Welcome friends to your mini staycation,
A space for you to pause and connect with your inner peace.
Today we're going to do the ladybug meditation and the purpose is to develop the art of paying attention and so we're simply going to spend a few minutes focusing on the ladybug that's in the center of the image that goes with this recording.
So please take a moment to set yourself up so that the image is at eye level and you know like a few feet away from you is ideal but you'll figure that out based on the size of your screen and so maybe pause while you get that set up and now that you're back and you've done that set your body up for success,
Set your body up so that it is steady and comfortable.
So if you're sitting cross-legged sit on the edge of a blanket and if you're sitting on a chair sit on the edge of the chair with the feet underneath the knees,
The shoulders over the hips and the shoulders soft and relaxed,
The hands are soft and relaxed,
Perhaps the palms are turned up,
They're resting and the face is soft and now we're going to bring our awareness to the ladybug and what we're going to do is gaze gently at her and every 12 seconds I'm going to gently remind you to come back to the ladybug,
To return to the ladybug and without a doubt the ladybug will bring up a memory so your mind is going to go down the story of that memory and that's okay but what we're doing today is just politely putting that memory to the side and coming back to the ladybug where we simply gaze perhaps in wonder at her shape,
Her form,
Her colour and as thoughts and feelings,
Distractions arise you're simply returning your attention back to our ladybug friend.
Let's begin,
Take a soft gaze to our friend the ladybug notice her form,
Her shape,
Her colour and that's 12 seconds,
Bring your awareness back to our ladybug friend if it's wandered and let's wonder again at her space on the screen keep bringing your attention back to our ladybug no need to be upset if the mind's caught up somewhere else just bring it back to the ladybug good job,
Keep coming back to the ladybug last time bring our attention back to the ladybug and now simply close your eyes no effort simply close your eyes notice how you feel you might like to open the eyes and reconnect with the ladybug and gently close them again so notice how you feel and to finish simply bring your hand to your heart and take a nice deep breath in and a nice breath out and then you might like to write down in a journal or in the comments how this experience of building attention for just a few minutes was for you did it create any space in the mind?
Has it left you with a feeling of peace?
Was it too little?
Not enough?
And remember you can come back to the ladybug anytime you don't need to listen to the recording you can just use a ladybug as a point of concentration an object of concentration to continue the long journey of developing focus and attention thanks for joining have a great day
