Welcome to this end of the day meditation.
My name is Sabine van der Post from Bowe Network.
I'm glad you create this time to dedicate to yourself your health and well-being.
The end of the day is a time when the body and the mind needs to wind down and relax.
They both have been engaged in working all day long being active.
So allow yourself to be where you are and who you are right in this moment.
It's time to let your awareness go inward and your mind rest.
So take a comfortable seating position.
Sitting in a way that's neither too tight or too relaxed but comfortable and upright.
On a chair or a cushion choose what's good for you.
Now close your eyes and you can notice your body in the sitting posture.
The areas where you make contact with the floor or the chair.
You can sense your body from the inside.
Noticing the shape and the weight and the touch and the temperature.
And begin to focus on your breathing.
Take a deep breath in and a long exhale out.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Inhale into your belly feeling it expanding and the exhale.
Feeling all the air floating out allowing it to deflate.
And then let the breath come naturally.
Stop doing anything specific.
Just be here.
Sit here and welcome and follow the sensations of the breath floating in and out as they come.
No need to improve your breathing just allowing,
Noticing.
Being fully aware of the space around you.
The sounds around you as they come up.
Move your senses and go again.
Just let everything around you to be as it is.
No need to think about it,
Make it different.
Just allow.
Recognize your automatic response and let go.
Time and time again turn towards the breath.
The constant flow of this life-giving stream of oxygen.
Sensing the air floating in through the nostrils.
And making way towards the chest,
The belly.
And then floating out again.
Freeing you from tension and debt which your body no longer needs.
In and out.
Being present.
Being fully aware of your thoughts,
Emotions as they rise up.
See them for what they are.
They are just thoughts and feelings.
You can kindly be with them without giving extra energy.
Being the space where all these thoughts and feelings can arise,
Play,
Unwind or drift off.
Soothe and allow.
The breath helps you regulate your strong emotions or physical feelings.
So turn towards the breath and breathe with whatever is here.
Then turning towards the last part of the practice.
It's easy to get swept up focusing on the negative or more difficult aspects of our lives.
But as the saying goes,
Where thoughts go,
Energy flows.
This is where gratitude comes into action.
So I invite you to turn your attention towards the belly or heart area,
Whichever pulls your attention most in this moment.
And then slowly investigate what you're grateful for today,
At this moment in your life.
Sense the silence within and let things just bubble up.
What are you grateful for?
Perhaps first notice there's nothing there.
Allow the silence.
Don't start active thinking,
Just allow the sense in the belly or the heart space and kindly ask,
What am I grateful for?
It can be anything from having a roof over your head,
To your heart that beats or to the one person who smiled at you today.
Open up towards these feelings of gratitude.
Breathe with these sensations,
Being the space that carries gratitude.
If you wish you can make a daily routine of this meditation.
The side effects can be good sleep,
Waking up feeling fresh and alive and living a life with purpose.
Wishing you a good night.
Rest well.
