Listening transcript · Episode 92

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B1–B2ListeningAbout 20 min + dynamic ads5 PDF versions available

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Welcome to Your English Toolbox.

This is Calm English... and today, something new begins.

A series called STILL.

I am Peter.

And before anything else — one small request.

Please do not listen to this episode while driving.

This episode is for a quiet moment.

A closed door.

Headphones, if you have them.

Today's lesson has eight words.

Only eight.

But I need you to do something unusual before we begin.

I need you to lie down.

Yes.

Right now.

This is not a metaphor.

A bed.

A sofa.

A carpet.

A yoga mat.

Anywhere your body can rest completely.

If you can only sit, that is fine too.

Sit back.

Let the chair hold you.

I will wait.

Here is why.

You live in English every single day.

You think.

You translate.

You perform.

All of it happens in your head.

But you are not just a head.

There is a whole person under that busy mind.

Today, English is going to meet that person.

Let's begin.

Close your eyes.

Feel the surface underneath you.

It is holding your whole weight.

You do not have to hold anything.

Now, take a slow breath in through your nose.

And let it out... slowly.

One more time.

In.

And out.

Good.

There is nothing to do for the next twenty minutes.

Nothing to answer.

Nothing to get right.

If your mind wanders, that is normal.

Just come back to my voice.

It will be here.

Now — the eight words.

You will not memorize them.

You will feel each one.

First the feeling.

Then the word.

That is the whole method.

We start at the top.

Bring your attention to the space between your eyebrows.

Right there.

That small area of skin.

Is it tense?

Is it pressed together?

You don't need to answer.

Just notice.

Now, very gently...

SOFTEN it.

Let the skin spread.

Let it go smooth.

This whole area — from your eyebrows to your hairline —

in English, we call it the FOREHEAD.

The forehead.

You just felt your forehead soften.

Now you have the word for it too.

Stay close.

Because just below the forehead... there is a place with no name in most textbooks.

The space behind your eyes.

This is where most of us live.

Reading.

Watching.

Worrying.

Hour after hour... behind the eyes.

Let that space go QUIET.

Let your eyes rest... heavy and still.

Say it slowly in your mind: the space behind my eyes.

Six small words.

And now they belong to you.

Now — the jaw.

The jaw is where most people carry tension without knowing it.

Feel your jaw right now.

Is it tight?

Are your teeth pressed together?

Just notice.

Now — very gently — let it GO.

Not forced.

Not pushed.

Just... allowed.

Let your teeth separate, just a little.

Feel how the whole face changes.

In English, we say: JAW.

The jaw.

You just felt your jaw.

Now you have the word for it too.

Travel down now.

Down the neck... to two thin bones just under your throat.

Touch them with your attention.

One on the left.

One on the right.

These are your COLLARBONES.

The collarbone.

Your shoulders hang from these two bones.

And your shoulders... have been working all day.

So let them DROP.

Feel the collarbones get wide... and heavy.

There is nothing to hold up right now.

Now, go behind you.

To your back.

There are two flat bones there... one behind each shoulder.

In English: the SHOULDER BLADES.

Shoulder blade.

Feel them touching the surface beneath you.

Two flat bones... resting.

Let them SINK.

As if the bed... or the floor... were slowly accepting them.

Deeper with every breath out.

Come to the front now.

To the centre of your chest.

There is one long bone right in the middle.

The STERNUM.

The sternum.

Place your attention there... like a warm hand.

And simply watch it move.

It rises when you breathe in.

It falls when you breathe out.

Rising... and falling.

It has been doing this your whole life.

In every country you have ever lived in.

Now, slowly... move down.

To the lower part of your back.

In English: the LOWER BACK.

The lower back.

This is the part of you that carries the most.

The bags.

The long days.

The standing.

The waiting.

And the other weight too.

The one nobody sees.

A life in two languages.

So today — wherever you are —

give your lower back a moment of complete rest.

Let it soften into the surface.

It does not have to carry anything right now.

Not even English.

And finally... travel all the way down.

Past your legs.

To the bottom of your feet.

The flat part that touches the ground when you walk.

In English, this has a beautiful name.

The SOLE of the foot.

The sole.

Feel the soles of your feet right now.

Maybe they feel warm.

Maybe heavy.

Maybe far away.

These are the parts of you that meet the ground... every single day.

In the old country.

In the new country.

The ground is always there.

And so are you.

Now... let your attention open.

From the forehead... all the way down... to the soles of your feet.

Every part of you.

Resting at the same time.

Stay here for a moment.

There is nowhere to go.

In a moment — not yet — we will come back.

Start with something small.

Move your fingers... slowly.

Move your toes.

Feel the room around you again.

Whenever you are ready.

— There is no rush.

— The words will be there when you come back.

And when your eyes open... stay where you are for one last minute.

We have one thing left to do.

The eight words.

Listen... and feel each one, one last time.

Forehead.

The space behind your eyes.

Jaw.

Collarbone.

Shoulder blade.

Sternum.

Lower back.

The sole of the foot.

You did not study these words.

You lived them.

And what the body learns... the mind does not forget.

Come back to this episode whenever you need it.

It will work every time.

This was Calm English...

STILL.

I am Peter.

And you... are more than a busy mind learning a language.

You are every part of you.

Thank you for resting with me today.

Goodbye, friends.

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