Welcome to this grounding meditation,
A practice to help you anchor yourself in the present moment by focusing on the physical sensations in your body.
Through mindful breathing and body awareness,
You'll anchor yourself in the here and now,
Cultivating a sense of calm and clarity.
I invite you to let go of ideas like trying to relax,
Wanting to calm your mind,
Or getting rid of tension.
Instead,
Bring an attitude of accepting whatever arises,
A sense of openness,
Non-judgmental receptivity to your moment-to-moment experience as best you can.
You're going to start this experience by bringing to mind a little guided visualization,
A process of letting go of the past and the future.
So imagine you're holding two really heavy bags,
And maybe you've been holding these two bags,
Metaphorically,
All day.
One bag in your left hand,
Representing the past,
And another bag in the right hand,
Representing the future.
So just noticing what it really feels like to hold these heavy bags.
And then,
Just for this meditation,
At least,
Gently allow,
In your imagination,
Your left hand to slowly go down towards the floor,
So you're gently lowering that left bag,
Which is in your left hand,
Closer and closer to the ground,
Until all the weight of that bag is not being held by your hand.
You have completely let it go.
It is down on the ground,
Being held by the floor,
So letting go of the past,
At least for the next 10 minutes or so,
For this meditation experience.
And in the other hand is the weight of the future.
So gently lowering down that bag,
That weight,
The weight of the future,
Which you've been holding in your mind,
In your heart,
In your body,
And slowly lowering it to the ground,
So you're letting go of the future.
It is not a process of pushing away.
Rather,
It's a process of letting go or releasing.
And then you find yourself standing between the past and the future,
In the beauty of the present moment.
And yes,
Your moment will,
From time to time,
Go back to the past or the future,
But at least for this particular moment,
You have let go.
So enjoying being in the here and now,
The present moment,
And as you experience that presence,
Having let go of the past and the future,
Start noticing the sensations of the body.
Your body is always in the present moment,
Always in the here and now.
Begin by turning your attention to your breathing.
Let your awareness find the breath,
Wherever you feel it most prominently.
That may be at the tip of your nose,
Where you can feel the coolness of the air as you breathe in,
And the warmness of the air as you breathe out.
Or it may be at the level of your chest or even your belly,
As it expands outward when you breathe in and moves inward as you breathe out.
Wherever it comes naturally,
Just let your awareness ride the wave of your in-breath and then your out-breath.
Allow your body to breathe itself,
Rather than trying to do the breathing.
Each time your mind wanders and you've noticed that it has wandered,
Because that's what our minds do,
Just be pleased that you've noticed,
And bring your attention back to the physical sensation of your breath around your nose,
Chest,
And belly.
Wherever is easiest for you.
Noticing the rate of your breathing,
The depth of your breathing.
Riding on the waves of your own natural breath.
Surfing on the waves of your breath.
Now open your awareness to your body as a whole.
Feel the sensation of your physical body as you sit here.
Include both the pleasant and unpleasant sensations.
Notice those that feel warm or cool,
And those that have a sense of discomfort.
You may notice tingling,
Itching,
Heat,
Or some other sensations.
There may also just be the feeling of your body,
A light sensation.
Alive and present.
Remember,
The feeling of your breathing is also a bodily sensation.
So include the feeling of your body breathing too.
Notice what effect your breathing has on your bodily sensations from moment to moment.
Does your breathing increase or reduce muscle tension?
Or does it stay the same?
Do other sensations stay exactly the same?
Or are they changing from moment to moment?
Mindfulness of breath and body.
Kindly bringing your attention back each time it wanders.
Feeling the sensations in your body with a sense of warmth,
A sense of affection.
Accepting your moment to moment experience as best you can.
And in the last few moments of this meditation,
Notice how you feel right now.
Notice what effect that this exercise has had on you.
What effect the day has had on you.
The attitude that you brought to the meditation.
This is not a time to judge yourself as if you did it wrong or bad,
But just to notice and to learn.
And if there is an attitude that seemed to work,
Then that's an insight for you.
Now as you're ready,
We're going to bring this meditation gently to a close by taking a few deep,
Slow breaths.
Perhaps wiggling your toes and your fingers.
And gradually opening your eyes and stretching your body in any way that would feel good.
