So let's just take a few moments to settle in here so we can wind down from the day. So just starting by finding a comfortable posture, which could be either sitting or lying down. And if it feels okay for you to do so, you can just close the eyes. And as a way of settling in a little more fully, we'll take one deep breath together. So breathing in through the nose.

And breathing out slowly through the mouth. And just beginning to let the whole body soften and settle here. So inviting the jaw to soften. Letting the belly and the hands be soft. Letting the shoulders be at ease.

The scalp. And all the little muscles behind the eyes can begin to soften. And just ensuring now that the breath is allowed to just fall into its own natural rhythm. So you don't need to control the breath in any way. And see if you can really connect to a sense of being grounded here in this moment.

So maybe just feeling where your body makes contact with the surface beneath you. Maybe just having a sense of groundedness that being a little bit more present here, so you're not so caught up in the momentum of the day and the chaotic thoughts that are often moving through the mind. So throughout our day, we often accumulate quite a lot of tension in the body. And sometimes we're aware of it, and at other times it's building up in the background. So in this meditation, we're going to practice releasing some of that tension so that we can move into the rest of our evening with a little more ease, groundedness and present.

So just starting by bringing awareness to your head, and particularly the muscles in the face. So throughout our interactions during the day, we make lots of different facial expressions, or maybe we try to put on our best face, maybe we try to look happy when we're not, or we're just responding to people in conversation. So just notice how your face feels right now and just seeing what it would be like to give it permission to just relax, to not have to do anything and to not have to put on a particular mask or expression. And as you notice some of the muscles in the face beginning to soften, coming to a place of ease, just see if you can also feel the corresponding sense of release and also calm. And then beginning to shift your awareness down through the neck and to the shoulders.

And then on to other areas of the body that tend to accumulate a lot of tension throughout the day. And just inviting any areas of tension or tightness that you find, just inviting them to soften. So just letting awareness continue to flow down through the body. Inviting a softening and a settling. So you might move awareness now down through the arms, the biceps, the triceps, the forearms and hands.

And if you're sitting down, you could even let the arms just hang alongside the body. So this relaxing and letting go of tension really helps the mind recognize that, hey, you already did the day and there's nothing you need to do right now. It's okay to transition. As the body starts to settle in and relax, the mind can settle and relax. So let's bring that awareness now to the torso.

And starting, maybe, with the chest. And, and this is a part of the body that a lot of the time when we're stressed, the breath gets really caught up and constricted in the chest region and the breathing gets kind of short and shallow. So if that's still going on for you, you're welcome to try and just kind of deepen the breath a little. Sometimes that happens quite naturally as we relax. And we feel the breath start to move down into the belly a little more.

So now you can bring your awareness there to that rising and falling sensation of the breathing in the belly. And with every exhale, just feeling the body settle and soften a little more fully. And then bringing awareness around to the back, the whole plane of the back. So the upper back is a place that also tends to hold a lot of tension, maybe from sitting at a desk or the shoulders kind of round over. So see if you can breathe into the upper back.

And on the exhale, just let it relax and soften a little. And taking awareness down to the mid back and into the lower back and just in the same way, inviting a softening and a letting go. So the body is processing a lot of information throughout the day and it's often taking on the emotions and the energy of other people and our environment. So just breathe into the body for a moment with a sense of appreciation. And exhale any tension.

Just letting the body know that you care about it and you're here to help it have a break and relax. And then shifting awareness down into the pelvic region. And just notice if there's any sense of clenching or holding or tension. And softening all the muscles in the pelvic region. And letting awareness now move down to the thighs.

Another area with large muscles, the hamstrings, the quadriceps. And for standing, these muscles are often engaged. So giving them this opportunity now, this invitation to relax. And then dropping the focus down through the knees, the calf muscles, and the shins. And letting them relax.

And then awareness moves to the feet. The precious feet, and which help us walk. And they have a lot of nerve endings in the bottom of the feet. You might try even wiggling your toes just to feel your feet a little more, feeling the surface beneath them, and letting them soften and relax too. And now just taking a moment to be attuned to the entire body.

Just feeling into the entire body, relaxed, settled, and grounded here. And then let's take one deep breath into the body. And on the exhale, letting go of any lingering tension. Let's do that one more time. In through the nose.

And release on the exhale. Great job. And if you feel ready, you can start to really gently open the eyes and reorient yourself back to this space around you. Taking in the colors and shapes and shadows around you. And as you to unwind before sleep, see if you can take this time to really be a little more grounded in your body, be a little more present and at ease in your body and in your mind.

Enjoy the rest of your evening and take care.