Today we will be taking a journey into contemplative awareness of the body.
What this means is coming into the experience of our body,
Into the experience of the space that we're in,
In order to really connect with that place where the soul or the self dwells within us.
And when we take the time to come into meditative awareness of our bodies and ourselves and time and space,
We can lay the foundation for genuine healing within our lives.
So wherever you are,
Finding a comfortable posture,
Perhaps you'd like to sit on a cushion to prop up the sit bones and allow the knees to rest comfortably on the floor or propped up on a pillow.
Just take a moment to slightly tuck the pelvis and allow this to create a sense of ease in the belly and a greater sense of stability throughout the body so that the spine can remain tall and free.
And if you're ready to do so,
You can begin to close the eyes or soften the gaze if you're not quite ready to close the eyes,
Just picking a spot in the room that you're in or perhaps over the tip of the nose,
Just allowing the senses to soften so that we may turn inward and contemplate this inner dwelling,
This inner connection to self.
Now begin to become aware of the room that you're in.
With the eyes closed now,
Perhaps you can sense the size of the room.
Noticing where in space you are to the walls around you or the open space,
To the floor.
Feel the space that you take up.
Perhaps you notice a particular smell in the room.
Perhaps you notice a taste in the mouth.
Can you notice the feeling of your clothes on your skin?
Spring awareness covering the body in awareness from the crown of the head all the way down to the feet and the sit bones.
Can you feel where you are connected to the cushion or the chair or the earth?
Allowing yourself with your exhale to drop more deeply into the sensation of support.
Keeping the posture relaxed yet aware.
Letting yourself become heavy,
Letting yourself be supported by the earth.
Perhaps you carry too much throughout your day.
Can you release it even if just for these few minutes?
Can you let your shoulders drop a little bit further away from the ears?
Can you exhale even a little bit further?
Bringing your awareness gently to the face.
Are the temples relaxed?
Are the eyes relaxed?
Are they still searching?
Allow the lips to remain sealed.
Bring a slight gap to the teeth and then bringing the tongue to the back of the two front teeth.
Just take a moment to notice any changes that this new placement of the tongue brings about.
How it perhaps invites a new sense of relaxation to the jaw muscles and working all the way up the face.
Can the scalp relax?
Once again returning to the sense of awareness of where you are in space.
This time linking to noticing the breath.
As you inhale,
Notice the chest not just rising and falling but your body expanding 360 degrees.
You can imagine like Saturn's rings pulsating out in energy as you inhale.
You feel the side ribs expand,
The back ribs expand,
The back of the chest expands.
As the diaphragm lowers,
The belly pushes out away from the spine as the lungs fill up to their full capacity.
Feel yourself taking up space,
Expanding in every direction.
As you exhale,
Feel this contraction,
This moving back in towards midline.
The belly softly comes in,
Navel towards spine.
The diaphragm retracts up as it pushes the air out of the lungs and the rib cage softens.
Take a few more moments of silence to experience this expansion and this contraction,
Visualizing yourself in space.
Now inhale for a count of five,
Inhaling for five.
And then exhaling out through the mouth.
Few more rounds on your own count at your own pace.
Inhaling for five through the nose.
And exhaling out through the mouth,
Parting the lips and letting the air softly rush out.
Resting in this focus,
Resting in this spaciousness,
Perhaps gaining glimpses of clarity in which we pay attention to the body.
We create space within ourselves for our intuition,
Our true self,
Our soul to bubble up.
And releasing the breath counting,
Returning back to normal breath.
Just noticing how we feel,
Knowing that some days we feel more connected than others and this is perfectly normal.
But we return again and again to our cushion,
To our mat,
To explore the body,
To explore the mind and contemplate this inner dwelling of the soul,
This inner dwelling of the spirit.
All it takes is our loving awareness turned back towards ourselves and towards our body to create a space from which magic happens.
Allowing yourself to take one final inhale through the nose,
Begin to close out the meditation,
Inhaling,
Filling up and then exhale,
Side all out.
Let the shoulders drop down the back.
I invite you to keep the eyes closed as you begin to wiggle the fingers,
Wiggle the toes.
Coming back to this awareness before we open our eyes of the space that we're in,
Can you visualize it now?
You visualize the room,
Where you're sitting within it,
Any objects that might be near you pulling your attention.
Just notice as you prepare to come out of the act of meditation.
Having a resolve to bring forth the spaciousness,
To bring forth this bodily awareness and this contemplation of our inner workings into our day,
Into our life.
And then to be more present to the beauty and the magnificence of each moment of each day.
In all of life's fluctuations,
May we bring this space with us.
And gently,
Only when you're ready,
If you'd like to keep your eyes closed and continue after this recording is finished,
I invite you to do so.
But bringing one hand to the heart,
One hand to the belly and slowly opening the eyes as you are ready.
Thank you.
