Welcome to this guided meditation.
Please find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed,
Turning off or silence any distractions
and find a comfortable seated position,
Softly closing down your eyes if that's comfortable.
This meditation will help you to deepen your experience of a particular word,
Feeling,
Thought,
Person.
It will help you to become closer with what you have chosen.
We will begin by relaxing the mind and the body by taking three deep cleansing breaths.
So on your next inhale,
Take a long,
Slow,
Deep inhale.
Feel as your body expands.
And a complete,
Full exhale.
Notice how your body contracts.
Taking another full,
Deep inhale,
As your stomach expands,
Your chest and shoulders rise.
And a full exhale,
Your chest and shoulders lower,
Your stomach contracts.
Taking one more full inhale.
And a complete,
Full exhale,
Allowing any stress and tension to drift away.
And return your breath back to its natural rhythm of breathing,
In and out of your nose naturally.
Taking your attention to the top of your head.
As you begin to soften the top of your head.
Continuing that relaxation down into your forehead.
Your eyebrows become heavy.
Softening around your eyes.
Relaxing deep into your eyes.
Your nose and cheeks relax.
Unclenching your jaw and allowing your tongue to rest naturally.
Softening into your throat and your neck.
Your shoulders become heavy and rest away from your ears.
Relaxing into your upper arms,
Your lower arms,
Your hands and your fingers.
Relaxing into your chest and your upper back,
Your middle back and your lower back.
Softening into your stomach,
Allowing it to become heavy and rest naturally.
Continuing that relaxation down into your upper legs,
Your lower legs,
Your feet and your toes.
As your body is now completely relaxed.
Returning your attention back to your breath.
As you breathe in and out of your nose naturally.
And as you continue to breathe naturally.
I want you to bring a word into your awareness.
Something that you want to become closer to.
Something that you want to deepen your experience with.
It can be love,
Happiness,
Joy,
Nature,
God.
It may be a person,
It may be a pet.
It may be compassion,
Patience.
Whatever it is that you have chosen.
I want you to silently repeat this word.
You may repeat it as you inhale.
Or you may repeat it as you exhale.
Or you can just repeat it as and when it feels right for you.
And as you continue to repeat this word silently.
I don't want you to go into any thoughts about it.
Or to try and analyse and understand the word.
Just simply repeat the word.
Without any analysis,
Any judgement or any stories.
And at times you are welcome to not repeat the word.
Or you can just continue to repeat it with every breath or as you wish.
There is no right or wrong here.
And if you get distracted at any time during this meditation.
Or you notice yourself going off into thoughts about this word or trying to analyse it.
That is okay.
Just become aware,
Be kind to yourself.
And return your attention back to simply repeating the word silently.
If your attention has drifted.
That is okay.
Just be kind to yourself.
And return your attention back to repeating the word silently.
As you focus on this centering prayer.
It helps you to become closer.
To deepen your understanding.
And to have a deeper experience of what you have chosen to focus on.
Bringing it into more awareness in your life.
And you may have a closer relationship to it.
You can stop repeating the word now.
And you can just sit in the stillness around you.
You can begin to listen to the sounds around you.
Starting to get a sense of your surroundings.
Keeping your eyes closed.
You can begin to stretch into the space around you.
Slowly waking your body.
Starting off gazing down at the floor.
You can begin to open your eyes.
Taking your time coming back around.
Thank you for meditating with me.
