Today, we're going to focus on calming

the tension in our bodies, which is a very

common by-product of experiencing anxiety.

So let's get started with the meditation.

If you haven't already,

you can find a comfortable

posture, sitting or lying down.

And you can invite your eyes to

close, if that feels okay for you.

We'll begin by settling our

attention with the bells.

Taking a deep breath together.

In through the nose.

And slowly out through the mouth.

Inviting the jaw to soften and relax.

Letting the shoulders be at ease.

And letting the belly be calm and soft.

Eventually allow the breath to

come back to its natural rhythm.

And remind yourself that in this moment,

there's no place else you need to be,

nothing else you need to do, nothing

you need to solve or accomplish.

And see if you can feel some of the ease

that comes with that acknowledgement,

that you don't actually have to

do anything right now or become

any better version of yourself.

For me, I noticed an immediate

settling in, in my body.

So just check in with

your body for a moment.

And you can do a mental body scan where

you feel your body from your feet.

And then over the course of

about 10 seconds, just scan

up to the top of the head.

We'll do it together.

So feeling the sensations in the feet.

The calves, shins.

Knees.

Thighs.

Pelvis.

Torso, belly, chest, back.

The arms.

And then the head, neck, shoulders.

We're kind of just touching each of

those areas with our awareness and

sensing, is there anywhere in particular

that we're holding some excess tension?

And so find one area of the body

that feels particularly tense.

You might imagine it almost

like ice, hard and rigid.

And on our next inhale, we're going

to feel as though we're breathing

in warm air into that tension.

Breathing in nice warm air.

So breathing in.

And as you do, feeling that

ice melt just a little bit.

As you take an exhale, feeling the ice

soften, turning a little bit more liquid.

Breathing in again, into

that ice at tension.

Filling it with warmth, melting

that ice just a bit and exhale.

Relaxing a little more deeply.

One more breath into that area.

Breathing in.

Hold it for a moment.

Three, two, one.

And then exhale.

Letting it soften and just melt away.

Just breathing a couple moments,

feeling the body be at ease.

To close our meditation,

I'll ring the bells.

Bring your full awareness

to the sound of the bell.

So well done.

That breathing exercise into the body

that we did is something that you can

do with many different body parts.

So as you move throughout the day and

you notice yourself accumulating this

tension, just feel as though you're

breathing warm air into that region

of the body, softening and melting

any tension that might've accumulated.

Try this out and take care.