Chapter 1: Why is returning to relaxation important in meditation?
Hello there. In today's meditation, we're going to look back at the deep relaxation form we've been practicing over the last while. The reason we do this is so as to increase our awareness of the relaxation response.
Chapter 2: How can we create a comfortable meditation posture?
This is the fundamental aspect of our meditation practice, and without it, it's very difficult to get to deeper forms of stillness or of contemplation. So every so often, we will return to this form.
Chapter 3: What techniques help deepen awareness of the breath?
So for now, make yourself comfortable. Allow your feet to rest on the floor as we prepare to enter this form of relaxation once again. Once again, we begin by taking our seat consciously and making the intention to touch stillness, relaxation, and calm as the doorways into meditative practice.
Begin with your ritual gesture, whatever it may be, perhaps the sign of the cross or joining your hands in prayer form or a simple bow or the lighting of a candle, but something that marks for you that you are now beginning formally to enter this sacred space of meditation.
Chapter 4: How does visualization enhance the relaxation experience?
Bend gently, allow the body to move into their meditation posture. The feet flat against the floor, the back supported by the chair, lengthening the spine so that the breath is open and clear.
Sometimes we can find that a gentle and small tuck of the head so that the chin is pointing towards the chest can also be helpful in relieving the tension that is so often present in the upper neck and beneath the skull. Remember, the most important thing is not to struggle with this. No strain.
Chapter 5: What role does breath play in releasing tension?
Just simply allowing the body to rest for these few moments. the shoulders dropped and hanging from the neck, the pelvis centered and solid, the spine lengthened and relaxed, hands upon the lap, either open or folded, whichever you prefer, the eyes closed, or if you find it difficult to close your eyes, just simply lowering and softening your gaze to the floor.
And as the body sits into what is this wonderfully comfortable position, a position of alert but relaxed awareness, we can begin now to deepen our relaxation by bringing our attention, our awareness to the breath. Again, we're not changing the rhythm of the breath in any way.
Chapter 6: How can we integrate relaxation into our daily lives?
We're just noticing the breath. Being aware of the breath as the background music of our life. Whatever else is happening, whatever else we're doing, we're breathing. And as you breathe, simply begin to be aware of the movement in the body that the rhythm of your breath brings. The rise and fall of the shoulders or the belly. The expansion and retraction of the ribcage.
Again, not changing the rhythm in any way, but just noticing. And as you breathe in, be aware that you are receiving. Receiving life. Energy. a gift of your own breath. And as you breathe out, be aware that you are giving, giving the gift of your breath. As you breathe out, you may also like to picture your breath, the way your breath appears on a cold winter's morning.
And as you breathe out, consciously then breathe out any tension or anxiety, stress or worry. Breathing it out, seeing it dissolve in the air like your breath on a frosty morning. As you breathe in, you may like to picture your breath as light, clear golden light. Allowing that light to fill your lungs and slowly to begin to fill your whole body.
And as it fills your body, the body relaxes even further. The feet calm and relaxed upon the floor. Calf muscles loose, relaxed. The knees open and loose. thighs, upper legs, pelvis, all loose, relaxed, and calm. It can help to picture the pit of your stomach like a clear pool of water, smoothing its surface so there are no ripples, no waves.
Moving around and towards the spine, we allow each vertebrae to simply sit relaxed, one on top of the other. following the curve of the spine through the small of the back and up to the shoulders. And if there's any particular tension around the shoulders, breathing out especially through those areas. Some people hold tension under the shoulders or around the shoulder blades.
some up at the top of the shoulders where the shoulders connect to the neck, but wherever it is for you, just simply breathe out now through that area. Again, you can even picture your breath leaving your body through the pores of your skin and taking with it all of the stress, anxiety, or any kind of worry or agitation. Your whole body is an organ of breath, not just your mouth or nose.
We respire through the pores of our skin a little as well. So breathe now with your whole body from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head. Breathing in that light of peace and calm. Breathing out anything that is agitating, distracting, or stressing. Coming around to the jaw,
the neck where it joins the skull, even the forehead, feeling with each out breath all of the muscles, the tiny little muscles around the head, around the skull, just relaxing and loosening. Our forehead becomes smooth, our jaw loose, the tongue resting in the jaw. perhaps just touching the back of the front teeth with the tongue.
Take a few moments to simply notice the coolness of the breath as you draw it in and the warmth of the breath as you breathe it out. Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.
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