And welcome to Scented Meditation.
My name is Marlou and I will be guiding you today through our Senses Awakening Meditation.
So for the next 20 minutes you've nothing else to do and nowhere else to be.
And today we are resting our awareness on our senses.
Tuning into your sensations is a great way to be present in the moment.
That's a great tool that's always available to you to ground yourself and calm your mind.
Now if you haven't done already you may close down your eyes and arrive here and now in this moment.
Making sure you're having a very effortless position with your head free from falling.
Let's start this meditation with a few minutes of breath work.
Just finding the natural rhythm of your breath.
Then I invite you to join me for alternate nostril breathing.
And this style of breathing involves alternating the flow of breaths between nostrils.
This will slow down your breath and helps to relax your body.
And whenever you're ready,
You will be using your right hand to cover your right nostril with your thumb and your left nostril with your middle finger and rim finger.
Whilst alternating your breath between the nostrils.
Whenever you're ready,
Lightly closing your right nostril with your thumb and inhaling through your left nostril.
And now closing off your left nostril with your middle or ring fingers and exhaling through your right.
Keeping your left closed,
Inhaling.
Then closing your right and exhaling through your left.
Inhaling then switching sides and exhaling.
And in your own time,
Continuing to alternate your breath in this way.
Exhaling through one nostril,
Inhaling through that same nostril and then switching sides.
And alternating your breath in this way helps to reduce blood pressure,
Calms the nervous system and its strength in the 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 this simple effortless process of meditation which involves very gently resting your awareness on some anchor.
Allowing your mind to naturally roam away.
And then when you spontaneously realize that your mind has indeed roamed away,
Using that moment to very gently return your awareness back to your anchor without any judgment.
So thoughts are a very natural part of the process and you're not trying to fight or resist them in any way.
And on your next exhale,
You may release control of your breath and allow your breath to return to its natural rhythm.
If they aren't already,
Bring your hands back to its natural position.
Resting on your lap or next to your side.
And notice that as the mind start to settle and your nervous system calms down,
You start to shift into a more awake and aware state of being.
Where your senses light up.
And often time we then can notice things that we don't notice when we're living from a busy mind.
Imagine your five senses like petals on a flower.
Slowly opening and becoming more aware.
We will start by your sense of hearing.
Start by listening to the sounds that are close to you.
The obvious sounds.
That can be the music,
My voice,
Some noises in your room.
Just become aware of them.
Now bring your awareness even closer and notice the sound of your body,
Of your breath.
You may notice your body is making sounds in your stomach.
Anything else that you become aware of.
And take all the sounds as they are.
Don't judge them.
Simply acknowledging it and gently returning back to listening to them.
Now let's move to a sense of sight.
And be aware of what you can see behind your closed eyelids.
Be aware of the colors you see.
Maybe they're bright or dark colors.
Maybe you see many shadows moving.
And maybe you see nothing at all.
Whatever you see is okay.
And now rest your awareness on your sense of taste.
And notice which taste is lingering in your mouth.
Or maybe you like to imagine a taste.
And imagine the flavor of a sweet fruit or a nice savory meal.
And letting the taste linger in your mouth by your imagination.
Let's now move to the sense of smell.
What do you smell in your environment?
What can you notice?
And the last sense that is left is a sense of touch.
Feel your sit bones on your chair.
Feel how your hands are resting on your lap or hanging next to your body.
Feel how your feet are touching the ground.
Grounding you and connecting you to the earth.
And notice what your body temperature feels like.
Are you feeling warm?
Or do you feel a cool breeze touching your skin?
And now feeling your five senses.
Fully awaken and notice your senses all at one.
And I invite you now to rest your awareness on an anchor by choosing one of the senses.
Maybe you like to rest your awareness on the sound of the music.
The sound of my voice.
Or you like to rest your awareness on the feeling how your belly rises and falls with your breath.
Or maybe your heartbeat.
Any sense that you feel the strongest is the right choice for you in this moment.
And every thought,
Emotion or physical sensation that comes up for you during this meditation is meant to happen.
There's no need to control these.
Simply noticing when you happen to realize you're no longer resting your awareness on one of your senses.
Very gently and slowly return back to your anchor.
You are not your thoughts.
Your thoughts are just passing through you.
You are not your emotions.
Your emotions are just passing through you.
You simply are that beautiful person 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.
Deepening your breath.
Becoming aware of your body once more.
Becoming aware of your surroundings.
Feeling your body in the chair.
Your feet on the ground.
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 then from this place,
Notice how you feel.
A little bit more calm and a tad more centered.
And I invite you to set the intention to carry these feelings with you throughout the rest of your evening.
Whenever you're ready,
Maybe slowly open your eyes.
Thank you for meditating with me today.
We hope to see you soon.
