Hello,
This is Amy Ruthie,
And this is a meditation to help you get more in touch with your heart and to find more expansion in your heart.
So start by getting as comfortable as you can.
And when you find that comfortable position,
Try to relax everything down.
Relaxing your forehead,
And your jaw,
Your shoulders,
Hip flexors,
Hands,
And feet.
Relax everything down,
Allowing gravity to take over.
And begin by noticing your breath,
Specifically how your breath expands into your lower belly.
As you inhale,
Your belly expands,
And as you exhale,
Belly contracts back towards the spine.
And you can even place one or both palms there so you can feel how the belly rises as you inhale and falls as you exhale.
Just noticing your breath and how it moves in and out of your lower belly.
You can even imagine that your lower belly has its own set of lungs filling up and emptying out as you exhale.
Slowing down the breath here.
Deep inhale,
And long exhale.
And now we'll check in with our hearts.
And we'll do that by checking in with each side of the heart,
Starting with the front of the heart.
Just checking in to see how does the front of the heart feel right now.
Does it feel open and expanded,
Or does it feel hardened and constricted?
Maybe it has a certain color today.
Just noticing what it looks and feels like,
The front of your heart.
Breathing in,
Deep breaths here.
What does the front of your heart look and feel like right now?
And now shifting to the back of your heart,
And noticing does the back of your heart feel and noticing does the back of your heart feel open,
Expanded,
Maybe soft,
Or does it feel restricted,
Hardened?
Maybe notice a color here.
What's it like in the back of your heart right now?
And now shifting to the right side of your heart.
How does that part of your heart feel right now?
Open and loving,
Or maybe a little closed off?
No judgment here.
Just noticing how does the right side of your heart feel right now?
Now shifting to the left side of your heart.
How does that side of your heart feel right now?
What does it look like?
What's it like right now?
Just noticing,
Just witnessing,
And allowing your heart to show you versus the thinking mind taking over here.
And now moving to the top of your heart.
What's it like there right now?
Soft and open,
Or maybe a little closed off?
And now shifting to the bottom of your heart.
How does the bottom of your heart feel right now?
What does it feel like?
What does it look like?
Just noticing.
And now bring your awareness to the side of your heart that felt the most constricted,
Maybe the side that felt the most open,
Or maybe the side that felt the most maybe the side that felt the most hardened,
Or maybe it was gray,
Closed off.
And if there was more than one side that felt restricted,
Pick the one that felt the most restricted.
And going to that side of your heart and asking it,
What are you afraid of?
Maybe it's scared of the future,
Perhaps afraid to reveal itself to others.
Allowing the answer to naturally bubble up from your heart.
Trying to stay in your heart here and not in the thinking mind.
Just allowing your heart to answer that question.
And now ask your heart,
That side of your heart,
What do you need right now?
Maybe it needs a little more love or expansion,
Perhaps attention or affection.
Just asking that side of your heart,
What do you need right now?
And now imagine all the love in the universe around you.
All the love just floating around you,
Loving energy all around you.
And imagine inhaling some of that love from the universe into that side of your heart that feels most restricted.
Inhaling that love,
Expanding that side of the heart,
And then exhaling it back out into the universe.
Inhaling that love into your heart,
Into that side of your heart that feels most constricted,
And exhaling that back out into the universe.
And keep going like that.
And if you'd like to add a color to that love that's flowing into your heart,
You might imagine the color green that's related to the heart chakra.
So imagine inhaling a green loving energy into that side of your heart,
And exhaling it back out into the universe.
And we'll spend some time in silence repeating that over and over.
And please keep in mind that while you're meditating,
It's completely normal for your mind to wander away.
And as you notice your mind wandering away to other thoughts,
Try to very lovingly guide yourself back to inhaling the love from the universe into your heart,
And exhaling it back out into the universe.
So we'll spend some time here in silence repeating that,
And I will lovingly guide you back at the end.
So here we go.
A few more breaths here,
Inhaling that love from the universe,
Expanding that side of your heart that felt constricted,
And exhaling it back out into the universe.
And for these last few breaths,
Just really noticing,
Really feeling that love,
Expanding your heart,
And then releasing it back out into the universe,
Really feeling it here versus thinking about it,
Feeling that love,
Feeling that expansion.
One more big inhale here,
And exhale,
Sigh it out.
And now checking back in with that restricted side of your heart,
And noticing how it feels now.
Does it feel a little softer?
Maybe more open?
Expanded?
More love?
How does that side of your heart feel now?
And before we conclude this meditation,
Just asking your heart,
Asking yourself,
What can you do in the next hour,
The next day,
The next week,
To meet the needs of that side of your heart?
So I'll give you a few moments here in silence to allow your heart to come up with that answer.
What is one step you can take to help meet the needs of your heart?
And we'll conclude this meditation with one om,
One big inhale and exhale together,
And then inhaling for om,
So we'll inhale,
Then exhale,
Sigh it out,
And inhale for om,
Om.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today,
And I hope that you'll return to this meditation anytime any part of your heart is feeling constricted,
Or closed off,
Or hardened,
To help bring some relief and some expansion and love back into your heart.
Namaste.
