Lehal Library

refer to the instructions. Relaxation: Lower Legs (3 Minutes) 1. Feet and calves: From your hard-backed chair, stretch back all toes and tense both feet and calves at the same time. Hold for about five seconds, then relax them. Hold the relaxed position for five to ten seconds. Now curl your toes downward and repeat, tensing both feet and calves. Hold for five seconds, and relax them for five to ten seconds. The timing need not be exact. When you relax body parts after tensing, focus on releasing all tension from them. 2. Thighs: Tense both thighs, hold for five seconds, and then relax them. Press down with both heels and tense them again, then relax. 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2, memorizing both steps. When you’re done, focus your attention on relaxing every muscle in your lower legs. Tense and relax them. When they feel completely relaxed, move on to the next exercise. Breathwork: Breath Awareness (5 Minutes) Stretch your arms and legs and arch your back and neck the way you might when waking from a nap. Sit upright, preferably still in a hard-backed chair. Close your eyes and spend five minutes practicing breath awareness as described earlier on page 12. Keep your mind clear. Do not change your breathing; merely observe it. Keep it simple. Mobile Body Awareness (7 Minutes) Body awareness actions are key to energy work. Scratching your skin causes a light tingling that helps target specific areas as your point of body awareness. 1. Lightly scratch or rub your right knee with your ruler, fingernail, or capped pen just long enough to cause a tingling sensation there. Then close your eyes and forget about the rest of your body. Focus and become intensely aware of the area you just scratched. Now become acutely aware of your entire right knee joint as a whole. Center all your attention on feeling your right knee with your body awareness. Hold this focus for about fifteen to thirty seconds. 2. Shift your attention to your left knee. Feel its shape and outline with your mind, with your body awareness. If it helps, also scratch this knee first to get the tingling sensation, close your eyes, and continue focusing on this knee for another fifteen to thirty seconds. 3. Now shift your attention to your right big toe. Scratch on top of the large joint