1: Let your tongue fall away from the roof of your mouth,
Speaker 1: resting heavy and soft at the bottom. Feel the relief
Speaker 1: that spreads through your entire face when you do this.
Speaker 1: That small releases a gift to yourself, and it is
Speaker 1: available to you anytime you remember. Your lips soft and
Speaker 1: resting against each other, not pressed together in determination, not
Speaker 1: burst in thought, simply lying there, two warm petals at
Speaker 1: the center of your face. Feel the subtle moisture on
Speaker 1: their inner surfaces, the gentle rhythm of your breath passing
Speaker 1: over them, The filtrum, that small groove above your upper lip,
Speaker 1: The tip of your nose cool and still. Bring your
Speaker 1: awareness to your throat. Now this channel that carries your voice,
Speaker 1: your laughter, your whispered secrets, your quiet hums. In the shower,
Speaker 1: feel the front of your throat, the smooth column where
Speaker 1: your breath moves in and out like a tide. Notice
Speaker 1: the subtle rise and fall of your atom's apple, or
Speaker 1: the soft flat plane of your throat, if that is
Speaker 1: your anatomy. Feel the air passing through cool on the inhale,
Speaker 1: wolm on the exhale, a constant, gentle current.
Speaker 9: Notice the hollow at the base of your throat, that
Speaker 9: small dip where your collarbones begin their outwards sweep.
Speaker 1: This is the supersternal.
Speaker 9: Notch, and it is often a place of hidden tension.
Speaker 9: Breathe into this space. Let it feel open and.
Speaker 10: Clear, like a hallway with all the doors.
Speaker 9: Thrown wide, like a window thrown open to a garden.
Speaker 9: Feel the breath moving through this channel, unhindered, free, ye
Speaker 9: who have told.
Speaker 1: The sides of your neck where the sterner clido mastoid
Speaker 1: muscles run in two strong cables from behind your ease
Speaker 1: to your collar bones. These muscles turn your head, not
Speaker 1: your head, hold your head upright. They are working even there,
Speaker 1: keeping your skull balanced to top the seven cervical vertebrae
Speaker 1: of your spine. Let them soften, Let them feel supported.
Speaker 1: The back of your neck, where your head meets your spine.
Speaker 9: This is often a place of great tension, especially if
Speaker 9: you spend your days looking at screens or hunched over
Speaker 9: a desk, or carrying the weight of responsibility on your shoulders.
Speaker 9: Feel those thick cords of muscle, the trapezius, the leve
Speaker 9: tore scapulae, the ones that hold your head upright against
Speaker 9: the relentless pull of gravity. Imagine them softening, lengthening, like
Speaker 9: warm taffy being gently.
Speaker 4: Stretched.
Speaker 1: With each ex hill Fill your neck grow a little longer,
Speaker 1: a little lighter, as though gravity itself were loosening its
Speaker 1: grip your shoulders, these great rounded caps that top your arms.
Speaker 1: Draw them up toward your ears, just for a moment.
Speaker 11: Hold them there.
Speaker 1: Fill the tightness, the bunching of muscle, the tension compressed
Speaker 1: into a fist of bone and sinew. Now let them drop.
Speaker 1: Feel the rush of release as they fall back into place,
Speaker 1: heavy and relaxed, sliding down and away from your ears.
Speaker 4: Do this once more, if it helps lift and hold
Speaker 4: tension and intention now release. Feel the difference. Now leave
Speaker 4: them in their resting place. Dread over the edges of
Speaker 4: your body, like warm towels after a bath, loose and unburdant.
Speaker 1: Did your wareness flow.
Speaker 4: Down from your shoulders into your arms.
Speaker 1: Feel the weight of your up arms, the round smoothness
Speaker 1: of your biceps on the front and tricips on the bag.
Speaker 1: These muscles that lift and carry, that push open heavy
Speaker 1: doors and pull loved ones into hugs. Right now, they
Speaker 1: are doing nothing at all, there, simply being hanging in
Speaker 1: their shoulder sockets, supported entirely by the surface beneath you.
Speaker 1: Feel the blood pulsing through them, warm and alive, carrying
Speaker 1: oxygen to every cell. Your elbows, those faithful hinges that
Speaker 1: allow your forearms to fold and unfold. Peel the bony
Speaker 1: point of elbow, the alacronon that small prominence where the
Speaker 1: two bones of your forearm meat. It presses gently into
Speaker 1: the bed or chair beneath you, a tiny anchor point.
Speaker 1: Notice that small point of contact and let it ground
Speaker 1: you to this moment, to this surface, to this body.
Speaker 1: Your forearms, the broad flack planes of bone and muscle
Speaker 1: that run from elbow to wrist, that give you the
Speaker 1: strength to grip, to lift, to type, to create. Feel
Speaker 1: them growing warm and heavy, as though they are slowly
Speaker 1: sinking into warm sand. The muscles along the top of
Speaker 1: your forearm, the ones that sheane our needs soldiery, Let
Speaker 1: them soften. The muscles along the bottom, the ones that
Speaker 1: curl your fingers into a fist, Let them release Your.
Speaker 2: Wrists, those delicate and complex joints that allow your horns
Speaker 2: tor rotate in, flex and tilt. Feel the small bones
Speaker 2: arranging themselves in two knee rows afore Feel attendance passing
Speaker 2: through the narrow carpal tunnel, finally given room to rest.
Speaker 2: Let the wrists unclench. Feel a small bone settling into stillness,
Speaker 2: like pebbles settling into the bed of a stream. Your hands.
Speaker 2: So much of our lives pass your hands.
Speaker 1: We tight and write, We cook and clean, We hold
Speaker 1: and release, We build and destroy, We comfort and caress.
Speaker 1: Your hands have earned this rest more than perhaps any
Speaker 1: other part of your body. Feel your palms, those two warm,
Speaker 1: soft hollows in the center of your hands. Notice the
Speaker 1: lines that cross them, the life line and the hard line,
Speaker 1: and the head line, maps of a life being lived,
Speaker 1: edged into your skin by years of folding and unfolding.
Speaker 1: Fill your fingers, each one independent and alive, each with
Speaker 1: its own name and its own purpose. Let them curl naturally,
Speaker 1: the way a sleeping cat's paws curl inward, the way
Speaker 1: a fern front curls before it opens. Your thumb, your
Speaker 1: index finger, your middle finger, your ring finger, your little finger,
Speaker 1: each one resting now, each one's steal. Feel the tips
Speaker 1: of your fingers, those sensitive pads that touch the world
Speaker 1: with such extraordinary precision. They can detect the difference between
Speaker 1: silk and satin, between warm water and cool. Even the
Speaker 1: faint air currants in the room register on them, tiny
Speaker 1: invisible whispers of movement. Let them be still and open
Speaker 1: and receptive to nothing butter rest. Bring your awareness to
Speaker 1: your chest. Now, this sturdy cage of bone and muscle,
Speaker 1: twenty four ribs curving around to protect the most vital
Speaker 1: organ in your body. Feel the rise and fall of
Speaker 1: your rib cage as you breathe, each inhale, less it
Speaker 1: gently spreading the ribs apart like the rungs of an
Speaker 1: expanding fan, creating space for your lungs to fill. Each
Speaker 1: exhale less some settle, drawing closer together returning to their
Speaker 1: resting position beneath the ribs, behind the stone um fuel
Speaker 1: your heart. Not as a metaphor, not as a symbol
Speaker 1: of love or romance or sentimentality. Feel it as a
Speaker 1: physical organ, a muscle, the size and shape of your
Speaker 1: own fist, beating steadily in the center of your chest.
Speaker 1: Thumb thumb, thumb, thumb them the double beat of the
Speaker 1: valves closing the atrea emptying into the ventricles, the blood
Speaker 1: being sent on its endless circuit. It has been beating
Speaker 1: like this since before you were born, since the first
Speaker 1: weeks of your existence, when it was nothing more than
Speaker 1: a cluster of cells learning to pulse. It has never
Speaker 1: taken a break. It has never gone on strike. It
Speaker 1: has never asked for a day off. It beats while
Speaker 1: you sleep, while you dream, while you argue and love
Speaker 1: and cry, while you are completely unaware of it. Tonight,
Speaker 1: offer it a moment of gratitude. Place your hand over
Speaker 1: your heart if you wish, and feel its faithful pulse
Speaker 1: beneath your palm. Feel the warmth of your hand, meaning
Speaker 1: the warmth of your chest. Thank it silently for its
Speaker 1: tireless service. Notice the space around your heart, the warm
Speaker 1: maybestinal cavity, where it beats and where the great vessels
Speaker 1: emerge and return.
Speaker 12: Sometimes we armor this space, tightening the muscles of our chest,
Speaker 12: rounding our shoulders forward, creating a protective shell against hurt
Speaker 12: or disappointment or vulnerability. If you feel that armor, if
Speaker 12: you notice that hunching, that guarding, imagine it's softening, not breaking,
Speaker 12: not shattering, simply softening, the way ice softens in spring,
Speaker 12: becoming permeable to warmth again, allowing the thaw to reach
Speaker 12: the places that have been frozen.
Speaker 1: Let your awareness drop below your ribs and into your belly,
Speaker 1: your abdomen, the soft central region of your body. This
Speaker 1: is the part of our bodies that many of us
Speaker 1: try to hide, to flatten, to control. We suck in
Speaker 1: our stomachs when we stand up straight. We wear clothing
Speaker 1: designed to compress. We ritique in the mirror. But tonight
Speaker 1: we simply acknowledge, we feel, We accept. Notice the gentle
Speaker 1: swallow of your abdomen, rising with each inhale and falling
Speaker 1: with each exhale.
Speaker 13: This is called diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing, and it
Speaker 13: is the deepest, most nourishing, most efficient way a human
Speaker 13: being can breathe when you bring into your belly the diaphragm,
Speaker 13: that dome shaped muscle beneath your lungs, contracts and moves downward,
Speaker 13: creating a vacuum that pulls air deep into the lower
Speaker 13: lobes of your lungs, where the most oxygen exchange happens.
Speaker 1: Feel this movement. Let your belly rise like a gentle
Speaker 1: hill on you inhale, and fall like a slow tide
Speaker 1: on the exhale. Your belly is the home of your
Speaker 1: gut instincts, your enteric nervous system, that vast network of
Speaker 1: neurons line your digestive track that scientists sometimes call the
Speaker 1: second brain. Feel the want there, the soft cushion of
Speaker 1: muscle and tissue, the gentle gurgling of digestion continuing its
Speaker 1: quiet work.
Speaker 2: Notice if you're holding any tension here, any tightness around
Speaker 2: your navel and embracing.
Speaker 1: Let it dissolve.
Speaker 2: Let you brey be soft and round, accepting every breath
Speaker 2: without resistance, without judgment, without the need to flutten or hide.
Speaker 2: The muscles of your core, the transverse abdominus, the internal
Speaker 2: and external obliques, the rectus abdominus, those muscles that wrap
Speaker 2: around your spine like a corset of living tissue.
Speaker 1: They stabilize you, They protect your spine, They help you
Speaker 1: wasist and bend. Feel them release a group. You do
Speaker 1: not need to hold yourself together right now. The bed
Speaker 1: holds you, gravity holds you, The earth itself holds you.
Speaker 1: You can let go entirely your hips. These great ball
Speaker 1: and socket joints the crossroads of your body, the place
Speaker 1: where the upper body meets the lower body, where the
Speaker 1: weight of everything above flows downward and is distributed into
Speaker 1: the legs. The femur, the longest bone in your body,
Speaker 1: fits into the acetabulum, a deep socket in the palace,
Speaker 1: held in place by some of the strongest ligaments in
Speaker 1: the human form. Feel them heavy and wide against the surface.
Speaker 1: Beneath you.
Speaker 14: Feel the bull of your pelvis, a broad, crater like
Speaker 14: structure at the base of your spine. It holds your bladder,
Speaker 14: your reproductive organs, your lower intestines with such care, such
Speaker 14: quiet diligence. The iliac crests rise like the handles of
Speaker 14: a basket. The sacroom sits at the back, a triangular
Speaker 14: wedge of five fuse vertebrae connecting your spine to the
Speaker 14: great wing like bones of your hips.
Speaker 1: Notice any tension in your hip flexers the iliosois, those
Speaker 1: deep muscles that connect your lumbar spine to your femur,
Speaker 1: passing through the front of your pelvis. They shorten when
Speaker 1: we sip for long periods, when we're stuck in fight
Speaker 1: or flight mode, when we're bracing against the world. Let
Speaker 1: them lengthen let them release. Imagine them like two thick ropes,
Speaker 1: slowly uncoiling, giving your pelvis room to settle, your spine,
Speaker 1: room to elongate. Your glutes, those three powerful muscles that
Speaker 1: form the foundation of your hips, pall you through the
Speaker 1: world with every step and every climb. The gluteous maximus,
Speaker 1: the largest muscle in the human body, the one that
Speaker 1: allows you to stand upright and walk on two legs,
Speaker 1: one of the defining features of our species. Fuel it
Speaker 1: soften and spread, losing its habitual clench. The space between
Speaker 1: your hips warm and open.
Speaker 15: Let your awareness travel down into your legs, now your thighs,
Speaker 15: the largest muscles in your body, thick pillars of strength
Speaker 15: that support you when you stand, that carry you upstairs
Speaker 15: and across rooms, that hauld you when you squat to
Speaker 15: pick up a child or a fallen leaf. Feel their weight,
Speaker 15: their warmth, their slow surrender to gravity. The quadruceps on
Speaker 15: the front, four muscles working in concert to straighten your knee, The.
Speaker 1: Hamstrings on the back, three muscles that bend your knee
Speaker 1: until your.
Speaker 16: Pelvis, the adductures on the inner thigh, drawing your legs together,
Speaker 16: all of them releasing now, all of them growing heavy
Speaker 16: and still sinking into the surface beneath you with a
Speaker 16: grateful Exhale your knees, those complex and remarkable joints that
Speaker 16: allow you to bend and straighten your legs, to walk
Speaker 16: and run, and kneel and dease.
Speaker 10: They are the.
Speaker 1: Largest joint in the body, a hinge that also allows
Speaker 1: some rotation. Feel the front of your knees, the smooth,
Speaker 1: rounded surface of the patella, the knee cap guiding over
Speaker 1: the end of the femur. Feel the backs of your knees,
Speaker 1: that soft, hollow, popliteal fossa where blood, vessels and nerves
Speaker 1: pass through in a protected channel. Let them be gentle,
Speaker 1: let them be at ease, Let the pressure that.
Speaker 17: Has been on them all day finally lift your calves.
Speaker 17: Those diamond shaped muscles on the back of your lower leg,
Speaker 17: the gasterocnemius and the solius that allow you to push
Speaker 17: off the ground and rise onto your toes. Feel them lengthening,
Speaker 17: The tight ropes of the achilles tendon running from the
Speaker 17: base of your calf to your heel bone slowly unspooling,
Speaker 17: letting go of the day's accumulate.
Speaker 2: Attention, Your shints. The flat blade of bone at the
Speaker 2: front the tibia pressing gently against the air, the muscles
Speaker 2: along its lateral edge. Finally resting your ankles, those clever
Speaker 2: hinges that allow your feet to swill and flex some point.
Speaker 2: Feel the bony knobs on either side, the medial and
Speaker 2: lateral meliali, the delicate architecture of ligaments and tendons that
Speaker 2: hold everything together. Let them rest, that the small bones
Speaker 2: of your ankles settle into stillness, and finally.
Speaker 1: Your feet, those remarkable, intricate structures, with their twenty six
Speaker 1: bones each, their thirty three joints, their three arches, They
Speaker 1: are hundreds of thousands of nerve endings connecting you to
Speaker 1: the ground. With every step, your feet have carried you
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of miles across the course of your life.
Speaker 1: From your first stumbling steps is a toddler to every commute,
Speaker 1: every hike, every dance, every ram for the bus.
Speaker 10: They have walked on hot sand and cold tile, through
Speaker 10: puddles and over stones, across hardwood floors and gravel paths.
Speaker 10: They deserve this moment of undivided attention more than perhaps
Speaker 10: any other part of your body. Feel the soles of
Speaker 10: your feet, those broad curved paths. Notice the warmth building there,
Speaker 10: the subtle tingling of circulation, the softness of the skin
Speaker 10: on the arch, the slightly rougher skin on the heel,
Speaker 10: the plunder fashion, that thick band of tissue running from
Speaker 10: heel to toe. Feeling the gentle release of not being
Speaker 10: compressed under your weight. Feel your toes, each one distinct
Speaker 10: and separate, each one with its own personality. Your big toe,
Speaker 10: strong and steady, the anchor of your balance. Your second
Speaker 10: and third toes the longest, reaching forward like small fingers,
Speaker 10: Your fourth and fifth toes curling inwards slightly, the pinky toe,
Speaker 10: often the most forgotten.
Speaker 1: Let them all curl slightly naturally, the way they do
Speaker 1: in sleep. Feel the pads of your toes, those soft,
Speaker 1: sensitive cushions that grip the ground with each step, that
Speaker 1: send constant information to your brain about the terrain beneath you.
Speaker 1: The arches of your feet, those elegant curves, the medial
Speaker 1: longitudinal arch and the lateral longitudinal arch, and the transverse
Speaker 1: arch that spring back with each stride, observing impact and
Speaker 1: returning energy.
Speaker 18: Feel them resting, unweighted, free from the daily compression of
Speaker 18: standing and walking. The tops of your feet, where you
Speaker 18: can sometimes feel your pulse if you press gently with
Speaker 18: your thumb the dorsalis petty's artery carrying blood to the
Speaker 18: tips of your toes. Feel the thin skin stretched over
Speaker 18: the network of tendons, the cool air of the room,
Speaker 18: touching the surface a gentle caress.
Speaker 1: Now zoo out. Instead of focusing on any one part,
Speaker 1: let your awareness expand to include your entire body at once.
Speaker 1: Feel the whole of yourself lying there, from the crown
Speaker 1: of your head to the soles of your feet. You
Speaker 1: are a single, continuous being, connected by skin and bone
Speaker 1: and blood and breath, and every part of you is
Speaker 1: connected to every other part. Notice the sensations that flow
Speaker 1: across your body, like weather across a landscape, warmth here,
Speaker 1: coolness there, tingling in one place, stillness in another, A
Speaker 1: subtle pulse in your fingertips, a gentle ache in your
Speaker 1: lower back, a flutter of your eyelids. These are not
Speaker 1: problems to be solved. They are not signals that something
Speaker 1: is wrong. They are simply the language of your body,
Speaker 1: communicating with you in the only way it knows. How
Speaker 1: and tonight you are listening, Imagine a warm golden light
Speaker 1: beginning to.
Speaker 19: Form at the crown of your head.
Speaker 1: It is soft and gentle, like the first light of dawn,
Speaker 1: spreading across a winter sky. With each breath, this light
Speaker 1: begins to move downward. It fills your skull with warmth,
Speaker 1: flows into your necks, spreads across your shoulders like warm oil.
Speaker 1: It pours down your arms in a slow golden river,
Speaker 1: reaching your elbows, your wrists, your finger tips, until your
Speaker 1: hands are glowing from within. It cascades down your chest,
Speaker 1: filling your heart space with a soft amber glow, wrapping
Speaker 1: your heart in warmth. It moves through your belly, warming
Speaker 1: your gut, settling into your pelvis with a deep, grounding heat.
Speaker 1: It flows into your hips, down your thighs, through your knees,
Speaker 1: into your calves and ankles. It pulls in your feet,
Speaker 1: filling them with warmth and light. Now your entire body
Speaker 1: is bathed in this warm golden light. You are glowing
Speaker 1: from within a lantern, live, calm, in peace. Feel the
Speaker 1: warmth of it surrounding every cell, Feel the safety of it,
Speaker 1: the way it wraps around you like the warmest blanket you.
Speaker 19: Have ever known.
Speaker 7: This light is yours, It has always been yours.
Speaker 19: It is the light of.
Speaker 7: Your own awareness, your iron presence, your iron deep and
Speaker 7: abiding pace that exists beneath every worry and every wound.
Speaker 20: As you rest in this golden glow, I want to
Speaker 20: invite you to let go a little deeper still. Perhaps
Speaker 20: there are places in your body does not yet fully surrendered,
Speaker 20: places that still hold their tension, like a fist that
Speaker 20: has been clinched so long and have forgotten how to open.
Speaker 20: That is perfectly natural. Some patterns run deep, pourn into
Speaker 20: the grooves of your muscles by years, even decades of repetition.
Speaker 20: If you find such a place, do not force it
Speaker 20: to release. Do not buling your body into relaxation. Simply
Speaker 20: acknowledge the tension. Send your breath there, warm and slow.
Speaker 20: Imagine your exhale wrapping around that knot of tension like
Speaker 20: a hand gently holding a clenched fist. You are not
Speaker 20: prying it open. You are simply letting it know, through
Speaker 20: the warmth of your breath and the gentleness of your attention,
Speaker 20: that it is safe to let go whenever it is ready,
Speaker 20: And if it is not ready tonight, that is fine too.
Speaker 1: You plant at the seed of awareness, and awareness is
Speaker 1: the beginning of all healing. In time, that seed will
Speaker 1: do as work. Notice the spaces between your muscles, the
Speaker 1: fashion that weaves through your body like a web of silk,
Speaker 1: connecting everything to everything else. Feel these connective tissues softening
Speaker 1: and hydrating, becoming supple and free, like a sponge absorbing
Speaker 1: warm water.
Speaker 10: Your body's not.
Speaker 1: A collection of separate parts assembled by an engineer. It
Speaker 1: is one continuous fabric, one living tapestry, And when one
Speaker 1: part relaxes, the whole fabric loosens. When you release your jaw,
Speaker 1: your shoulders drop. When you release your shoulders, your back softens.
Speaker 1: It is all connected, all of it, and the relaxation
Speaker 1: you have cultivated tonight ripples outward in ways you may
Speaker 1: never fully comprehend. Ted lust pause, no guide, is, no instructions,
Speaker 1: no imagery, just you and your body, and this moment
Speaker 1: landing and the warm golden light of your own awareness.
Speaker 1: Be still, Feel how natural it is to simply be,
Speaker 1: no doing, no striving, no achieving, no becoming, just being
Speaker 1: in a body on the spurs in this breath. This
Speaker 1: is your profraught.
Speaker 2: This piece has been here all along, patient and faithful,
Speaker 2: laden quietly beneath the noise and the hurry and the
Speaker 2: worry and the ceaseless internal monologue. It does not need
Speaker 2: to be created. It needs only to be uncovered, the
Speaker 2: way you uncover a fossil by gently brushing away layers
Speaker 2: of dust.
Speaker 21: Let us deepen the breath now and bring this body
Speaker 21: awareness into a gentle rhythmic pattern that you can carry
Speaker 21: with you into sleep or into the rest of your evening.
Speaker 21: Inhale slowly through your nose for a count of four, one, two,
Speaker 21: three four. Feel your ribs expand output, your belly rise
Speaker 21: like a gentle hill, your chest lift.
Speaker 1: Feel the cool.
Speaker 21: Air rushing in, carrying oxygen to the deepest parts of
Speaker 21: your lungs. Now, Hold that breath genty for a count
Speaker 21: of two, one two. Feel the stillness at the peak,
Speaker 21: the pause between waves, the silence between notes. Now exhale
Speaker 21: slowly through your mouth for a count of six one two, three, four,
Speaker 21: five six. Feel your whole body soften with the release,
Speaker 21: every muscle letting go a little more, every thought growing
Speaker 21: a little quieter. The exale is where the deepest relaxation
Speaker 21: lives again inhale for four one two three four, for
Speaker 21: the fresh air filling every corner of your lungs, every
Speaker 21: tiny you loose, the fullness of being alive and breathing.
Speaker 21: Hold for two one two, an ext sale for six
Speaker 21: one two, three, four five six lit everything go, Let
Speaker 21: the day go, let the week go, that the waight
Speaker 21: she have been carrying dissolved into the air. One more
Speaker 21: cycle together in the hell one two three four, the
Speaker 21: whole body filling with warmth, and I hold one two
Speaker 21: and the moment of perfect stillness.
Speaker 2: An exhale one two three, four five six, A long,
Speaker 2: slow release, like the last note of a lullaby, fading
Speaker 2: into silence. Feel the rhythm settling into your body like
Speaker 2: green into soil, like roots finding water. Each breath draws
Speaker 2: you a little deeper into relaxation, a flowing closer to
Speaker 2: the quiet core. There lives the center of every human being,
Speaker 2: untouched by circumstance, untroubled by time. If I ever began
Speaker 2: to bring this practice toward its clothes, I want to
Speaker 2: offer you a few words, not commands, not rules, not
Speaker 2: things you must believe, simply reflections of what is already
Speaker 2: true about you, waiting to be recognized. I am safe
Speaker 2: in my body. This body is my home, and no
Speaker 2: one can take it from me. I am worthy of rest.
Speaker 2: I have earned this stillness through the simple act of existing.
Speaker 2: I release what no longer serves me. I let it
Speaker 2: go with kindness, not with force.
Speaker 1: I trust the wisdom of my body. It has been
Speaker 1: gliding me since before I could speak. I am enough
Speaker 1: exactly as I am in this moment, with this body,
Speaker 1: with this breath, I deserve peace, and peace is here,
Speaker 1: and it has all always been here. I carry calm
Speaker 1: with me wherever I go. It lives in my breath,
Speaker 1: in my chest, in the center of my being. I
Speaker 1: am grateful for this body that carries me through life,
Speaker 1: that heals itself while I sleep, that beats its faithful
Speaker 1: rhythm without ever being asked. I choose gentleness with myself.
Speaker 1: I choose soft words and slow movements and quiet movements.
Speaker 1: The stillness within me is unshakable. It is the bedrock
Speaker 1: beneath the storms. I am whole, I have always been whole.
Speaker 1: Let these words settle into you, the wasy stone settle
Speaker 1: into the bed of a river, the way seeds settle
Speaker 1: into warm soil. You do not need to repeat them,
Speaker 1: or memorize them, or force yourself to believe them. They
Speaker 1: are already part of you. They have always been part
Speaker 1: of you. They have the truth. It's a busy mind,
Speaker 1: sometimes jeans at that dimbiehead.
Speaker 2: It's in the I want to invite you into one
Speaker 2: last visualization before we close this practice together. Imagine yourself
Speaker 2: walking through a quiet forest clearing. It is night time,
Speaker 2: but not a frightening darkness. It is the gentle, velveted
Speaker 2: darkness of a forest that knows the moon and the
Speaker 2: stars and feels no need for street lights. The ground
Speaker 2: is soft beneath your bare feet, cool moss and fallen leaves,
Speaker 2: the vacational smooth stone.
Speaker 1: With each step you feel the earth gives slightly beneath
Speaker 1: your weight, accepting you, supporting you. The air is clean
Speaker 1: and carries the scent of pine resin and damp earth,
Speaker 1: and something faintly sweet like wild flowers releasing their perfume
Speaker 1: in the cool of evening. Above you, the sky is
Speaker 1: a deep, dark blue, scattered with stars. The milky Way
Speaker 1: stretches across the heavens like a river of light. Billions
Speaker 1: of suns too distant to count, each one burning with
Speaker 1: its own ancient fire. You feel small beneath this fastness,
Speaker 1: but not insignificant, small the way a single flame is
Speaker 1: small within a great fire, essential and alive and part
Speaker 1: of something immense.
Speaker 2: You walk slowly through the clearing. There is no destination.
Speaker 2: Each step is the point. Feel the texture of the ground.
Speaker 1: With each footfall.
Speaker 2: Hear the soft crunch of leaves beneath your souls.
Speaker 1: Feel the cool air on your skin, the gentle brush
Speaker 1: of a breeze through your hair, carrying the forest quiet
Speaker 1: whispered secrets. There is a wooden bench at the edge
Speaker 1: of the clearing, withered and smooth, its surface worn by
Speaker 1: years of sitting. You lower yourself onto it. You lean back.
Speaker 1: You look up at the stars. They are so bright
Speaker 1: they seem close enough to touch. Be ancient light traveling
Speaker 1: millions and billions of miles through the void to reach
Speaker 1: your eyes tonight. And then here you are a body
Speaker 1: of warm flesh and bone and water, receiving that light,
Speaker 1: being held by the earth, cradled by the night, breathing
Speaker 1: the same air that the trees are breathing. There is
Speaker 1: nothing to do, There is nothing to fix, there is
Speaker 1: nothing to figure out. There is only this, this bench,
Speaker 1: this sky, this breath, this body, this moment, and this
Speaker 1: is enough.
Speaker 2: This has always been enough. Take a moment to feel
Speaker 2: gratitude for your body, not for what it looks like,
Speaker 2: but for what it does, For the miracle of it,
Speaker 2: for the staggering complexity of it, the trillions of cels
Speaker 2: working in concert, the immune system patrolling your borders, the
Speaker 2: nervous system firing its electric messages at the speed of thought.
Speaker 2: Thank your feet for carrying you mile after mile, year
Speaker 2: after year, without complaint.
Speaker 19: Thank your hands for building your world, for typing and
Speaker 19: cooking and turning pages and holding the faces of people
Speaker 19: you love. Thank your eyes for showing you sunsets and
Speaker 19: the faces of your children and the words of your
Speaker 19: favorite books. Thank your ears for bringing you music and
Speaker 19: laughter and the voices that mean the most to you.
Speaker 19: Thank your tongue for the taste of coffee in the
Speaker 19: morning and the sweetness of fruit in summer. Thank your
Speaker 19: nose for the smell of rain on pavement, and bread
Speaker 19: baking in an oven, and the particular scent of someone
Speaker 19: you love. And thank your heart for beating, always beating,
Speaker 19: without fail, without complaint, without asking for a recognition or applause.
Speaker 19: It has been beating since before you drew your first breath,
Speaker 19: and it will beat until you dry your last.
Speaker 1: It is the most faithful companion you will ever have.
Speaker 1: Thank it now.
Speaker 10: Gently we begin to return.
Speaker 11: You do not need to rush. There is no alarm
Speaker 11: going off, no urgency. No one is waiting for you
Speaker 11: with a list of tasks. Simply begin to notice the
Speaker 11: room around you again. The sounds, perhaps feigned, perhaps absent,
Speaker 11: of the world that side your space. The temperature of
Speaker 11: the air on your skin, cool or warm, the weight
Speaker 11: of any blankets covering you, the surface beneath you, still
Speaker 11: holding you, still faithful. Will your your fingers and toes,
Speaker 11: small movements, testing the connection between your mind and your body.
Speaker 11: Roll your wrists and ankles in slow circles, feeling the
Speaker 11: joints moving smoothly, the tendons flexing, the blood flowing. If
Speaker 11: you wish, you can stretch gently, reaching your arms overhead,
Speaker 11: pointing your toes, lengthening your spine like a cat waking
Speaker 11: from a nap, Move slowly and with great kindness. Your
Speaker 11: body has just spent nearly an hour in deep, focused relaxation.
Speaker 4: Honor that transition. Do not charge it. Awake when you
Speaker 4: are ready, and only when you are ready. Open your eyes,
Speaker 4: not all at once. Let the light filter in, gradually,
Speaker 4: blink a few times. Let your room come into focus, slowly,
Speaker 4: the shapes and colors assembling themselves like a painting being
Speaker 4: finished stroke by stroke. You have just given yourself one
Speaker 4: of the greatest gifts a person can give. You have
Speaker 4: given yourself the gift of your own attention.
Speaker 2: You have listened to your body, honored its needs, acknowledged
Speaker 2: its stories, and offered it rest. Carry this feeling with you.
Speaker 2: Let it be a quiet anchor in the days to come,
Speaker 2: a place you can return to in your mind when
Speaker 2: the world feels heavy or faster loud, so that you
Speaker 2: can return to this body, scan this practice, this golden
Speaker 2: light whenever you need it. It is always here. You
Speaker 2: are always here. Thank you for being here, Thank you
Speaker 2: for showing up for yourself. Tonight, rist well, sleep deeply,
Speaker 2: be gentle with yourself in the morning.
Speaker 1: You deserve that and so much more.