Hi,
It's Julie Potichur for the Balanced Mind Meditation Center.
Let's find a position for your body that's going to feel comfortable and supported and supportive.
And let's either close our eyes down completely or a gentle downward gaze.
If your eyes are closed completely,
If you feel comfy doing that,
Imagine your eyelids being really soft.
And then we're going to take three nourishing breaths.
In for four,
Hold it at the top,
And out for six.
Filling up your lungs.
Letting it go.
And then each exhale letting it go.
Okay let your breath find its natural rhythm and relax your forehead.
Relax your eyebrows.
Relax your eyeballs.
Release your jaw,
Softening your face.
Imagine relaxing your tongue all the way back to the back of your mouth.
Everything relaxed.
When you close your lips,
Let your teeth remain parted so you're not clenching at all in your jaw.
And you can imagine that slight smile to the outside corners of your lips that helps to tap in to the parasympathetic nervous system.
That little tiny smile.
Dropping that smile down to your throat,
To your neck.
Softening,
Relaxing.
Breath is easy.
Dropping that smile down into your chest,
Your heart.
And when you're doing that,
Moving your shoulder blades down your back,
It opens up the front of your chest.
Hanging out in your chest for a couple breaths.
Now dropping down and releasing your abs and really relaxing your hips into whatever is under them.
Releasing your sit bones,
Making contact with what you're sitting on while allowing your muscles to soften.
Relaxing your thighs.
Relaxing the insides of your knees.
Relaxing your calves.
Relaxing the insides of your ankles.
Relaxing your feet.
Feeling your feet now anchored,
Not in a harsh way,
But in a supportive,
Strong way.
Extending your feet to the earth.
You may want to imagine roots like we often do.
Extending from your feet down through the floor and into the nutrient dense soil.
Such a gorgeous exchange of nutrients and oxygen and carbons going down and up and sideways.
The mycelial network just magnificently alive and holding us onto the planet.
So that we don't forget our arms and our hands,
Let's pop our awareness to our shoulders and let relaxation flow down our arms.
Whoosh to our fingertips.
Softening your hands.
Noticing the temperature and texture of your hands.
These expressive appendages that allow you so much.
The ability to hold our loved ones,
To hold our hands,
To write,
To eat,
To open doors.
Our hands that do so much and now taking your two good hands and placing them somewhere on your worthy body.
It could be your heart or one hand on your heart and one on your belly or it might be today that you just want to cradle your face.
You just want to give yourself a hug.
But whatever soothing and supportive touch place right now that works for you as a reminder of the gift you're giving yourself,
Let's do that for a couple breath cycles,
Feeling the warmth of your good hands on your worthy body.
I love you.
I'm here for you.
And if your hands get weary and you'd like to relax them into your lap,
You can do that at any time.
And now we're just going to follow our breath for a couple moments,
Seeing and feeling the body breathing in a little gap and your body breathing out a little gap like you're skating the length of the breath.
As your mind continues to settle.
Coming home to yourself right here and right now.
We're not time traveling to the past or to the future.
We're right here in this body,
In this position with this breath.
Feeling your breath if your mind wanders,
Just re-relaxing,
Letting your mind settle and skating the awareness on your in breath and your exhale.
Your inhale and your exhale.
.
] My son byes a As your mind and your body quiets down,
Coming into a place of stillness,
You may want to imagine a pebble dropping into a deep well,
Seeing the pebble floating down slowly because it's not that heavy.
And when it reaches the bottom,
What's bubbling up is just what you need or want to hear right now.
It could be a word,
A phrase,
A feeling.
What would you need or want to hear right now?
It could be you are loved,
Which could turn into I love you.
It could be you are seen,
I see you.
You are heard,
I hear you,
I hear you,
I see you,
I love you.
And you are safe,
I am safe.
I need hope,
Here is hope,
Hope is here.
Whatever it is,
I'll be quiet now.
For you to take in what is bubbling up and giving yourself exactly what you need or want to hear right now in your home,
In your body,
Your true home.
If a lot of chatter is swirling around,
Just relax and allow one word or concept to be a little bit more prominent and then just use that.
If you prefer to go back to just resting your awareness on your breath,
Go ahead.
This meditation is yours and you know what you need right now in your true home,
Your home here.
You you you you I love you I see you I hear you I understand you I forgive you I see you I hear you I forgive you Love See Hear Understand Understand Love See Hear Understand Understand I love you I see you I hear you I understand you I forgive you I forgive you I forgive you I forgive you I forgive you Any annoyance you've had,
I forgive you.
Impatience,
I forgive you.
Anger,
I forgive you.
Jealousy,
I forgive you.
Clinging,
I forgive you.
Greed,
I forgive you,
I forgive you.
Back in your true home,
In your body,
I forgive you.
Taking in the words of this great quote by Thit Nhat Hanh,
Most of us walk without chains,
Yet we aren't free.
We're tethered to regret and sorrow from the past.
We return to the past and continue to suffer.
The past is a prison,
But now you have the key to unlock the door and arrive in the present moment.
You breathe in,
You bring your mind home to your body,
You make a step,
And you arrive in the here and the now.
Thit Nhat Hanh from the book How to Walk.
Taking a big breath in,
Exhaling it out,
Wiggling your fingers,
Wiggling your toes,
And when you hear the sounds of the chime,
Coming back into this space.
You may want to give your body a stretch.
Thank you for listening.
This is Julie Potichur from the Balanced Mind Meditation Center.
