Welcome to the Body Appreciation Meditation.
It is useful to see this time now as a time that is totally set aside just for you,
As an opportunity to be by yourself and to be with yourself fully.
See if you can allow it to be a nourishing time,
A time you deserve to give yourself and your body positive energy and attention.
A time in which to open to the sources of strength and healing within yourself.
Please take the time to relax your body and your mind and enjoy each and every moment.
Let go of the tendency at times that we have to want things to be different from how they are right now and allow them to come to you exactly as you find them.
Allow yourself to be exactly as you are,
Using the instructions for guidance as best you can,
Watching your body and the activity of your mind as we move through this journey together and just doing what feels best and trusting the process.
Remember,
There is no right or wrong way to feel while you are doing this.
The way you are feeling is the way you are feeling right now,
Accepting it and giving yourself permission to feel what you're feeling and seeing that that is okay.
So now it's time to find a comfortable position,
Either sitting up in a chair or lying on your back on the floor or on a bed.
Take a moment to get comfortable,
Relax and breathe.
And now become aware of your body.
You may wish to stretch the various parts of your body,
Your arms,
Your legs,
Your neck,
Your back,
Just to heighten your awareness.
Begin to take a few deep cleansing breaths,
Inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth and continue long,
Slow,
Rhythmic breathing.
Nice,
Deep breath in and out.
Now let's take a few moments to focus on and appreciate your body.
Feel the air coming in and out of your lungs,
Bringing you life energy.
Be aware that your lungs go on breathing,
Even when you're not aware of them.
Breathing in and out,
All day long,
All night long,
Even when you sleep.
Breathing in oxygen,
Breathing in fresh,
Pure air,
Breathing out the waste products,
Cleansing and restoring the entire body,
A constant inflow and outflow of air.
Just like the ocean,
Like the tide coming in and going out.
And so now I'd like you to send a beautiful and radiant pink light of love to your lungs and realize that ever since you took your first breath,
Your lungs have been there for you.
No matter what you do,
They still keep breathing in and out all day long.
Now become aware of your diaphragm,
The muscle below your lungs that goes up and down and continually allows your lungs to breathe and send a beautiful pink light and love energy to your diaphragm.
Now let's become aware of your heart.
Feel it and appreciate it.
Your heart is a living miracle.
It keeps beating ceaselessly,
Never asking for anything,
A tireless muscle that continues to constantly serve you,
Sending life-giving nutrients throughout your body to every cell of your body.
What a beautiful and powerful instrument.
Day in and day out,
Your heart has been beating.
And so now I'd like you to see your heart surrounded by pink light and warmth and say silently,
I love you and I appreciate you to your heart.
And now become aware of your blood,
Which is pumped through your heart.
It is the river of life for your body.
Millions upon millions of blood cells,
Red and white blood cells flowing through your bloodstream,
Fighting off disease,
Providing you with immunity and healing,
Bringing oxygen from your lungs to every cell in your body.
From all the way down to your toes,
To the very top of your head,
Feel the blood moving through your veins and arteries and surround all of those veins and arteries with pink light and love.
See the light dancing through your bloodstream as if it were bringing joy and love to each and every cell.
And now become aware of your chest and your ribcage.
You can feel it rising and falling with your breath.
The ribcage protects all of the organs in your body,
Protects your heart and your lungs,
Keeping them safe.
So let yourself send love and light to the bones that make up your ribcage.
And now become aware of your stomach and your intestines,
Your kidneys and your liver,
All of the organs of your body that bring in food and digest it to provide the nutrients for your body,
Balancing and purifying your blood,
Your kidneys,
And your bladder.
See your whole body from your neck down to your waist,
Surrounded and filled with beautiful pink loving light.
Next become aware of your legs,
Your legs that have allowed you to walk and to run and to dance and to skip and to jump.
They allow you to stand up in the world,
To move forward and to run and to make yourself breathless with exhilaration.
Allow yourself to appreciate your legs and to see them surrounded in this beautiful pink light.
See all the muscles and bones in your legs filled with this light and say to your legs,
I love you and I appreciate all of the work that you've done.
And now move down to your feet and become aware of your feet.
They let you stay balanced as you walk through this world.
They allow you to climb and to run and they support you every day.
And so now take a moment to thank your feet for being there and for supporting you.
And now become aware of your arms.
Your arms are miracles too and your hands.
Think of all of the things you are able to do because of your hands and your arms.
You can write a letter or type a letter.
You can reach out and touch things.
You can pick things up.
You can bring food to your mouth.
You can put things away.
You can scratch or itch.
You can flip the pages of a book,
Cook food,
Drive your car,
Give someone a massage,
Tickle someone,
Or give someone a hug.
You can reach out and make contact with the world and with others.
So see your arms and your hands surrounded with this beautiful light and send them your love.
And now allow yourself to feel gratitude for having a body,
One that you can use every day to have the experiences that you want to have and that you need to have to grow and to learn.
And now become aware of your spine,
Which allows you to stand up straight and provides a structure for your entire body,
Provides protection for your nerves that go from your brain,
Down your spine,
And out to the rest of your body.
See a golden light floating up your spine from the base of your spine at your pelvis,
Floating up your spine one vertebrae at a time,
Moving up your spine all the way up to your neck,
To the top of your spine where your skull connects,
And let that golden light flow up into your brain.
And now become aware of your vocal cords in your neck.
They allow you to speak,
To be heard,
To communicate,
To be understood,
To sing and to chant and to pray and to shout and to yell with delight and excitement,
To express your feelings and to share your deepest thoughts and dreams.
And now become aware of the left side of your brain,
The part of your brain that analyzes and computes,
That solves problems and plans for the future,
That calculates and reasons and deducts and inducts.
Allow yourself to appreciate what your intellect provides for you and see the left side of your brain totally filled with beautiful light,
Shimmering little stars,
And see that light cleanse and awaken and love and nurture that part of your brain.
And then let that light begin to flow across the bridge from the left side of your brain to the right side of your brain,
The part of your brain that allows you to feel,
To have emotions,
To be intuitive,
To dream,
To visualize and create and talk to your higher wisdom.
The part of your brain that allows you to write poetry,
Music,
Draw,
And to appreciate art.
See that side of your brain filled with this beautiful light.
And now sense that light flowing down the nerves from your brain into your eyes and see and feel your eyes filled with this light and realize the beauty that your eyes allow you to perceive.
The flowers and the sunsets and the beautiful people,
All the things that you are able to appreciate through your eyes.
And now become aware of your nose.
It allows you to smell and to breathe the beautiful fragrances of flowers and the essence of all foods that you love to eat.
And now become aware of your ears.
They allow you to hear music,
To listen to the wind,
The sound of the surf at the ocean,
The singing of the birds,
And to listen to the words,
I love you.
To be in discussions and to listen to the ideas of another,
To allow understanding to come forward.
And now take a moment to feel every part of your body from your head to your toes.
Feel that love,
That beautiful light completely surrounding your entire body.
And now that you've come back to the room,
I would like you to take a few minutes to journal the awareness and experiences that you had moving through your body,
Becoming aware of any areas that there was resistance,
Frustration,
Excitement,
Appreciation,
And take a few minutes to observe and notice how you feel now in the body that your spirit lives in.
