Welcome to this guided meditation focused on your felt sense.
Find yourself in a comfortable situation,
Rather lying down or seated.
Go ahead and close your eyes gently and take in a few deep breaths.
Start by grounding yourself.
Feeling the support beneath you,
Whether it's a floor,
A seat,
A chair,
A cushion.
Maybe you can feel texture under your skin or your fingertips.
Just notice the sensation of contact.
The contact between you and the surface beneath you.
Feeling the weight of your body.
Now shift your focus to your breath.
Notice the rhythm of your inhale.
Notice your exhale.
Allow each breath to become more intentional,
Meaning you really focus on breathing.
You focus on the quality of the inhale.
And you exhale without any force.
Allow your breath to become more expansive,
A bigger inhale.
Creating calmness and exhaling any tension.
Now bring your awareness now to your body.
What I mean by that is let's start by focusing on the soles of your feet.
Notice if there are any sensations,
Pressure,
Warmth,
Coolness,
Tingling in the bottoms of your feet.
Maybe you want to plant your feet on the ground.
Feel the earth beneath them.
Give your attention to your feet.
They carry you through this life.
Just want to give them some gratitude by giving them our attention.
Thank you,
Feet.
Move your awareness up to your ankles.
Providing support throughout your day.
Moving upwards.
We're just going to scan each part of your body.
So you can stay with me or go on your own.
We're going to move up from the ankles to the shins.
Just breathing naturally without any force.
To the back of the shins,
Your calves.
Maybe they feel tight.
Maybe they're just there.
Moving awareness to the front of your legs,
Up to your knees.
Maybe they're bent.
Maybe you can feel the bend in the skin.
To the front of your legs,
Your quadriceps.
Your big muscle group in your legs.
To the sides of the legs,
Your hips,
The IT band.
Allow the areas to soften as you focus.
Like on your hips and your pelvis,
For example.
Shift your posture.
Stretch if you want to.
Just gentle movements.
Now go to the back of your legs,
The hamstrings.
They often tell on us if we can't touch our toes.
Maybe they're tight.
Just giving your awareness to all of your thighs.
Now we're just noticing if there's any sensations.
Anything you need to breathe through to break up.
We're going to continue scanning up your body,
Up the torso.
Scanning your abdomen.
Feel any aches.
Even as you sit here right now,
How is it feeling?
Pay attention to the aches.
The hints of murky unknowns.
Pay attention.
When we become so self-aware,
We can really notice when we hold on to things and where we're holding them.
Doing this work is so important so you can tune in and release what's being held on to.
So move up your torso.
Up your back to your shoulders.
And your chest space.
Just noticing if there's any tightness.
Move your shoulders if it feels right.
Relax them.
Bring them up to the ears and relax them.
Let them go.
Feel the weight of your arms,
How they're resting.
Notice the sensations where they meet,
Wherever they're resting.
Maybe it's your hands,
Your wrists,
Or your fingers.
You're just giving them attention.
Maybe it feels good to stretch your fingers out.
Moving up the arms into the neck.
Your throat.
Rotating your head or your neck if it feels good to you.
Now relax the muscles in your face,
Your jaw.
Even your forehead can use a stretch.
Raising your eyebrows,
Letting them go.
Raising them again.
Now I invite you to use your hands and touch your ears.
The ears are connected by little tiny nerves to the vagus nerve.
So all these little fibers go out from the vagus nerve out to your ears.
And if we need a sense of calming,
We can rub our ears.
The inside,
The hard part,
That cartilage there.
Try to rub it,
Just gently,
Circular fingertips.
That's all you need.
Just gently rub your ears.
Now I just want you to bring your attention internally.
Now bring your attention to your body as a whole.
How does it feel?
When you get up,
Do you need to stretch?
Do you want to touch your toes?
What would support you today?
The choice is yours.
For your journaling prompt,
Just describe any sensations you felt.
Any emotions or insights that came up.
Then I invite you just to continue to practice the self-awareness.
So that you can really strengthen your mental health.
The hope is in you.
