Welcome to this check-in meditation.
You can use this meditation at any time of day,
Whether you want to feel more grounded,
Maybe you're up in your head,
Or maybe you're being distracted by the external world.
This is a meditation to bring you back to yourself,
To understand where and what you are feeling.
So let's settle in.
You can do this meditation standing up,
You can do this meditation lying down,
Or you can come into a nice comfortable seated position.
Maybe use a pillow to lift your hips if that feels nice,
Whatever feels best for you.
I want you to take a couple of seconds and really really find a place and a position that serves your body.
Now that you are settled,
Let's take a couple of breaths together.
So first I want you to just notice what your breath is doing,
Try not to change anything,
And just see where you're at.
Is your breath shallow,
Deep,
Short,
Long,
Fast,
Or slow?
One more breath,
Just how you are,
And then as you're ready,
Take a deep inhale and blow it out.
Now slower breaths,
Inhale,
And when you get to the top,
Hold just for a moment and exhale through your mouth.
One more,
Inhaling,
Holding at the top,
And exhaling through your mouth.
During this check-in process,
I want you to feel into the answers rather than trying to intellectualize it.
You don't even need to use words necessarily,
You can notice where you're feeling it in your body.
You can feel the tension or the freedom.
Your body has the answers.
The first thing we're going to do is take a look at our physical body and do a check-in there.
I give you full freedom here to wiggle around,
Touch your legs,
Your torso,
Wherever it is that you're feeling tight,
Or maybe wherever it is that you're feeling open.
What is your body feeling,
And where is your body feeling it?
Take a few seconds and find those places.
And now we're going to breathe into the places of your body that are uncomfortable,
That are holding tension.
So let's do one together.
We're going to breathe through our nose.
So inhaling deeply,
Deeply,
And slowly,
And then exhaling through your nose.
On every inhale,
Imagine that part of your body expanding,
And on every exhale,
Imagine that part of your body relaxing.
Take one more deep breath,
As deep,
Deep,
Deep as you can.
On your inhale,
When you get to the top,
Pause,
And then open your mouth,
Exhale.
Now we're going to do a mental check-in.
So let's still our bodies so that we can focus on what's happening in that monkey mind that we have.
For this exercise,
We're going to release all control over your thoughts.
We are not going to say,
Oh,
We're meditating,
We can't think about that.
If your brain wants to plan your grocery list,
That's what you're going to let your brain do.
And you're going to just watch your thoughts.
Notice where they go.
Are we leaning towards an optimistic outlook?
Or are we focusing on negativities?
Nothing to change,
Just observing.
Are your thoughts coming quickly?
Are they dragging?
Take a few seconds and really observe what's going on in your mind without feeling like anything is the wrong thing.
You are exactly as you need to be.
When you're ready,
Take a deep inhale,
We'll come out the same way we came out of the physical body,
Holding at the top.
And when you're ready,
Opening your mouth,
Exhaling,
Sighing it all out.
Letting go of everything that you were just focusing on.
For our last check in,
We're going to look at our emotions.
So how do we look at our emotions?
Our first instinct might be to say,
I am sad.
Or I am happy.
Or I am confused.
These are all valid answers.
But today we're going to focus on where we feel our emotions in our body.
Remember your body has the answers.
We're going to take deep breaths.
And if naming the emotion makes you feel more clarity,
And more peace,
Feel free to do that.
But simply state to yourself the emotion word,
Detach it from the I am.
You are not your emotions.
These are temporary states.
And they lodge ourselves in different parts of our bodies.
So you may find,
For example,
That your lungs feel really open your chest,
Your heart,
Everything feels open.
And you could name this gratitude.
You could name this joy.
Whatever emotion pops up for you is okay.
And part of checking in with our emotions is allowing ourselves to really sit with those emotions,
Even when they're uncomfortable.
So if you're feeling a lot of tension inside your belly area,
You can say nothing.
And you can breathe into that spot.
And maybe the tension will release and maybe it won't.
But at least now that tension has been acknowledged.
And sometimes attention is all you need.
So let's take deep,
Deep breaths through our nose on the inhale,
And out our mouths on the exhale.
And let's lean into those uncomfortable emotions.
Let's show up for them.
Let's care for them.
Let's take a few moments to do this.
When you're ready,
Take one deep,
Deep breath down into your abdomen,
Holding at the top.
And opening your mouth,
Exhaling,
Sighing it all out.
Relax your attention.
Let your body,
Let your mind and let your emotions feel however it is they need to feel without attaching yourself to them.
As you go about your day,
I want you to remember something that I said before,
Which is,
You are not your body,
You are not your mind,
And you are not your emotions.
You can let physical feelings,
You can let thoughts come and go.
They are temporary states.
We get into trouble when we allow the ego to attach itself and we begin to say,
I am an anxious person.
I am angry.
Even I am a happy person.
What happens when you feel sad?
You've attached yourself to this happiness in a way that makes you feel inadequate if you don't live up to it.
And these are just examples.
You can apply this to any thought,
Emotion,
Physical feeling.
Release the ego and simply notice,
I am feeling frustrated.
I am feeling free.
Allow these states the chance to disappear and to come back to you again later.
Let's take one more breath together and then let's have a few moments of silence where you have full control over where you want to let your body,
Your mind,
Your emotions stray.
So exhale everything out and hold at the bottom for one moment.
We're gonna breathe in through our nose now.
Hold at the top.
I challenge you to hold at the top for as long as you can,
Letting the oxygen move throughout your bloodstream.
And then when you really,
Really cannot hold any longer,
Open your mouth.
Big sigh,
Maybe audible sigh if you're in a space where you can do that.
And feel the energy that you just took in moving through your body as you come into a few moments of silence.
Start to deepen your breath again,
Bringing consciousness to the oxygen coming into your lungs and your diaphragm.
And then the carbon dioxide that's releasing out into the world,
Participating in the natural life.
Maybe take a few deep breaths,
A few more.
Start to wiggle your fingers,
Your toes,
Move your tongue around inside or outside of your mouth.
And then start to roll your wrists,
Roll your ankles,
Maybe turn your head side to side.
From here,
Whatever position you're in,
Take one hand to your heart and one hand to your solar plexus.
Thank yourself for this time that you have given to yourself.
When you're ready,
You can start to blink your eyes open.
Come back into the space around you,
Noticing if you feel any different physically,
Mentally,
Emotionally from when you started.
I hope you are able to bring this attention to your body throughout your day.
Namaste.
