Hi friends, welcome back to the show and welcome to what I hope is a very slow Wednesday.

We are talking about slowing down a little bit and navigating stress with a little bit more

kindness and grace.

So today for our practice, I want to just take a moment to settle deeply into our body,

to soften a little bit just the way we are and to see if we can slow things down.

So not just within the body and the heart,

but also in the workings of the mind. So if you're sitting up right now, see if you can

uncross your legs and ground the soles of the feet to the earth for a moment.

And if you want to lean back in your seat, go ahead and do that.

If you want to lie all the way down, go ahead and do that.

Just find the shape for your body that feels the most comfortable right now.

And then closing your eyes, if that feels good,

we're going to start to tune into the breath by slowing the breath down.

And I don't mean to hold the breath or to do anything that invites any kind of tension into the body.

But just the deceleration of that natural rhythm of your inhale and your exhale,

a gentle softening, a gentle slowing down.

So breathing in through the nose, taking a little bit of extra time for that breath to

reach all the way to the bottom of the lungs. And then softening the exhale, taking your time

for that exhale to be released through the nose until you've emptied your lungs all together.

And then let the breath naturally turn.

Take your time as you inhale, breathing in through the nose.

Again, filling up the breath.

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