Begin on the floor in a comfortable semi-supine position with the head slightly elevated on a hard surface such as a medium-sized book. Allow yourself to be supported by the surface underneath you for several breaths, releasing into gravity.
Breath by breath throughout this exercise, allow for the possibility of lengthening, expansion, and decompression along the length of the spine and throughout your bony architecture. The neck can release. The back can lengthen and widen. The joints can become more spacious.
As you continue to breathe easily, notice the contact between your head and the book. Sense for any extra “doing” you may be engaged in with respect to your head. Are you making the head lighter or heavier than it actually is, in an attempt to “hold yourself together”? How might you do less? Can you “leave yourself alone” and allow the head to be just as heavy as it is, and no heavier?
Next, notice the contact between your pelvis and the floor. Once again, sense for any extra doing you may be engaged in, and practice non-doing, leaving yourself alone and allowing for the possibility of expansion through the skeletal structure. Let your pelvis exert the exact amount of pressure on the floor that it does, no more and no less.
Notice the feet. Once again, allow them to exert the pressure they do upon the floor.
Feel the upward support of the floor, perfectly balancing the weight of your body upward against the downward pull of gravity. Breath by breath, allow for the possibility of spaciousness, length, and ease.
Stay here for as long as you like. When you’re ready to move on, roll to one side and push yourself up to seated using your arms. Bring any ease or spaciousness you found through this constructive rest practice with you into the next thing you do.