Everyday Practices
Leaving the Day at the Door
For Switching Off When You Get Home
US$6 4 practices · 6 tracks · listen or download
Get the pack · US$6We walk in the door, but part of us is still at work. Still replaying a conversation, still running through tomorrow’s list. The body is home, and the mind hasn’t caught up yet.
We don’t usually give ourselves time to wind down between one part of the day and the next. A few minutes is enough to let the day’s interactions settle. We come back into the body, notice our thoughts as thoughts, and arrive properly for the evening.
One of these practices is made for exactly this moment, as you get home. It looks back at what went well in your day, then counts you down from ten into the music. The others help you rest in the body, or pour in some relaxation from an imaginary magic jug before you turn on your noticing switch.
There are four practices here. Just Got Home comes in three versions, from around seven minutes up to eighteen.
What’s inside
Just Got Home
3 versions
Full version · 18 minShorter version · 11 minMicro version · 7 min
For the moment you walk in the door. ‘Here you are, at home.’ After two deep breaths, held for a count of five, you lengthen the out-breath a touch. You look back over your day and notice what went well, then come into the body and watch your thoughts. I count you down from ten into the music, and it ends with ‘I choose to restore. I choose to recharge.’ The shorter version skips the body and the thoughts. The micro keeps the breath and the closing words.
Rest in This Moment
11 min
For resting in the body when the day is done. You let go of everything, and notice that ‘nothing else can be added to this moment.’ Then you bring your attention below the level of thought and into the body, counting the sensations you can feel, from head to toe or in any order. After a while you let the counting go. Then you bring in the breath as well, and choose whichever anchor is easiest, the body or the breath. It ends with a simple thank you.
The Magic Jug & the Noticing Switch
8 min
For relaxing first, then noticing. You picture a big jug floating in front of you, with a smile on it and the word ‘relaxation’ on its side. It pours relaxation into your body, like warm, slow-moving liquid or fairy dust, whatever you like. Then I count you down from ten to one, to drop in a little further. With the body relaxed, you turn on your noticing switch. Click. When you drift off, you switch it back on: ‘I am noticing.’
Three Bells
3 min
For a short break that’s just for you. It opens with ‘Today is a special day, if I choose it so.’ Then you listen to the sound of three bells, and let the sound relax your body and mind. A few more words follow, spoken as your own: ‘I am breathing. I am alive.’ It ends with taking in everything at once, and the line ‘I am a miracle within this miracle.’