Welcome to my meditation.
I will gently strike my singing bowl when we complete.
Have you noticed how cats have no problem sleeping?
Sometimes they're deep asleep,
Snoring and twitching as they dream.
Other times they seem perfectly relaxed with eyes closed,
But the ears are turning around showing that they are alert and know exactly what's going on.
Cats are also expert at appreciating the simplest stroke or cuddle.
There is no boundary to the pleasure they feel and express.
We'll use them as our example tonight,
And you can find the cat within to relax or sleep just as deeply.
Do only what feels comfortable and safe for your body and situation.
Let's begin with some deep breaths.
Breathe in,
And breathe out.
If you're allowed to make vocal noises,
It's always fun as well.
Let's breathe in again,
And a big smile as you purr out.
And let's do a third breath in.
Breathe in,
And you can purr,
Or if you're not into purring,
You can go,
Mmm,
As you breathe out,
Mmm.
That's good.
Lift your shoulders up,
And relax them back down.
One more time,
Lift them up,
And relax them back down.
This is designed to be done lying down if you wish,
But you can always do it sitting up if you prefer.
Tilt your head gently from side to side.
Let's stretch out the sides of your neck.
The more you can keep a smile on your face,
The more you are like your cat.
And let's stretch your paws now.
So reach your arms straight out in front and up above you as far as you can.
Make your paws stretch out.
Also,
If you think about stretching the palms of your hands with your fingers stretched away like a tie dancer,
And bring them back down again.
One more time,
Lift your arms up high,
Stretch your paws,
And then back down again.
Let's stretch your back paws now,
So whether you want to point your toes or arch your feet and point your toes backwards like you're on tippy toes,
Stretch your calves,
Pull up your knees,
Make everything tight,
And relax them back down.
One more time,
Stretch your back paws away,
Away,
Away,
And relax again.
Let's do another arm one now.
Lift your front paws up,
And this time you can make claws with your hands.
Curl your hands over,
Curl your fingers over,
And lift your shoulder blades forward,
So it's like you're hunching your shoulders forward,
And relax them back down again.
One more time,
Lift your arms,
Make your claws shoulder blades forward,
And relax them back down.
Let's do that one more time.
Lift your arms up,
Make your claws,
Bring your shoulder blades forward,
And crunch your tummy.
You can have your head up or relax down,
It's up to you,
And relax back down again.
And this time we're going to lift our arms up,
Front paws up.
You can stretch your fingers back or forward as your claws,
And arch your back this time.
Arch your back,
And relax back down.
Let's do one more of those pussycats love,
Arching their back.
Lift your arms up,
And arch it back.
You can look back with your head,
Tilt it back if you like,
And relax back down.
Big smile,
Oh,
That feels so much better.
And now,
Pussycats do love to be stroked,
And patted.
It makes them purr,
So that's what we're going to do with ourselves.
Keep present,
And really enjoy every touch.
Start by stroking down your legs,
The outside of your legs.
You can stay lying down,
So you don't reach down very far,
You don't make it to your knees.
Stroke the insides of your legs as much as you can,
And the top,
And the outside.
And let's stroke up this time.
Go up from as far down as your fingers can reach,
Up towards your chest,
Up the sides,
Up the princess line,
Up the center.
Mmm.
Feel it with your fingers,
Touching your body,
And then feel it from the point of view of your body,
Feeling the hands touch you.
Cats love this.
Ah.
Lovely stroking.
Let's change now to slow circles around your tummy.
So put your hands very gently on your stomach,
And then very slowly,
Move them a little bit,
Let's say clockwise,
And rest your hands,
And then move them a little further,
And rest your hands,
So you come around to the three o'clock space.
Each time you rest,
Move down a little further,
Stop and feel the warmth go right through your tummy,
So it's not even just on the surface,
It goes right deep through,
All the way back to the spine.
Let's move to the bottom now of the circle,
Around to the eight o'clock spot,
Around to the quarter to the top of the hour,
Halfway up now,
About ten two,
And up to the top of the hour.
And let's speed up that circle,
Let's move slowly,
Slowly,
Around the circle.
Let the heat from your hands penetrate deep inside,
And warm all your organs and your digestive system.
Mmm.
Cats love warmth.
Relax all these different parts,
Bringing love to all your organs,
Thank you,
Thank you organs,
For doing such a wonderful job today.
Work your way back up to the top,
Use slightly faster circles if you wish,
It's completely up to you.
Let's start stroking your arms now,
Your upper paws.
Feel the stroke from the point of view of the hand that is stroking.
You can start at your shoulder,
Stroke down your upper arm,
Round your elbow and down your forearm,
And over your paws.
Feel the stroke from the point of view of the hand that's stroking.
And feel the stroke from the point of view of the arm,
Receiving such love and warmth.
Let the muscles in that arm relax.
One more long stroke.
Take a deep breath.
Ah,
Lovely.
Round a few circles on the top of your hand,
Thank you hands.
Feel some appreciation for your paw,
And your hand,
Whatever you'd like to call it,
Thank you for all that you've done today.
I think we take our hands for granted a bit too much,
Don't you think?
They're very,
Very useful.
Let's go on to the other arm now.
Start at the shoulder,
And stroke your way down the upper arm.
Feel the warmth,
Round the elbow,
Down the forearm,
And over the paw.
Let's go again.
Feel it from the point of view of the arm being stroked now.
Feels nice to be stroked.
It might make you purr.
Down the arm again.
And let's make a few circles with that paw or hand.
Thank you so much for doing all the work you did today.
Here's a fun one you can do if you're able,
And if your headphones don't fall out,
Roll a little bit to one side and bend your knees up a little bit.
And now you can stroke down your side,
And round your bottom,
And down as far as you can reach down your thigh.
Whether you want to go down,
Or whether you want to stroke up from the thigh up to your back,
It's up to you,
Whatever feels good.
Cats love this as well,
Getting their haunches stroked.
And these muscles work very hard through the day as well.
Lifting and walking and bending and stretching.
You can thank these muscles.
Thank you.
And now roll back onto your back again.
Let's see if you can gently move over to the other side now.
Knees up a little bit if you can.
And make a stroke,
Either go down from just under your arm,
Down your back,
Over the bend,
And down your thigh towards your knee.
Or you can stroke the other direction whichever you prefer.
Notice these muscles,
They work so hard during the day.
And thank them,
Feel appreciation for them as you go.
One more long stroke now.
That's it.
What a wonderful body you have.
It does so many good things for you.
Let's roll gently onto the back now.
You can either keep your legs bent,
Put them over a pillow,
Or straighten them out,
Whichever you prefer.
Now take your hand,
Just one hand this time,
And make a circle around your upper chest.
The round circle goes up towards your sternum,
And down over the nipples,
Just to the middle of the chest is fine.
Make a round circle,
Feel the warmth of your hand.
You can smile,
Cats love their chests rubbed,
Don't they?
They never hold back on their pleasure.
Hmm,
This is where your heart is.
Your heart does a good job,
Every night,
Even when you're asleep.
You can thank your heart,
Send love to your heart.
And now let's move up to your forehead.
Now here you can just take a stroke sideways,
Not a lot of room to move circles.
Just stroke sideways,
Across the brow,
Towards the arm that's doing the stroking.
This is a bit like a child going to sleep.
You can smile,
How lovely,
This hand that is loving you.
It might be your angel's hand,
Perhaps.
And now you can take both hands,
If it's comfortable for you,
Let's very gently massage your scalp.
Start at the temples and work your way up.
If you have curly hair,
You might want to do this very,
Very lightly,
So you don't drag on the hair.
Work your way around,
Either side of your head,
Around the circle behind your ears.
Mmm,
Cats love their heads being stroked like this.
And up towards the center of your head,
Up towards the crown,
And then down the sides,
Depending on where you're lying.
Mmm.
If you want to,
You can really get into this.
And just above the temples,
Get really good,
Gentle rub there,
Even if it makes your face go funny shapes.
Cats don't mind at all when they push their skin around on their head and their face.
See if you can give a yawn now.
If this is comfortable for your jaw,
Open your mouth nice and wide,
And then just hold it there while you're rubbing with your fingers until a yawn naturally comes.
And let it breathe out.
A little smile again.
Let's massage around your ears now.
There's lots of spaces there.
You don't have to be too rough.
You make little circles with the tips of your fingers.
They go right around,
And as you get around the back of your ears,
It's sort of connected to your sinuses there.
So sometimes you can find this drain your sinuses quite nicely as you rub your way around the backs of your ears.
You give the bottom of your ears a little bit of a pull,
And work your way up the front of your ears.
That's a nice spot as well.
Let's try another yawn.
Open your mouth really wide until that yawn comes naturally.
And when you let it out,
You can smile.
You can do one of those lion yawns now.
I'm sure I saw it in like a 1980s video where you can open up your mouth really wide and your eyes really wide and stick your tongue out as far as it'll go.
And you make a ha sound.
Deep breath in,
Tongue out as far as it can go,
And big wide eyes.
Ha.
And just relax your face again.
This all helps your face and adds entertainment for anybody in the room.
Ha ha ha.
Let's stroke under the chin now,
Just like a cat loves.
Lift your chin up and just love those long strokes from your chin down to your sternum.
Put a smile on your face like you're loving the pleasure that you're giving and receiving.
Mmm.
Cats love that.
How about screwing your lips up really tight now so that you actually stretch around the edges of your jaw.
It's good to exercise these parts.
They get slack when we don't use them.
So it'll tighten up your jowls as you do this.
Lovely.
And relax now.
Let's just take one hand now.
One hand drops down beside you,
And the other hand can gently massage under that arm.
So lift the elbow a little bit and just gently make small circles or gentle rubbing all around underneath that arm and out towards the breast.
All around this area is lymph nodes,
Part of your lymphatic system.
It's wonderful to drain this area.
It helps clear out toxins and wastes in your body with the most gentle touch.
So you can smile.
You can thank those lymph nodes for doing a great job.
You're giving them a bit of a hand here.
Let's do the other side.
So relax that hand down now.
Lift the elbow a little bit and bring your other hand in so you can rub under the other arm.
Thank you,
Lymph nodes,
For doing such a great job.
You can add a little smile.
Add another yawn if you want.
Open up your mouth until that yawn comes in naturally.
And relax your hands.
Now just let them flow wherever they want to flow on your body as far as they can reach,
Wherever feels it needs some love or the muscles need to relax.
One thing I've noticed about cats is that they don't care what they look like.
It doesn't matter if they're a motley mongrel of mixed origin or a pampered hybrid.
If you give them love when they're in the mood,
They will laugh it up and never question whether or not they are worthy of the attention.
Take this as a reminder that no matter what you think you are,
Your appearance,
Your position in the community,
What job you have,
How much money you have,
How others behave around you,
You are worthy of love and affection.
You are valuable.
And your contribution to the world is noticed by the collective consciousness.
Even smiling to brighten someone's day is valuable and ripples out into the universe.
You are worthy of pleasure.
You are worthy of time to relax,
Even if it's only for these few precious minutes.
Every delicious relaxing moment counts.
So rest now,
Pampered pussycat.
When you accept love and care from yourself,
You allow love and care to come from others in its many forms.
A compliment,
A helping hand,
A smile,
A promotion,
A jump from the queue,
A recommendation.
You are deserving of all.
You are much loved.
