Welcome to Scented Meditation.
My name is Marlou and I will be guiding you today through a heart expansion meditation.
So let's start by finding a very comfortable seat,
With your back supported and your head unsupported.
And then taking a deep breath in and sigh out and allow your body to slump into the chair,
Finding that effortless position.
And then whenever you're ready,
Closing down your eyes and arriving here and now in this moment.
Acknowledging whatever it took you to get here and then recognizing that for the next 20 minutes you've nowhere else to be and nothing else to do.
I invite you now to become aware of yourself,
Starting with your physical self.
Becoming aware of what all your senses are taking in at this moment.
Feeling your body resting against the chair.
Feeling where your clothes meet your skin.
Smelling what scents are meeting your nose.
And listening to the sounds reaching your ears.
Noticing what tastes are lingering in your mouth.
Observing what you can see behind your closed eyelids.
Taking in all of your senses at once and experiencing them as they are in this moment.
Now retreating into your inner self.
Noticing any physical sensations inside of your body.
Any discomfort or pain.
Any tingling or pulsating.
Noticing whether you can locate these sensations to a particular area of the body.
Where do they feel the strongest,
The most intense?
Noticing what feelings or emotions are associated with these sensations.
Just resting your awareness on them.
Exactly as they are.
Without trying to change or reject them in any way.
Making room for them.
Now moving to your thinking self.
Noticing any thoughts that might be arising about these emotions or about these sensations.
Thoughts about your day,
Your past week,
Your past year.
Thoughts about tomorrow,
The next day,
The next year.
Allowing those thoughts to be there too.
Not trying to reject them.
Making room for them.
And now taking a moment to pause and ponder.
Who is it that's observing those thoughts,
Witnessing those emotions,
Feeling those sensations?
Realizing that there's a place inside of you which is beyond those thoughts,
Beyond those emotions,
Beyond those sensations.
A place beyond all the senses.
An ever-present witness to all of that.
Taking a moment to be with that place inside of you.
Leaning into it.
The witnessing self.
And now reflecting back to a moment in your life when you felt most connected to that witnessing self.
Or you can imagine a future one.
A time when you felt alive,
Present,
Calm,
Complete.
It might be a milestone in your life,
Big or small.
Or an interaction with a loved one.
Or simply being in nature.
Bringing some positive experience to mind.
Whatever naturally arises for you.
And invite you to embody that experience right now.
Allowing it to take over your whole body and all of your senses.
Remembering or imagining what you could see,
What you could smell,
What you could feel.
Allowing yourself to be with it right now.
To experience it at this moment.
And now taking that experience,
That feeling inside of you and expanding it out to the entire room.
Expanding it out even further to this whole building.
To your whole street.
Expanding that feeling out to the whole suburb.
All the people,
Animals,
Insects.
All engulfed with that same positive feeling.
And now expanding it even further to the whole city.
And zooming out even further to our whole solar system.
And then expanding that feeling out to our entire galaxy.
All the galaxies with all of their solar systems.
Planets,
Moons,
Stars,
Suns,
Meteors.
All embodying that same experience.
And then zooming back from the universe to our galaxy.
Our solar system.
Our planet.
This country.
This city.
This suburb.
This street.
This building.
And this room.
Back to this self.
You and all the various parts of you.
Now resting your awareness on that feeling inside of you.
Noticing where you feel it strongest.
I invite you now to rest your awareness on that feeling very gently.
And use it as your anchor for the rest of the meditation.
And whenever you happen to realize that your awareness has drifted away from that feeling and is caught up in some thoughts,
Sensations,
Sounds.
Remembering that this movement of the mind is an important part of the meditation process.
So not engaging in any self-judgement.
And then whenever you're ready,
Very gently guiding your awareness back to that feeling.
Back to that experience deep within you.
You are not your thoughts.
Your thoughts are simply passing through you.
You are not your emotions.
Your emotions are just passing through you.
You are that calm,
Content,
Ever-present witness deep inside of you.
And whenever you're ready to leave this peaceful place you've created for yourself.
Gradually starting to deepen your breath.
Deepening your breath.
Becoming aware of your body once more.
Aware of your surroundings.
Feeling your body in the chair.
Your feet on the ground.
Connecting to the earth.
Remaining with your eyes closed.
I invite you to bring gentle movements to the tips of your fingers and toes.
And gradually expanding these movements to the rest of your body.
Stretching and twisting if needed.
And from this place,
Connecting yourself to your purpose in life.
Your values.
What lights you up.
And setting your intention to emanate that light to everyone you encounter for the rest of your day.
Thank you for meditating with me today and we hope to see you soon in any other recording.
You may open your eyes whenever you are ready to do so.
