Settling and eye closure
1 min 30[Begin only once the client has agreed to the session and is seated or lying with their weight supported. Read at roughly half your conversational pace and let your voice fall at the end of each line. Say before you start, not during, that this is not to be listened to while driving or operating machinery.]
Let yourself get comfortable. Uncross your legs, let your hands rest wherever they fall, and let the chair take your weight. There is nothing to do here except listen. [pause for 10 seconds]
When you are ready, let your eyes close. If they want to stay open a moment longer, that is fine. Close them when it suits you. [pause for 15 seconds]
You will hear my voice the whole way through. If a sound comes from outside the room, it can simply be part of the background. You do not need to do anything about it. [pause for 10 seconds]
The breath
2 min[Match your own breathing to the client's for the first few lines, then slow yours a little and let them follow you. Do not prescribe a breathing pattern; a good number of clients tense up when told to breathe deeply.]
Notice your breathing as it already is. You do not need to change it. Just let it be noticed. [pause for 20 seconds]
And each time you breathe out, you can let a little more of the day go with it. The out-breath does the work. You only have to allow it. [pause for 30 seconds]
There is nothing you have to think about here. Whatever is waiting for you outside this room will still be there, and it can wait. [pause for 20 seconds]
Head to feet
3 min[Keep exactly the same rhythm for every part of the body; the predictability is what carries this. If the client has pain or an injury somewhere, name that area lightly and move past it rather than dwelling there.]
Bring your attention to the top of your head. Let the scalp loosen. Let your forehead smooth out. Let your eyes soften behind closed lids, and let your jaw hang so that your teeth are slightly apart. [pause for 20 seconds]
Now down through your neck, and across your shoulders. Let your shoulders drop a little further than you thought they could. Down your upper arms, your elbows, your forearms, into your hands and out through your fingers. [pause for 25 seconds]
Across your chest, and down through your back, one part at a time. Your stomach softening. Your hips heavy and supported. Nothing held anywhere. [pause for 25 seconds]
And down through your thighs, your knees, your calves. Your ankles loose. Your feet resting exactly where they are, with nowhere to go. [pause for 30 seconds]
Handover into the work
2 min[This is the segment most published inductions leave out. The handover paragraph is what lets you move into the therapeutic work you planned; without it you have a very relaxed client and nowhere to go next. If you are ending the session here instead, read the first block and go straight to the re-alerting.]
You are comfortable now, and comfortably aware. You can hear me, you can think, and you can move if you want to. This is just a settled sort of attention, and you can keep it as long as it is useful. [pause for 20 seconds]
In a moment we are going to begin the work we talked about before we started. You can stay exactly as comfortable as you are while we do it, and my voice will stay with you the whole way through. [pause for 15 seconds]
Take one more easy breath in, and let it out slowly. And when you are ready, we will begin. [pause for 15 seconds]
Re-alerting
1 min 30[Never close without this, even when the session has run over. Bring your voice back up to normal volume and pace and count briskly. If the client seems heavy or slow afterwards, repeat the count from three, and keep them seated with their eyes open for a full minute before they stand. Remind them that a recording of this is not for use while driving or operating machinery.]
In a moment I am going to count from one up to five. At five your eyes will open and you will be wide awake, alert and clear-headed. [pause for 5 seconds]
One. Feeling coming back into your hands and your feet. Two. The room settling back around you, and the sounds of it returning.
Three. Move your fingers and your toes a little. Four. Your eyes ready to open. And five. Eyes open, wide awake, fully alert. [pause for 10 seconds]
Take your time. Have a stretch if you would like one, and stay sitting for a moment before you stand up.