Welcome to your practice,
My name is Abedha Chasulwa.
Today I will guide you through a short meditation experience created to cultivate gratitude.
Start by getting comfortable within your practice space.
Make as many adjustments to the environment and your physical body to ensure you can settle for a few minutes without interruption.
You are welcome to enjoy this practice in a seated position.
If you prefer to lie back or stand for the duration,
Feel free to do so.
Arrive in the present moment by taking a deep breath in and sighing the breath out through an open mouth.
Repeat this deliberate breath in and out two more times.
Perhaps a gentle hum follows each exhale.
Decide if you would like to keep the eyes closed or slightly open.
If you tend to daydream and lose focus meditating with the eyes closed,
Explore keeping the eyes open or rested on a focal point such as a candle flame or any other object within your practice space.
Soften the muscles of your face and jaw,
Noticing your natural facial expression.
Feel your body settle into the surface that supports it.
If you are sitting down on the ground,
Notice your sitting burns rooting into the earth.
If you are resting on your back in a supine position,
Notice all points of contact your body makes with the surface beneath it.
Should you be standing right now,
Press firmly into all four corners of your feet and grow taller as you reach the crown of the head skywards.
Imagine roots sprouting from the pores of your skin into the supporting surface beneath you,
Anchoring your physical body into the fertile ground of the present moment as we explore what this day or evening has to offer you.
Notice your breathing.
Without manipulating the breath,
Notice what information it provides you on your current state of being.
Investigate the rate at which you are breathing.
Are you breathing fast and shallow breaths?
Does the breath start at the top half of the body with a lot of movement in the shoulders?
Is there space to comfortably shift the breath lower and slower into the body?
Feel the belly and the sides of the torso expanding like a balloon,
Soothing the nervous system one breath at a time.
Now pay attention to the stream of consciousness flowing through the mind.
Do you find yourself jumping from thought to thought without direction?
Perhaps you may be experiencing mind fog or the sensation of being spaced out.
With a gentle sense of curiosity,
Explore invigorating and redirecting the mind with the breath.
Witness each thought with patience and awareness,
Letting thoughts come and go freely,
Choosing to anchor yourself with the senses whenever you feel overwhelmed by thought.
Allow your senses to be gateways to information into the present moment,
Using your awareness to enjoy being receptive to the gift of being alive right now.
Let's explore cultivating gratitude.
What does gratitude mean to you?
Take a moment to think deeply about what it means for you to feel and display gratitude.
Now start to think about how often you take time out to identify the things you are feeling.
Now start to think about how often you take time out to identify the things you are grateful for.
When you affirm that goodness exists in your human experience,
What comes to mind?
Do specific people,
Places,
Experiences or things spring to the forefront of your mind?
How about internally,
What quality exists within you that you feel deep appreciation for?
Notice the feeling that develops within you as you start to identify everything you consider valuable and enriching.
Where does this feeling reside in your body?
What facial expression takes shape?
What is your posture like?
Notice the feeling of reverence grow in response to recognizing all that creates comfort,
Pleasure and happiness in your life.
Allow the feeling of gratitude to continue expanding spontaneously within and around you.
For a moment,
Explore releasing the specific mental images that come to mind when you think about gratitude but retain the feeling and let it exist for no specific reason.
Continue to delight in this state of cultivated gratitude,
Holding this feeling in the forefront of your mind.
Maintain awareness of this feeling throughout your day or evening and see if there's a way to transfer this feeling onto another person you engage with.
Whether it be a random act of kindness such as giving a compliment to a stranger or offering help to a neighbor,
See how far you can extend the practice of gratitude.
To conclude your practice,
Take a moment to celebrate the efforts you have put today towards cultivating gratitude.
This short and sweet practice takes small consistent efforts.
Encourage yourself to set time aside daily to work on identifying all that sustains and nourishes your existence.
Thank you for enjoying this meditation with me.
Continue to hold yourself within the warm embrace of gratitude and full body awareness,
Breathing and being.
Perhaps you may want to journal after this experience,
Expressing the insights that came to light during your practice.
I will signal the end of this meditation with the sound of a bell.
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