Rainy Grove

Hi, and welcome to tonight's wind down. In this exercise we'll be using sound and imagery to create a scene in the mind to help you relax and connect to a greater sense of ease. We'll start by building out the environment, then move into a breathing technique to help you ease into the moment. At the end you'll have some time to connect to the different sounds and build up a full picture in the mind. In doing so, we create a space for the mind to unwind and be at rest. If at any time the technique becomes uncomfortable, you can shift your focus to the sounds or even pause the exercise if you'd like. It's a quiet, misty night deep in the grove where the ancient redwood trees surround the brim of night sky and the delicate, dancing ferns cover the earth's floor. The grove is home to many plants, towering trees, and gentle, curious wildlife inhabitants. The soil is rich with the scent of the last rainfall. Here in the grove we can find refuge in the protection that nature provides and take shelter underneath the branches and leaves of the elder redwood trees. The grove and its tree await your arrival as the next rainfall begins. Before we begin, let's take a moment to ground ourselves with a short wind-down exercise. Tonight's exercise is a breathing technique focusing on cultivating a sense of compassion for ourselves using the gentleness of the breath. So when you're ready, take a moment to get comfortable. Eyes can be open or closed. Now softening the area around the eyes and forehead, unclenching the jaw, and relaxing the body as much as you can, and gently bringing the focus to the breath in the body, feeling into that gentle rising and falling sensation of the breath perhaps in the chest or stomach. Now, if it feels right for you, bringing a slight smile to the face and noticing how that smile feels as if that smile radiates out to the whole body, almost like our entire body is smiling and filled with a sense of warmth and kindness. As we continue to breathe, on the inhale breathing in the sense of compassion for ourselves and on the exhale extending and sending the breath and this loving kindness to someone we care for. Seeing if you can slow down the breath, making the inhales a bit deeper and the exhales a little longer, breathing in the sense of compassion for yourself and sending it outwards to someone you love. And just continuing to breathe in that way, breathing in that sense of compassion for yourself and breathing out to anyone in need. As you lie here, gently extend your awareness to the world around you, connecting to the space beyond your body. A delicate mist hovers in the air, gently drifting up from the forest floor. Rain trickles down from the canopy above flowing through the grooves of the tree bark...