Good morning and welcome to your morning soul seed meditation.
My name is Ashley St.
John and this very special morning meditation is a little pocket of time where you get to plant the seed for your day.
I know it can be common to wake up and scroll through social media or mindlessly begin your day in a morning haze of to-do lists.
So I thought I would offer up this alternative and though you can practice this at any point throughout your day,
I encourage you to keep your earbuds by your bed and as you wake up,
Just simply pop your earbuds in and tune into these morning meditations when you can.
They are short and sweet and will allow you to plant a seed in the morning in order to grow some radical shifts and transformation throughout your day.
So let's dive in.
If you haven't already,
Prepare for your meditation.
If you're practicing first thing in the morning,
Perhaps take a small sip of water,
Begin to settle into a comfortable position.
Whether you're still in bed or in another place,
Slowly make your way into a comfortable cross-legged seat.
Release any tension you may be holding onto by circling your shoulders up,
Down and around.
If it feels good to move a little more,
Try to slowly sweep your arms forward and up towards the ceiling.
Take a big inhale,
Find some length here and exhale,
Bend your elbows wide in a cactus shape and peel your elbows down towards your sides as you open through your chest.
Once your arms have released down,
Begin the cycle of movement again.
Inhale,
Circle your arms forward and up.
Exhale,
Peel your elbows down and wide as you open your chest.
Try a few more just like that.
Inhale,
Rise up.
Exhale,
Peel down.
Each time you breathe,
Welcome in calm,
Welcome in energy,
Welcome in awareness.
Once you've taken a few rounds of breath and movements on your own,
Begin to settle your arms down.
Cup one hand and the other in your lap or perhaps let your hands rest on your knees facing up for openness or down for groundedness.
Lightly tuck your chin and gently allow your eyelids to close.
Take a deep breath in,
Fill up and exhale,
Sigh it out loud and release.
Now shift to breathing in and out through your nose.
Notice the feeling of the air as it flows in through your nose and observe the sensation below the tip of your nose as the air flows out.
Keep this easygoing breath flowing in and out of your nose.
Keep observing,
Feel the sensation of your breath.
Become aware of where you feel your breath in your body.
Perhaps you feel it in your chest,
Your belly or maybe even your back.
Wherever you feel your breath or whatever physical sensations rise for you now,
Allow to be okay as it is.
Breathing in and out through your nose,
Allow your breath to be your tool for calm.
Rather than manipulating your breath to be more comfortable,
Rather than striving to create a different version of what it is you're feeling,
Feel what is.
Through your breath,
In a simple observation of your physical sensations,
Begin to also give any thoughts permission to flow in and out of your consciousness.
When a thought rises,
Allow your mind to flow back to the calm you create within your breath.
Sit here for a handful of breaths and breathe,
Knowing that the calm and compassion you hold for yourself is here within you now.
Breathing in and out through your nose,
Allow your breath to be your tool for calm.
Gently now,
Begin to pull in just a little more air with your breath.
Deepen and lengthen each inhale and exhale.
As your breath expands,
Slowly expand your awareness to the feeling in the center of your chest.
Imagine a bright,
Energizing light and hold it here in the center of your chest.
Feel its warmth and imagine this light radiating from your chest as it fills your whole body from the crown of your head down to the tips of your toes,
Filling your whole body with energy,
Awareness and compassion for how you feel and who you are right now.
Begin to introduce some movement,
Lightly shift your shoulders,
Extend your fingers,
Perhaps bring your chin down to your chest,
Rock your head slowly side to side.
Keep your eyes closed and just slide your left hand over your heart and your right hand over your belly.
This is a mudra,
A symbol of connection,
The connection you have right here.
Feel the connection.
And now planting your soul seed here beneath your hands,
Your soul seed today is compassion.
There is a lesson to be learned in every moment.
Have compassion for yourself where you are in this moment.
Perhaps throughout your day,
You experience things of comfort or situations of discomfort.
You're both okay because it's in the difficult territory where you can connect to your inner strength.
It's in the thick of it where you find your perseverance.
It's there where you connect to your truly wild,
Beautiful self.
Take a deep breath and fill up.
Come to the very tip top of your breath.
Exhale,
Sigh it out loud through your mouth and release.
Do that one more time.
Inhale,
Fill back up.
This time hold your breath at the very top.
Try sipping in a little bit more air to expand even more and then exhale,
Sigh it out loud through your mouth and release.
Thank you so much for joining me this morning.
Have a beautiful rest of your day and I hope to connect with you again soon.
