The Deep Unwind: The Kindness Beneath It All 💛

💛 The Kindness Beneath It All

These days, it can feel as though humanity is being pulled apart at the seams.  The loudest voices often rise to the surface, and the endless stream of information can leave us feeling disconnected from one another.

In this Deep Unwind, we explore a different possibility.

By going into deep relaxation, you'll reconnect with a quieter layer of human experience—the natural warmth, kindness, and connection that have allowed us to care for one another, build communities, raise families, and move through history together.

As your body relaxes and your awareness settles into your heart, you'll experience a growing sense of connection: first within yourself, then with the people closest to you, and eventually with the larger human family of which we are all a part.

Many listeners find that they drift in and out of awareness during Deep Unwinds. That's perfectly natural. You may remain aware of every word, you may find your mind wandering, or you may drift into a deeply relaxed dreamlike state. Simply allow yourself to enjoy the experience and trust that your subconscious mind continues to participate.

In this Deep Unwind: deep relaxation, self-hypnosis, emotional softening, inner peace, compassion and connection.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hi everybody, I'm Jessica Porter and welcome to Unwind, a podcast where we come home to ourselves so we can explore the depths of relaxation and ask the question: what do we find when we unwind? Ah, thank you so much for being here. Um, thank you for listening. Thank you for trying this thing I'm doing. It feels kind of experimental and exciting to me, so I hope it feels fresh to you. I heard from someone the other day who said that when they unwind, they're spacing out sometimes, like going in and out of consciousness. And I was like, yay, that's great. Um, that happens with hypnosis, it's called hypnotic amnesia. And we can sort of check out or fall asleep or just not listen with the conscious mind, but listen more with the subconscious mind. And that's fantastic. But people also ask, well, if I'm not hearing it, is it working? And I think, you know, I'd like to answer that question by saying, you know, when you walk along the beach, you may be having a conversation with a friend or thinking really hard about something in your life, but the waves of the beach are still having an impact on you. The air is having an impact on you. The whole environment is doing its thing, whether you're paying attention or not. So, yeah. Let yourself relax. That's the point. We are exploring the benefits of relaxation, and don't worry about what your mind is doing. Okay. So, um, if you'd like to get behind the scenes on this podcast, join me at Patreon. And thank you no matter what, for listening and enjoying and exploring and spreading the word. Tonight. The kindness beneath it all. Oh boy. These days it can sometimes feel like we are against each other. Even when I get together with a good friend, sometimes I realize that we're both coming from our own little digital silos. We almost need to tread very carefully to come back to our relationship. And I think that's a real thing for most of us. Because the algorithms favor dissent and argument and extreme feelings. But I try to remember that we're in a big technological experiment. And it runs counter to how we're actually wired as humans. So whether you are a saint who has altruistic feelings 24-7, or you wrestle with resentments like most of us do. The truth is we need each other. We are literally wired to take care of ourselves and one another. So if you've been stewing a little too much in social media or just media in general, here's the opportunity to take a break and come home to a deep, deep kindness inside of us. Brought us out of the caves to the Roman Empire, to the Enlightenment, to whatever we're in now. Yes, there's been strife and conflict along the way. Plenty of it. But on balance, there is more nurturing, more care. Because if there weren't, we wouldn't be here now. And that comforts me. I wonder what they'll call our era five hundred years from now. The great digitalization, the cyber expansion. But no matter what, humanity is still here in us. Organic life is still here in us. And we still care about each other. I promise. We just need to reconnect with that. So get cozy and comfortable, and let's unwind. Just close your eyes softly and gently. As you feel yourself settle into your inner world. And you bring your awareness to your breath. A lovely natural wave of your breath. Bringing your awareness to the wave of your breath connects you with the waves and rhythms inside of you. And at the same time, bringing your awareness to the wave of your breath connects you with the waves in the world, in nature. It's like the breath is a doorway into you and into nature. As you bring your awareness now into your eyelids, allow your eyelids to become soft. Let them rest. And as the eyelids are resting, all of the muscles around your eyes are softening and relaxing. And as you relax your eyes, your eyelids are feeling heavy, so heavy, like they cannot open. Of course, logic tells you that you can open them. But your imagination can do whatever it wants. So now we're going to play a little game. Pretending to try to open your eyelids by twitching your eyebrows, wiggling your eyebrows while your eyes remain closed. Look, my eyes won't open. Good. This little game is engaging you with your imagination. And is taking you deeper and deeper into relaxation. Beautiful. As your head becomes nice and heavy, your neck is relaxed. The muscles of your face softening, releasing. As you imagine that inside your head, in the middle of your brain, is a ball of yarn. And you imagine now that one end of the ball of yarn is coming out a hole in your forehead. And now you begin gently pulling on the yarn, pulling, pulling, and the ball of yarn is unwinding. Unwinding. Unwinding. And now it's becoming very small. And now it's unwinding completely. And now the other end of that ball of yarn is coming out that hole. And your mind feels clear and peaceful. Clear and peaceful. And this lovely, lovely feeling of peace. Let's imagine it's like a wave of peace moving down, down over your shoulders. How does your shoulders surrender to this lovely, heavy peace? Any burdens you carry on those shoulders have fallen away. And this lovely warm wave of peace is moving down your arms. Through your arms, down deep into your hands and your fingers. This wave of peace is making your arms feel heavy. Like they're under a weighted blanket. And it feels so nice to let go. As your hands relax, your whole body gets a signal to unwind. As you go deeper and deeper, you may notice that there are sounds going on around you in the world. In your room, in your home, on the street. But you're so relaxed now. That the sounds are simply moving through you as vibrations. And as they move through you, they're taking you deeper and deeper. Helping you unwind even more. As the sound of my voice also takes you deeper and deeper. As the wave of peace moves down through your torso, you notice the muscles of your back are softening and releasing, letting go. Your pelvis sinking into the bed or the couch. Your breath sinking deeper into your belly. And the muscles of your belly are softening, relaxing. Good. As the wave of peace moves down now all the way down your legs, into your feet, into your toes, like a weighted blanket being spread over your legs, holding you, comforting you as you unwind. Good as you bring your awareness now to your heart. Just notice your heart as it continues to be moment after moment. After day year after year. Something within your chest begins to soften. It's full of feelings and holds memories. Maybe you have defenses around it, or layers of it have been injured. Perhaps your heart is like a puppy dog making friends with random strangers. Some hearts are wound up tight, and others seem soft. Your heart is doing so much more than simply moving blood. So just check in with your own heart today and see what's going on with it.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Good.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

And now I'd like you to imagine that you see a golden glow inside your heart. It may already be big and expansive. Or it may feel like the gentle embers of a fire. It doesn't matter. Just be present with whatever your heart is doing right now. And notice the glow deep inside.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Underneath everything else.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

This glow continues. No matter what has happened in your life, no matter what's going on in the world. If your heart is working, it is glowing deep inside. A fundamental energy within. Waiting to be expressed.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

It's in you and it's in everyone.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

It's here when a mother holds her baby tenderly. Are sharing food around a table, or when neighbors help each other after a snowstorm. It's here when someone reaches out to catch another person's fall when people come together to grieve again and again through human history for thousands of years. We've been caring for one another, and your heart knows this. Through your whole chest, down into your belly, down your arms, down your legs, and finally the warm golden honey moving up into your head, taking over your whole head as you connect with all the kindness you've ever received and ever given as it circulates within you. Connecting with the people you love, your family, your friends, as you feel your connection with them, and enjoy the glow between you. As you imagine it enveloping other humans, people you don't know yet, living their lives near you with their own golden glow inside.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Hoping loving, growing.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Carrying their own lights inside, and as your awareness expands even more, you know that the kindness is always moving, always spreading from one person to another. Holding one another, one huge organism of care. Enjoying this kindness. Coming back to the room, bringing this gentle kindness into your world.