Hello and welcome everyone to our body awareness meditation.
My name is Kevin Jankson.
Wherever you are,
Whatever you are,
Have been doing now,
It's time to turn your devices on to silent.
Notifications on silent.
If you've got glasses,
I always like to take mine off.
And then just closing your eyes.
Closing your eyes and remembering that whatever you sat down with today is totally fine.
So this is an inclusive practice.
We can include everything you've sat down with all the thoughts,
All the emotions,
All the everything.
And just taking those few moments of silence.
It's always great to take those few moments of silence before really diving into the meditation technique,
The process.
Because we come from our day of doing,
Busyness.
And this practice is a non-doing practice.
It doesn't require us to achieve any results during the practice.
So this brief moment of pause before we move into the technique just helps to remind us of that.
All the results you need from this practice will become apparent outside of the meditation in your everyday life.
So just starting now to take a couple of deeper than usual breaths.
Really sighing them all out.
Sighing out the day.
They might come out as a yawn.
And then taking a couple more slightly deeper than usual breaths.
But this time connecting into your body on the exhale.
And really allowing your body to sink.
However that looks for you.
And as you've done that,
As you've started to feel into your body.
Also noticing are there any particular areas that you're holding any tension,
Any tightness?
And equally are there any areas of your body that you feel particularly loose?
Particularly light?
And then just starting to bring the air in and out through your nose if you haven't already done so.
Feeling the air as it moves in and out through your nose.
Feel the difference between the inhale and the exhale.
The air is slightly cooler on the way in.
Perhaps slightly drier on the way in.
And then on the way out notice the air slightly warmer.
Slightly more humid.
That's just your nose doing its job.
Humidifying,
Warming and purifying the air.
And just imagining that nice,
Warm,
Purified,
Humidified air.
Travelling in through your nose.
Down into the base of your lungs.
And with each inhale,
Feeling your belly as it gently rises.
With each exhale,
Feeling your belly as it gently falls.
Just taking some more of these nice,
Easy belly breaths.
Remembering there's nothing to focus on.
Just very easy,
Gentle awareness on the belly breath.
Feeling the belly rise with each inhale.
Fall with each exhale.
Your mind will wander away.
We're not trying to stop the mind from wandering.
We're not trying to catch the mind while it's wandering.
You're simply resting your awareness on the anchor point.
Whether it's this belly breathing,
My voice,
Or wherever we are in the practice.
And then you're coming back to that anchor point whenever you happen to remember.
Allowing the thoughts.
Allowing anything to just happen on either side of that.
Never trying to stop thoughts or push them away.
For now,
Just allowing your awareness to rest very gently down in your belly.
Noticing those subtle movements with each inhale.
And with each exhale.
And then just allowing that breath to return to a normal,
Comfortable breath.
However that looks for you.
As you continue this journey into your body,
Keeping your awareness down in your belly.
Remember this time noticing not just the sensations as you breathe,
But noticing any other sensations in your belly.
It could be a tingling,
A lightness,
A looseness,
A tightness,
A fluttering.
You might notice digestion.
Or you might not even notice any sensations at all in your belly.
Even that may have a quality to it.
So just resting your awareness there.
From there,
Taking your awareness up into the top of your chest.
And at the top of your chest,
This time just taking a deep,
Cleansing breath.
But letting it all go through your mouth.
And allowing it to come out as a sigh or a yawn.
And you may even wish to do this a couple more times in your own.
Just taking that deep,
Cleansing breath into the top of your chest.
Letting it all go through your mouth.
And as you so,
Really allowing the top of your back to gently sink into your chair.
And then taking your awareness up into your shoulders.
And this time at your shoulders,
Imagining yourself gathering up any remnants of tension.
With a full,
Steady breath in.
And as you breathe in,
You may feel your shoulders rise a little.
And then as you breathe out,
Just imagining any remnants of tension,
Dropping down the length of your arms.
Your shoulders sinking towards the floor.
Imagining any tension dissipating out through the tips of your finger.
Your whole upper body,
Imagining that feeling a little heavier.
Moving higher still,
Into your face.
Just allowing any remnants of tension,
Perhaps around your forehead,
Your eyebrows,
Your cheeks.
Just imagining allowing that to gently release.
It doesn't matter if you don't feel any release.
Just moving through the process is all we need.
Even allowing your jaw to gently loosen.
And then taking your awareness in the top of your head.
On your next exhale,
Imagining the breath traveling all the way down and into your legs.
And at your legs.
Allowing the soles of your feet to sink down into the ground.
Allowing your toes to be nice and loose.
And then from this place,
I invite you to very gently bring your awareness to the sensations of your breath once more.
You might feel the sensations of your breath somewhere down in your belly.
You may feel them up in your nose.
You may feel the sensations of your breath somewhere else throughout your body.
You're just gently resting your awareness here.
These sensations,
The sensations of your breath.
It may be noticing the air and the feeling of the air against your nose.
Or it may be noticing sensations of your belly gently moving with each breath.
And you're simply resting your awareness here without any focus or concentration.
Nice,
Gentle,
Effortless awareness.
Your mind will wander away.
That's all part of the process.
Whenever you happen to realize your mind had been wandering away,
It's only then that you're easily and effortlessly returning back.
You're not using any effort at all.
Just a very gentle,
Effortless awareness.
Knowing that your mind will wander away.
And that's exactly what we want.
Not resisting anything at all.
Not even resisting sleep.
You are not your thoughts.
You are not your emotion.
All your thoughts and all the emotions are just passing through.
I invite you now to let go of your breath.
Letting go of any anchor point at all.
Simply resting here for these last few moments.
Allowing the effect of the meditation to sink in as I keep the time.
Feeling free to recline back into a more comfortable position.
And then very gently starting to deepen your breath.
Starting to gently bring yourself out of the meditation however you know best.
Bringing some movement into your body.
Perhaps stretching,
Twisting.
Keeping your eyes closed until the very end.
And only when you're ready to open your eyes.
Taking a moment to just notice how you're feeling in your body and your mind.
If you're feeling a little more calm,
A little more centered.
Perhaps setting some intentions to carry into the rest of your day.
Opening your eyes only when you're ready.
Thank you so much for joining me.
My name is Kevin Janks.
I wish you all the best.
