Welcome to this body appreciation meditation.
This meditation is designed to help you through moments where you're struggling with body image or feeling trapped in thought loops.
Before we begin you might like to thank yourself for just showing up today because engaging in mindfulness and gratitude in these moments is helping you to rewire your brain and create new pathways.
So let's begin.
For this meditation you might prefer to lie down but if not seated in any way is fine too.
Shift around perhaps get some pillows or blankets or anything else that will help you to feel really comfortable in this moment.
If you need to move during the meditation that's completely fine,
Do whatever you need to do to find comfort while you're here.
For this meditation you can close your eyes or just lower your gaze to somewhere in front of you.
Once you're comfortable take a big breath in and as you breathe out allow your jaw to unclench,
Let your shoulders drop and invite your tummy to relax.
The more relaxed your body is the more relaxed and receptive your mind will be.
So if you can let go just for this moment.
Take another breath in and as you breathe out soften hands and feet allowing your fingers to unfurl like lotus petals.
Breathe in and scan your body for anywhere else that you might feel tightness and if it feels okay for you let it all go on the exhale.
Now that your body is a little more relaxed collect your attention into the space where you are,
Opening your awareness to the sounds you can hear around you.
Become aware of the distance of sound to you.
Notice how some are further away and some are so close,
Like your own breath leaving your nostrils.
As you sink in to listening your ears might become sharper and more subtle sounds reveal themselves to you.
Noticing the way that sounds may overlap or change in frequency or volume or pitch.
Allowing yourself to soak in all the sounds of this moment and if it's quiet where you are noticing what that's like to fully marinate in silence.
As you tune into this moment or throughout our meditation today you might notice yourself getting caught up in thoughts.
You can be thankful for these thoughts because what you're here to do is train yourself in coming back to the moment to an anchor like sound or feeling in your body.
So those moments are giving you perfect practice.
Now we'll move into a gratitude based body scan.
Gratitude for your body helps you to appreciate what your body can do.
It can flick off the anxious or doubting or feeling inadequate mind,
Taking the focus of how your body looks.
It can also help to reduce negative comparisons and help you feel more resilient in the face of all of this idealized body pressure.
We're going to start with your head.
So drawing your attention to your head,
Noticing sensations and feelings in your head and on the surface,
Allowing awareness to wash over your ears.
Ears that allow you to hear music and the sound of your loved one's voices or the sound of birds in the morning.
Is there something in particular that you would like to thank your ears for?
When we are grateful for our body,
We don't have to be grateful for anything grand.
It can be something simple or something small.
Often the first thing that comes to mind is okay.
Moving awareness to your face,
To your eyes that allow you to see the sunset and your nose that gives you the gift of the aroma of your favorite meal or a freshly picked flower.
Bringing awareness to the cheeks that help you smile and your mouth which lets you express words of love and to eat delicious food.
What are you feeling grateful for on your face?
Awareness traveling down your throat,
Across your collarbones and over to your arms.
Noticing sensations,
Feelings,
Feeling the length and breadth of your arms,
The weight of your arms.
Thanking these arms that hold the people that you love,
The arms that carry gifts people give you.
Arms that move around when you dance or move smoothly through water as you swim or arms that allow you to drive.
Noticing if any thoughts come up as you think of your arms and simply acknowledge thinking,
Thinking.
Then come back to awareness.
What would you like to thank your arms for?
Bringing awareness to your hands,
To the center of your palm,
The back of your hand,
Your thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger and pinky.
Feeling the temperature of your hands,
If they're dry or sweaty,
Simply noticing all the sensations that are here.
Thanking these hands that have held a pen that's written letters or the cutlery that holds food to nourish your body.
Hands that have held other hands or wiped tears from your eyes or the eyes of someone you love.
What are you thankful for your hands?
Allowing attention to move across your chest,
Noticing the way your chest rises and falls as you breathe.
Feeling the life sustaining air fill your lungs and then leave,
Taking everything your body no longer needs.
Awareness traveling to your belly,
Noticing any thoughts as you bring your attention here,
Focusing on sensations and if thoughts arise label thinking,
Thinking,
Then come back to physical sensations here at your belly.
Often we only think of our belly when we're criticizing it or we feel too full or we have a stomach ache.
Can you stay present with gratitude without pushing away thoughts,
Simply acknowledging them and coming back to awareness just for this moment.
This belly,
A loyal house for your organs,
The place that digests your favorite meal shared with your favorite people.
This belly that helps you to sit in a chair and watch your favorite movie or run in the park with a dog or walk to a coffee shop to share a hot drink with a friend.
What are you grateful to your belly for?
Bringing attention down your back from the top of your spine all the way to your tailbone,
Feeling into the muscles alongside your spine that work hard to twist and bend and reach.
Drawing attention into your pelvis and down to your glutes or your bum cheeks,
Noticing sensations that are alive here,
Feeling the way they contact your seat or the ground that you're lying on.
Noticing if you have any thoughts that arise when you think of your bum,
Simply acknowledging,
Thinking,
Thinking and coming back to the sensation in your glutes.
If you find yourself picturing your bum as we try to tune into the feelings,
Simply acknowledge picturing and come back to sensations,
Noticing what you can feel.
This bum that sits in chairs while you dine with friends,
The bum that climbs stairs to the library or kicks your legs as you swim in the ocean.
What gratitude can you open to here as you become aware of the functioning of your bum?
Shifting awareness to your legs,
How are your legs feeling in this moment?
Opening to the sense of gratitude for all that your legs do for you.
Legs that maybe step into planes that take you on adventures or sit in chairs opposite your favorite people.
Thanking your legs for all the ways they serve you and protect you.
Drop your awareness into your feet,
Wriggle your toes if that's available to you and check in with your feet.
How are they feeling right now?
These lovely feet that might have carried you across sand and soil,
Kicked as you dived into a river or skipped through a meadow as a child.
Open to the ways you are grateful for your feet.
What can you thank your feet for in this moment?
Now taking some time to scan your body from top to bottom,
Opening to gratitude for your whole body,
For giving you life and for sustaining your life,
For all the great experiences you've ever had in this vessel.
Taking a few minutes now to sit in these feelings of gratitude that you have cultivated for your whole body and I'll let you know when it's time.
As you gently bring your awareness back into your surroundings,
Notice the sounds that you can hear.
See if you can notice the sound of your breath coming in and out and feel your body breathing.
You might like to wriggle your fingers and toes to wake that body up or tap the top of each finger to the thumb of your same hand.
Take your time and when you feel ready to go about your day,
Start moving.
I hope you can take some of these feelings of gratitude with you today.
Thank you.
