WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:05.360 Welcome. You have arrived here in this moment, and that 2 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:10.000 is exactly enough. There is nowhere else you need to be, 3 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:14.519 nothing else you need to do. The world outside this 4 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:18.399 room will wait. The tasks on your list will keep. 5 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:22.679 The conversations you have been replaying in your mind can 6 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:26.079 be set down now like a heavy bag you have 7 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:30.679 been carrying for miles. Right now, this time belongs to 8 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:35.880 you and you alone. I want you to know something 9 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:38.520 before we begin this practice. 10 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:42.200 This guided body skin is not about fixing anything. It 11 00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:45.840 is not about becoming somewhat different or reaching some perfect 12 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:49.520 state of peace. It is not a test you can fail. 13 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:53.359 This practice is about meeting yourself exactly as you are 14 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:58.159 in this body, in this breath, in this moment. Your 15 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:00.759 body has been carrying you through every every single day 16 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:04.560 of your life. It has weathered fevers and heart breaks. 17 00:01:05.159 --> 00:01:08.760 It has tensed when you are afraid and softened when 18 00:01:08.760 --> 00:01:09.760 you felt safe. 19 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:13.040 It has been awake a three in the morning worrying, 20 00:01:13.159 --> 00:01:15.560 and it has been dancing in the kitchen with music 21 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.879 playing too loud to night. We give it the quiet, 22 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:23.120 focused attention it has always deserved. So settle in, find 23 00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:26.120 a position that feels right. You might be lying on. 24 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:29.319 Your back, with your arms resting at your sides, palms 25 00:01:29.400 --> 00:01:33.120 facing upward, like open bulls catching rain. You might be 26 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:36.200 reclined with a pillow beneath your knees, which takes the 27 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:39.319 pressure off your lower back. You might be seated in 28 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:42.439 a comfortable chair with your feet flat on the floor 29 00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:46.400 and your hands folded loosely in your lap. There is 30 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:50.200 no wrong position. The only requirement is that you feel 31 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:53.359 supported and that you can let go of holding yourself up, 32 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.319 let the surface beneath you do all the work you 33 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:01.359 have spent all day propping yourself up, pulling yourself together, 34 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:06.040 holding it all in place. Right now, You can stop. 35 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:08.879 Close your eyes when you are ready. 36 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:12.919 Not because the darkness matters, but because closing your eyes 37 00:02:13.159 --> 00:02:16.719 sends a quiet signal to your nervous system that says, 38 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:19.039 we can rest now. 39 00:02:20.039 --> 00:02:23.439 We do not need to watch, We do not need to. 40 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:25.840 Scan the room for threats or keep track. 41 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:30.360 Of what is happening around us. We are safe, we 42 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:34.439 are held. We can close the shop and go inside. 43 00:02:34.919 --> 00:02:38.319 Saber breath not a deep one, not a special one, 44 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:43.479 just a normal, ordinary breath, the kind you take without thinking. 45 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:48.400 Notice what it feels like. The cool air entering your nostrils, 46 00:02:48.599 --> 00:02:52.599 sliding past the soft tissue of your inner nose, carrying 47 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:54.800 with it the faint scent of wherever you are, the 48 00:02:54.840 --> 00:02:57.319 smell of your room, your sheets, your skin. The air 49 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:01.240 fills the space behind your roobs, pressed outward against the 50 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:02.439 walls of your chest. 51 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:05.400 Notice the brief pause at the top where the breath 52 00:03:05.479 --> 00:03:10.280 simply exists, neither arriving nor departing a held note in 53 00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:15.759 a song. And then notice the exile warmer, now carrying 54 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:19.439 the faint warmth of your own body, leaving through slightly 55 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:22.439 parted lips in a slow, visible stream. If the air 56 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:26.400 is cool enough, you do not need to control this breath. 57 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:30.080 You are simply observing it, the way you might watch 58 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:33.639 a leaf jot across a still pond, or a cloud 59 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:35.800 moves slowly across the afternoon sky. 60 00:03:36.439 --> 00:03:40.439 It goes where at once. It has its own intelligence, 61 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:47.280 its own rhythm. Your only job is to notice, And 62 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:50.680 if you notice nothing at all, that is fine too. 63 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:54.560 The breath is there, whether or not you pay attention 64 00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:58.680 to it. Feel the weight of your body pressing into 65 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:03.879 whatever surface holds you really feel it. This is gravity 66 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:08.560 doing its ancient, faithful work. Notice the specific points of 67 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:11.719 contact between your body and the world. The back of 68 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:15.479 your head against the pillow, a gentle crescent of pressure 69 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:19.600 at the base of your skull, your shoulder blades, two 70 00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:24.759 smooth stones resting in sand, the broad shelf of your hips, 71 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:29.360 the single point of your tailbone, your heels, the edges 72 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:32.360 of your hands, the backs of your thighs where they 73 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:36.480 meet the surface. Each point of contact is a small 74 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:42.759 conversation between your body and gravity, and gravity says, always 75 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:46.879 and without fail I have you. You can let go 76 00:04:49.519 --> 00:04:53.319 if your mind begins to wonder, and it absolutely will. 77 00:04:53.480 --> 00:04:55.720 That is not a failure. That is not a sign 78 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:58.279 that you are doing this wrong. That is simply what 79 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:03.079 human minds do. Two grocery lists and email threads and 80 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:05.839 that thing you said three years ago that still makes 81 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:08.720 you cringe. When you notice your thoughts have wandered away 82 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:12.839 from your body, congratulate yourself. That moment of noticing, that 83 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:18.040 gentle awareness that you have drifted is the entire practice. 84 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:23.439 It is the bicep curl of meditation. You've just done 85 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:33.560 one repetition. Now, gently, without judgment or frustration, guide your 86 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:39.240 attention back to the breath, back to the body, back 87 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:40.240 to this moment. 88 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:44.519 We begin at the very top of your head. Bring 89 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:49.120 your attention to the crown, a soft, warm place where 90 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:53.240 your skull curves to its highest point. If light could 91 00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:56.720 enter through your skin, this is where it would pour 92 00:05:56.839 --> 00:06:01.920 in a gentle, golden glow. Notice whatever you find there, 93 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:07.319 perhaps a faint tinkling, as though tiny electrical currents are 94 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:13.279 dancing beneath the surface. Perhaps warmth, the accumulated heat of 95 00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:18.519 the day still radiating from your scalp. Perhaps nothing at all, 96 00:06:19.639 --> 00:06:25.120 and that is perfectly fine. Not everything needs to announce itself. 97 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:32.360 Some of the deepest work happens in silence. Now, let 98 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:39.920 your awareness drift downward, like warm honey pulling slowly across 99 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:44.839 your forehead. Feel it spread across the smooth plain of 100 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:51.160 your brow, seeping into every tiny four un breeze. 101 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:52.040 Notice if there. 102 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:55.720 Is any tension held here, many of us clench our 103 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:01.120 foreheads without knowing it, especially when we are constant or 104 00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:06.199 worried or trying to make sense of something confusing. The 105 00:07:06.279 --> 00:07:11.160 frontalus muscle, the white flat sheet that covers the front 106 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:17.160 of your skull, can hold tension for hours without our awareness. 107 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:24.439 If you find tightness here, do not fight it. Simply 108 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:25.639 breathe into it. 109 00:07:26.199 --> 00:07:30.600 Imagine your inhale sending a wave of warm water across 110 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:34.920 your forehead and your egg's hail, washing that tension away, 111 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:39.040 like sand being pulled back by the tide. With each breath, 112 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:45.360 lit muscles of your forehead unspool, releasing the quiet grip. 113 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:51.439 Your eyebrows, so expressive, so accustomed to moving on your behalf, 114 00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:55.759 to rising in surprise and knitting together in concern. They 115 00:07:55.959 --> 00:08:00.000 hold so many micro movements that we have consciously chee 116 00:08:00.600 --> 00:08:05.199 lit them. Soften. Now, Let the spears between your brows widen, 117 00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:09.000 the way your field opens up when you step past 118 00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:15.879 the gate. Feel the muscles release, and notice how even 119 00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:20.600 the tiny change creates a wave of relief that spreads 120 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:22.480 across your entire face. 121 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:26.480 Your eyes closed and resting. 122 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:30.199 Feel the delicate weight of your eyelids, thin as silk 123 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:34.480 draped over the gentle curves of your eyeballs beneath. There 124 00:08:34.519 --> 00:08:38.080 is a soft pulsing behind them, the faint glow of 125 00:08:38.200 --> 00:08:44.639 blood moving through the tissue, the darkness patterned with subtle fossamines. 126 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:48.720 Your eyes have been working hard all day, reading and 127 00:08:48.840 --> 00:08:53.039 scanning and focusing and adjusting to different lights. Let them 128 00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:54.879 rest now, feel the. 129 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:59.639 Tiny muscles that control your eye movement, letting go the 130 00:08:59.720 --> 00:09:05.159 sick small muscles per eye, finally unclenching from their constant vigilance. 131 00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:10.399 Your temples, those two smooth hollows at the sides of 132 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:14.679 your head, just above and behind your cheekbones. This is 133 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:18.720 a place where headaches often begin, where the temporal muscle 134 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:23.279 stretches thin over the bone. Press gently into your temples 135 00:09:23.320 --> 00:09:27.000 with your fingertips if it feels good, or simply direct 136 00:09:27.080 --> 00:09:27.639 your breath. 137 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:33.039 There I much warmth pooling in those hollows, dissolving any tightness, 138 00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:41.799 any throbbing, any accumulated pressure your cheeks. Feel them soften 139 00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:46.879 and settle into the pillow or the air. The muscles 140 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:51.919 here are so used to smiling, to chewing, to holding 141 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:58.799 expressions in place. The zygomatic major, the massiter, the bucstinat, 142 00:09:58.919 --> 00:10:01.960 or all those laps names for muscles that have been 143 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:07.240 faithfully serving you. Right now, they have nothing to do. 144 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:11.480 Let them be slack and peaceful, the way a child's 145 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:16.279 face looks in deep sleep, all softness and innocence, All 146 00:10:16.279 --> 00:10:19.840 the masks set aside your jaw. This is where so 147 00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:24.039 many of us doore the heaviest tension, our unspoken words, 148 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:28.559 our swallow frustrations, the things we wanted to say but 149 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:32.080 did not. The massiter is one of the strongest muscles 150 00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:35.879 in the human body, pound for pound, and it clenches 151 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:38.080 with tremendous bores when we are stressed. 152 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:42.919 Till the hinge of your jaw those two small joints 153 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:47.159 called the temporal mendobular joints. Oh, your skull meets a 154 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:51.759 boom that holds your teeth. Let your jaw drop open, just. 155 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:56.279 Slightly, a fraction of an inch. Let your teeth part. 156 00:10:57.639 --> 00:11:00.399 Let your tongue fall away from the roof of your mouth, 157 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:06.840 resting heavy and soft at the bottom. Feel the relief 158 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:09.720 that spreads through your entire face when you do this. 159 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:14.279 That small releases a gift to yourself, and it is 160 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:20.240 available to you anytime you remember. Your lips soft and 161 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:24.759 resting against each other, not pressed together in determination, not 162 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:29.559 burst in thought, simply lying there, two warm petals at 163 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:33.879 the center of your face. Feel the subtle moisture on 164 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:38.200 their inner surfaces, the gentle rhythm of your breath passing 165 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:42.919 over them, The filtrum, that small groove above your upper lip, 166 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:46.840 The tip of your nose cool and still. Bring your 167 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:52.639 awareness to your throat. Now this channel that carries your voice, 168 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:58.039 your laughter, your whispered secrets, your quiet hums. In the shower, 169 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:02.679 feel the front of your throat, the smooth column where 170 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:07.200 your breath moves in and out like a tide. Notice 171 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:11.159 the subtle rise and fall of your atom's apple, or 172 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:15.440 the soft flat plane of your throat, if that is 173 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:20.639 your anatomy. Feel the air passing through cool on the inhale, 174 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:24.919 wolm on the exhale, a constant, gentle current. 175 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:29.360 Notice the hollow at the base of your throat, that 176 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:33.480 small dip where your collarbones begin their outwards sweep. 177 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:37.000 This is the supersternal. 178 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:39.720 Notch, and it is often a place of hidden tension. 179 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:45.639 Breathe into this space. Let it feel open and. 180 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:49.639 Clear, like a hallway with all the doors. 181 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:53.759 Thrown wide, like a window thrown open to a garden. 182 00:12:54.919 --> 00:13:00.120 Feel the breath moving through this channel, unhindered, free, ye 183 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:01.440 who have told. 184 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:04.759 The sides of your neck where the sterner clido mastoid 185 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:09.039 muscles run in two strong cables from behind your ease 186 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:13.919 to your collar bones. These muscles turn your head, not 187 00:13:14.120 --> 00:13:19.120 your head, hold your head upright. They are working even there, 188 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:23.840 keeping your skull balanced to top the seven cervical vertebrae 189 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:28.840 of your spine. Let them soften, Let them feel supported. 190 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:33.480 The back of your neck, where your head meets your spine. 191 00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:37.159 This is often a place of great tension, especially if 192 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:40.720 you spend your days looking at screens or hunched over 193 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:44.600 a desk, or carrying the weight of responsibility on your shoulders. 194 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:49.919 Feel those thick cords of muscle, the trapezius, the leve 195 00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:54.120 tore scapulae, the ones that hold your head upright against 196 00:13:54.159 --> 00:14:01.960 the relentless pull of gravity. Imagine them softening, lengthening, like 197 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:04.840 warm taffy being gently. 198 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:06.519 Stretched. 199 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:10.679 With each ex hill Fill your neck grow a little longer, 200 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:15.360 a little lighter, as though gravity itself were loosening its 201 00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:21.519 grip your shoulders, these great rounded caps that top your arms. 202 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:25.279 Draw them up toward your ears, just for a moment. 203 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:26.159 Hold them there. 204 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:30.879 Fill the tightness, the bunching of muscle, the tension compressed 205 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:35.360 into a fist of bone and sinew. Now let them drop. 206 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:38.840 Feel the rush of release as they fall back into place, 207 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:43.840 heavy and relaxed, sliding down and away from your ears. 208 00:14:44.440 --> 00:14:47.960 Do this once more, if it helps lift and hold 209 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:55.720 tension and intention now release. Feel the difference. Now leave 210 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:59.559 them in their resting place. Dread over the edges of 211 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:04.399 your body, like warm towels after a bath, loose and unburdant. 212 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:06.919 Did your wareness flow. 213 00:15:06.679 --> 00:15:08.919 Down from your shoulders into your arms. 214 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:12.679 Feel the weight of your up arms, the round smoothness 215 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:15.519 of your biceps on the front and tricips on the bag. 216 00:15:15.799 --> 00:15:19.519 These muscles that lift and carry, that push open heavy 217 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:23.080 doors and pull loved ones into hugs. Right now, they 218 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:27.200 are doing nothing at all, there, simply being hanging in 219 00:15:27.240 --> 00:15:31.320 their shoulder sockets, supported entirely by the surface beneath you. 220 00:15:32.279 --> 00:15:37.279 Feel the blood pulsing through them, warm and alive, carrying 221 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:42.279 oxygen to every cell. Your elbows, those faithful hinges that 222 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:46.759 allow your forearms to fold and unfold. Peel the bony 223 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:51.519 point of elbow, the alacronon that small prominence where the 224 00:15:51.639 --> 00:15:55.360 two bones of your forearm meat. It presses gently into 225 00:15:55.399 --> 00:15:59.840 the bed or chair beneath you, a tiny anchor point. 226 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:03.720 Notice that small point of contact and let it ground 227 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:06.799 you to this moment, to this surface, to this body. 228 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:12.360 Your forearms, the broad flack planes of bone and muscle 229 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:16.480 that run from elbow to wrist, that give you the 230 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:22.559 strength to grip, to lift, to type, to create. Feel 231 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:27.320 them growing warm and heavy, as though they are slowly 232 00:16:27.480 --> 00:16:32.679 sinking into warm sand. The muscles along the top of 233 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:38.240 your forearm, the ones that sheane our needs soldiery, Let 234 00:16:38.279 --> 00:16:42.720 them soften. The muscles along the bottom, the ones that 235 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:48.399 curl your fingers into a fist, Let them release Your. 236 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:52.399 Wrists, those delicate and complex joints that allow your horns 237 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:56.519 tor rotate in, flex and tilt. Feel the small bones 238 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:02.200 arranging themselves in two knee rows afore Feel attendance passing 239 00:17:02.279 --> 00:17:06.960 through the narrow carpal tunnel, finally given room to rest. 240 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:12.640 Let the wrists unclench. Feel a small bone settling into stillness, 241 00:17:13.400 --> 00:17:17.559 like pebbles settling into the bed of a stream. Your hands. 242 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:20.799 So much of our lives pass your hands. 243 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:25.000 We tight and write, We cook and clean, We hold 244 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:30.160 and release, We build and destroy, We comfort and caress. 245 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:34.440 Your hands have earned this rest more than perhaps any 246 00:17:34.440 --> 00:17:38.960 other part of your body. Feel your palms, those two warm, 247 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:42.960 soft hollows in the center of your hands. Notice the 248 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:46.240 lines that cross them, the life line and the hard line, 249 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:49.160 and the head line, maps of a life being lived, 250 00:17:49.880 --> 00:17:53.319 edged into your skin by years of folding and unfolding. 251 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:58.839 Fill your fingers, each one independent and alive, each with 252 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:04.519 its own name and its own purpose. Let them curl naturally, 253 00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:09.119 the way a sleeping cat's paws curl inward, the way 254 00:18:09.240 --> 00:18:15.079 a fern front curls before it opens. Your thumb, your 255 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:21.440 index finger, your middle finger, your ring finger, your little finger, 256 00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:28.759 each one resting now, each one's steal. Feel the tips 257 00:18:28.759 --> 00:18:33.000 of your fingers, those sensitive pads that touch the world 258 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:38.359 with such extraordinary precision. They can detect the difference between 259 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:45.400 silk and satin, between warm water and cool. Even the 260 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:50.640 faint air currants in the room register on them, tiny 261 00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:56.920 invisible whispers of movement. Let them be still and open 262 00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:02.359 and receptive to nothing butter rest. Bring your awareness to 263 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:06.799 your chest. Now, this sturdy cage of bone and muscle, 264 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:11.279 twenty four ribs curving around to protect the most vital 265 00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:15.559 organ in your body. Feel the rise and fall of 266 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:18.720 your rib cage as you breathe, each inhale, less it 267 00:19:18.839 --> 00:19:21.759 gently spreading the ribs apart like the rungs of an 268 00:19:21.799 --> 00:19:26.240 expanding fan, creating space for your lungs to fill. Each 269 00:19:26.359 --> 00:19:30.680 exhale less some settle, drawing closer together returning to their 270 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:35.119 resting position beneath the ribs, behind the stone um fuel 271 00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:38.720 your heart. Not as a metaphor, not as a symbol 272 00:19:38.759 --> 00:19:42.079 of love or romance or sentimentality. Feel it as a 273 00:19:42.119 --> 00:19:45.640 physical organ, a muscle, the size and shape of your 274 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:49.319 own fist, beating steadily in the center of your chest. 275 00:19:49.880 --> 00:19:52.440 Thumb thumb, thumb, thumb them the double beat of the 276 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:56.599 valves closing the atrea emptying into the ventricles, the blood 277 00:19:56.680 --> 00:20:00.720 being sent on its endless circuit. It has been beating 278 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:05.279 like this since before you were born, since the first 279 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:09.119 weeks of your existence, when it was nothing more than 280 00:20:09.160 --> 00:20:14.039 a cluster of cells learning to pulse. It has never 281 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:18.759 taken a break. It has never gone on strike. It 282 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:23.200 has never asked for a day off. It beats while 283 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:28.279 you sleep, while you dream, while you argue and love 284 00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:34.880 and cry, while you are completely unaware of it. Tonight, 285 00:20:35.400 --> 00:20:39.519 offer it a moment of gratitude. Place your hand over 286 00:20:39.559 --> 00:20:43.119 your heart if you wish, and feel its faithful pulse 287 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:48.119 beneath your palm. Feel the warmth of your hand, meaning 288 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:53.039 the warmth of your chest. Thank it silently for its 289 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:58.680 tireless service. Notice the space around your heart, the warm 290 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:03.480 maybestinal cavity, where it beats and where the great vessels 291 00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:04.880 emerge and return. 292 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:10.400 Sometimes we armor this space, tightening the muscles of our chest, 293 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:14.400 rounding our shoulders forward, creating a protective shell against hurt 294 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:18.960 or disappointment or vulnerability. If you feel that armor, if 295 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:23.720 you notice that hunching, that guarding, imagine it's softening, not breaking, 296 00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:28.640 not shattering, simply softening, the way ice softens in spring, 297 00:21:28.839 --> 00:21:32.319 becoming permeable to warmth again, allowing the thaw to reach 298 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:34.240 the places that have been frozen. 299 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.799 Let your awareness drop below your ribs and into your belly, 300 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:45.920 your abdomen, the soft central region of your body. This 301 00:21:46.119 --> 00:21:48.680 is the part of our bodies that many of us 302 00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:53.720 try to hide, to flatten, to control. We suck in 303 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:58.799 our stomachs when we stand up straight. We wear clothing 304 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:02.920 designed to compress. We ritique in the mirror. But tonight 305 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:08.480 we simply acknowledge, we feel, We accept. Notice the gentle 306 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:13.559 swallow of your abdomen, rising with each inhale and falling 307 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:15.359 with each exhale. 308 00:22:15.960 --> 00:22:20.279 This is called diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing, and it 309 00:22:20.359 --> 00:22:24.640 is the deepest, most nourishing, most efficient way a human 310 00:22:24.680 --> 00:22:28.759 being can breathe when you bring into your belly the diaphragm, 311 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:34.160 that dome shaped muscle beneath your lungs, contracts and moves downward, 312 00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:37.880 creating a vacuum that pulls air deep into the lower 313 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:41.640 lobes of your lungs, where the most oxygen exchange happens. 314 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:46.519 Feel this movement. Let your belly rise like a gentle 315 00:22:46.599 --> 00:22:49.680 hill on you inhale, and fall like a slow tide 316 00:22:49.720 --> 00:22:53.640 on the exhale. Your belly is the home of your 317 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:59.160 gut instincts, your enteric nervous system, that vast network of 318 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:03.400 neurons line your digestive track that scientists sometimes call the 319 00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:09.799 second brain. Feel the want there, the soft cushion of 320 00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:16.000 muscle and tissue, the gentle gurgling of digestion continuing its 321 00:23:16.119 --> 00:23:17.039 quiet work. 322 00:23:17.799 --> 00:23:22.440 Notice if you're holding any tension here, any tightness around 323 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:25.119 your navel and embracing. 324 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:26.240 Let it dissolve. 325 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:31.640 Let you brey be soft and round, accepting every breath 326 00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:37.359 without resistance, without judgment, without the need to flutten or hide. 327 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:44.200 The muscles of your core, the transverse abdominus, the internal 328 00:23:44.279 --> 00:23:50.359 and external obliques, the rectus abdominus, those muscles that wrap 329 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:54.319 around your spine like a corset of living tissue. 330 00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:59.759 They stabilize you, They protect your spine, They help you 331 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:04.240 wasist and bend. Feel them release a group. You do 332 00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:08.519 not need to hold yourself together right now. The bed 333 00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:14.640 holds you, gravity holds you, The earth itself holds you. 334 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:19.759 You can let go entirely your hips. These great ball 335 00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:23.119 and socket joints the crossroads of your body, the place 336 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:25.680 where the upper body meets the lower body, where the 337 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:29.319 weight of everything above flows downward and is distributed into 338 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:33.640 the legs. The femur, the longest bone in your body, 339 00:24:33.799 --> 00:24:36.839 fits into the acetabulum, a deep socket in the palace, 340 00:24:37.160 --> 00:24:39.559 held in place by some of the strongest ligaments in 341 00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:43.799 the human form. Feel them heavy and wide against the surface. 342 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:44.279 Beneath you. 343 00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:48.680 Feel the bull of your pelvis, a broad, crater like 344 00:24:48.759 --> 00:24:53.279 structure at the base of your spine. It holds your bladder, 345 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:58.839 your reproductive organs, your lower intestines with such care, such 346 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:03.880 quiet diligence. The iliac crests rise like the handles of 347 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:07.799 a basket. The sacroom sits at the back, a triangular 348 00:25:07.880 --> 00:25:11.680 wedge of five fuse vertebrae connecting your spine to the 349 00:25:11.720 --> 00:25:13.640 great wing like bones of your hips. 350 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:19.839 Notice any tension in your hip flexers the iliosois, those 351 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:24.119 deep muscles that connect your lumbar spine to your femur, 352 00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:30.000 passing through the front of your pelvis. They shorten when 353 00:25:30.119 --> 00:25:34.480 we sip for long periods, when we're stuck in fight 354 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:38.880 or flight mode, when we're bracing against the world. Let 355 00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:45.359 them lengthen let them release. Imagine them like two thick ropes, 356 00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:51.519 slowly uncoiling, giving your pelvis room to settle, your spine, 357 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:57.000 room to elongate. Your glutes, those three powerful muscles that 358 00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:00.880 form the foundation of your hips, pall you through the 359 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:05.640 world with every step and every climb. The gluteous maximus, 360 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:08.960 the largest muscle in the human body, the one that 361 00:26:09.079 --> 00:26:12.079 allows you to stand upright and walk on two legs, 362 00:26:12.519 --> 00:26:15.920 one of the defining features of our species. Fuel it 363 00:26:16.039 --> 00:26:20.400 soften and spread, losing its habitual clench. The space between 364 00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:22.599 your hips warm and open. 365 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:29.279 Let your awareness travel down into your legs, now your thighs, 366 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:34.839 the largest muscles in your body, thick pillars of strength 367 00:26:34.920 --> 00:26:39.279 that support you when you stand, that carry you upstairs 368 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:43.359 and across rooms, that hauld you when you squat to 369 00:26:43.400 --> 00:26:48.160 pick up a child or a fallen leaf. Feel their weight, 370 00:26:48.680 --> 00:26:55.039 their warmth, their slow surrender to gravity. The quadruceps on 371 00:26:55.079 --> 00:27:00.759 the front, four muscles working in concert to straighten your knee, The. 372 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:03.720 Hamstrings on the back, three muscles that bend your knee 373 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:04.319 until your. 374 00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:07.839 Pelvis, the adductures on the inner thigh, drawing your legs together, 375 00:27:08.279 --> 00:27:10.599 all of them releasing now, all of them growing heavy 376 00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:13.319 and still sinking into the surface beneath you with a 377 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:17.799 grateful Exhale your knees, those complex and remarkable joints that 378 00:27:17.880 --> 00:27:20.559 allow you to bend and straighten your legs, to walk 379 00:27:20.599 --> 00:27:22.599 and run, and kneel and dease. 380 00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:23.839 They are the. 381 00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:27.039 Largest joint in the body, a hinge that also allows 382 00:27:27.079 --> 00:27:30.799 some rotation. Feel the front of your knees, the smooth, 383 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:35.079 rounded surface of the patella, the knee cap guiding over 384 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:38.359 the end of the femur. Feel the backs of your knees, 385 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:43.960 that soft, hollow, popliteal fossa where blood, vessels and nerves 386 00:27:44.039 --> 00:27:47.759 pass through in a protected channel. Let them be gentle, 387 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:51.119 let them be at ease, Let the pressure that. 388 00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:55.319 Has been on them all day finally lift your calves. 389 00:27:56.039 --> 00:27:59.519 Those diamond shaped muscles on the back of your lower leg, 390 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:04.400 the gasterocnemius and the solius that allow you to push 391 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:10.359 off the ground and rise onto your toes. Feel them lengthening, 392 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:14.440 The tight ropes of the achilles tendon running from the 393 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:19.319 base of your calf to your heel bone slowly unspooling, 394 00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:23.400 letting go of the day's accumulate. 395 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:27.240 Attention, Your shints. The flat blade of bone at the 396 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:32.160 front the tibia pressing gently against the air, the muscles 397 00:28:32.200 --> 00:28:37.519 along its lateral edge. Finally resting your ankles, those clever 398 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:40.880 hinges that allow your feet to swill and flex some point. 399 00:28:42.039 --> 00:28:45.640 Feel the bony knobs on either side, the medial and 400 00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:51.160 lateral meliali, the delicate architecture of ligaments and tendons that 401 00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:54.400