Welcome to Scented Meditation.
My name is Marlou and I will be guiding you today through our body awakening meditation.
So I invite you to find a very comfortable position with your head unsupported and your back supported and then whenever you find a very effortless position in your chair or laying on the ground I invite you to close down your eyes and arrive here and now.
I invite you to acknowledge yourself whatever it took you to get here today and then recognizing that for the next 20 minutes you've nowhere else to be and nothing else to do.
So today we are going to become more aware of our body and its sensations.
When we slow down and give ourselves time to observe what's going on into our bodies we start to become aware of our feelings,
Our surroundings,
Our needs.
By building a relationship with our body we create new pathways in our brain that helps us to navigate our life with more ease and we gain greater awareness of how we feel and where we feel emotions in our body.
Our meditation begins with a few minutes of belly breathing actively using your diaphragm which is the main muscle just below the ribcage.
If you wish you may lightly place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly for feedback.
In your own time take a slow and steady breath in feeling your belly rise as you do so and breathe out watching your belly gently recede.
Breathing in feeling your belly rise,
Your chest remaining relatively still.
Breathing out feeling your belly fall and your chest remaining relatively still.
That little bit of movement in your chest is perfectly okay but for the most part it's your belly that's doing the rising and the falling with your breath.
Taking slow and steady breaths but never to the point of discomfort.
Just allow that natural breathing to happen through your belly.
Breathing this way helps to rebalance your oxygen and carbon dioxide ratios.
It improves your circulation and strengthen your heart and lungs.
Keeping in mind that the aim of the meditation is not to think of nothing.
The goal is simply to allow your mind to debug itself in the way it knows best.
And we do this by engaging in the effortless process of meditation which involves very gently resting your awareness on some anchor and in this case your breath.
Allowing your mind to naturally roam away onto thoughts,
Sounds,
Sensations.
And then when we spontaneously realize that our mind has indeed roamed away,
Very gently return your awareness back to your anchor without any judgment.
So thoughts are a very integral part of your meditation practice.
So we're not trying to push them away or stop them from arising.
And remembering there's no such thing as a good or a bad meditation.
We don't judge our meditation by our experiences inside of the session itself.
But rather by the cumulative benefits we experience outside of the practice.
And if you haven't done already you may now return your hands to a comfortable position.
While I invite you to scan your body with your mind with the aim of releasing any build-up tension.
And if you think of your body as energy you can imagine all the stored tension is causing hurdles for the energy to flow around.
You can imagine all the stored tension is causing hurdles for the energy to flow around.
It makes it more difficult for your body to run smooth,
To cleanse,
To rejuvenate and restore the energy flow.
So starting with your face,
Noticing if you're holding any tension in your face,
In your forehead,
Your eyes,
Even the space behind your eyes,
Even the space behind your eyes,
Your cheekbones,
Your nose,
Your jaw.
And now imagine the tiny air particles of your face packing up all this tension and releasing this tension with your next exhale.
And feeling your face completely relaxing.
And moving to your neck now,
Observing any tension,
Any tightness that might be present here.
And again,
Imagine the tension being gathered up on your inhale and released on your exhale.
Drawing your shoulders away from your ears now.
Feeling them melting to the back of your chair.
Allowing them to soften with each breath out.
And scanning your awareness from the tops of your shoulders.
To the length of your arms,
Right to the tips of your fingers.
Again,
Notice the sensations and tightness along the way.
And allowing it to be dissolved with your breath out.
And bringing your awareness to your chest.
Observing any tightness that might be present here.
Taking a deep breath in.
And taking a deep breath out.
And again,
Noticing the tension.
Observing any tightness that might be present here.
Taking a deep and cleansing breath into your chest.
And exhaling through your mouth if it's comfortable to do so.
Ah.
Moving down to your belly now.
The place where we store so many emotions.
Taking a deep breath into your belly.
Gathering up all the tension as you do.
And letting it all go.
Feeling your belly soften and loosening and resting.
We are now moving to your back.
And move your awareness down the length of your spine.
Releasing the tension wherever you feel it in your back.
And allowing it to be released with your breath out.
And feeling your legs and the top of your thighs.
And allowing them to sink deeper and deeper into your chair.
And now running your awareness down your legs.
Your knees.
Your calves.
Your shins.
Your ankles.
Allowing your feet to rest easy on the ground.
And feeling your toes.
And how your feet are connecting to the earth.
And grounding you.
And finally sweeping your awareness over your entire body once more.
Dissolving all the tension you find along the way.
Starting with your head.
Taking a deep breath in.
And once you exhale,
Releasing your body.
And out from the tips of your toes.
Dissolving all the tension you find along the way.
And now your body is completely at ease.
I invite you to gently rest your awareness on a mantra as your anchor.
And a mantra is an inner sound that we repeat in our minds.
Without controlling it or focusing on it in any way.
And you can use the sound SO HAM.
SO HAM.
Or SO MA.
SO MA.
Or a combination of those two words.
SO MA.
SO MA.
SO.
Repeating your mantra in your mind.
In the same and easy and effortless way as we think any other thought.
It's not a clear pronunciation but rather a faint or vague idea.
And allowing the repetition of your mantra to take up on its speed.
It may get faster or slower.
Becomes longer or shorter.
Louder or softer.
Just not trying to control it in any way.
Just repeating the mantra in your mind.
You are not your thoughts.
You are just passing through you.
You are that calm,
Ever-present witness inside of you.
Gradually starting to deepen your breath.
Deepening your breath and becoming aware of your body once more.
Becoming aware of your surroundings.
Feeling your body in the chair and your feet on the ground.
And remaining with your eyes closed.
I invite you to bring gentle movement into the tips of your fingers and toes.
Gradually expanding these movements to the rest of your body.
Stretching and twisting if needed.
And from this place,
Notice how you feel.
This is the real you.
This calm and present,
Beautiful person.
And I invite you to set the intention to carry these feelings of calm with you throughout the rest of your day.
You may open your eyes whenever you are ready to do so.
Thank you for meditating with me today.
