Hello and welcome to this intention setting meditation.
My name is Beatrice.
Before we start this meditation let's just take a moment to thank ourselves for taking this time to slow down,
To notice how it's feeling,
To set this new intention,
To take with us hopefully for a while to return to it whenever we need to.
It doesn't have to be a special occasion to set some meditation.
It can be the new year,
It can be perhaps a birthday but it doesn't have to be a special occasion.
It can be the morning,
You can set a new one every day or as I like to do,
I like to keep one at least for a month and see how it develops through time.
So take this time,
Thank yourself.
Whenever you're ready sit in a comfortable seated position.
You don't have to sit cross-legged,
You can sit on a chair,
You can be in bed.
Just take your time to find a position.
Once you find this position make sure that it's a place of comfort,
Of effortless effort.
So keep your spine straight.
Make sure both sitting bones are grounded,
Either you're sitting on the ground or on a chair.
Crown of the head points up towards the ceiling and the head is in line with the spine.
For this meditation let's have the palms facing up towards the ceiling either on your knees or in your lap and taking this sense of inviting new and your intention in.
Before we start just take your awareness to your sitting bones.
Allow your body to come to the space,
Your mind to come to the space.
Notice your spine.
Lengthen the spine.
Keep your chin slightly tucked in towards your chest with a crown pointing up to the ceiling.
Once you're ready take this moment to find your intention and let this intention come through from the heart rather than having to force something in from the mind.
Maybe it's something that you have been dealing with for a while.
Maybe it's an intention you already knew before the meditation even started.
Just get to that place.
It can be something really really simple that you can focus on easily.
An action you like to perform on a daily basis,
A new habit you want to form.
It doesn't have to be anything major,
Just anything that comes to you.
Once you have it hold it in your heart and repeat it to yourself or out loud for three heartfelt times.
We repeat our intentions in the present tense as if we already had it.
So once you have it repeat it three times.
On your third time let that intention go for now.
Leave it to the side and begin to notice your breath.
Begin to notice any sensation that's connected to your breath.
Doesn't have to be the breath through the nostrils,
Doesn't have to be the breath in your belly but anything that feels good for you.
Anything that connects your breath for you.
Focus on this sensation.
Notice how your breath feels at the moment without judgment.
Without trying to modify it for now.
Just stay with your breath and if your mind wonders simply take it back to your breath.
As long as you begin to bring your attention down to the belly.
Take your breath into a full deep belly breath.
Always stopping when it feels like it's full,
Not forcing any air in.
As you come to the top slowly breathe it out.
Begin to notice the rhythm of your breath.
Perhaps it's starting to be a little bit slower,
A little bit calmer.
Noticing now the length of your inhales and your exhales.
It may help to perhaps add a count.
Breathing in for one,
Two,
Three and out one,
Two,
Three.
This might be enough for you,
Might be too much,
Might not be enough.
So you can always change the count for whatever works for you.
All the way up to six.
Taking your breath to fairly equal length.
Same with the breath,
Just for a little longer.
Begin to bring your attention now to the crown of your head.
As you notice the crown of your head,
Let your attention slowly come down through the face.
Noticing any tension in the face and perhaps trying to let go.
You can use your breath to do that.
Breathing in and breathing out to release the tension.
Softening the forehead,
The eyebrows,
The muscles around the eyes.
Notice your jaw.
Can you bring a bit more space between the teeth?
Exhaling,
Part your teeth slightly.
Relax your tongue.
Bring your attention to the shoulders and see if you can create a bit more space in between the shoulders and the ears.
On your breath out,
Let the shoulders become a little lower,
The heart a bit more open.
Breathe out and soften the arms and perhaps notice how the fingers and the fingertips curling towards the palm as you soften.
Take your attention to the belly and just like the shoulders we hold a lot of tension in the abdomen.
Try to soften the breath,
Soften the sides and with that maybe even the back.
Feel your spine unwind.
Your hips,
The tops of your thighs,
The back of your thighs,
All the way down to the lower leg,
To your feet.
Resting your feet to the tips of your toes.
Notice how scanning your body makes you feel.
Notice how you're feeling now.
For a few moments,
Allow yourself to just focus on the whole body now.
Focus on your breath and slowly bring back to mind that intention you set at the beginning.
How does it feel now?
Can you allow the softness of your body to make that intention feel even better?
Really feel that intention as if you already had it.
Feel it,
Touch it,
As if it was real.
Smell it.
Just for a few more moments,
Visualize it.
Take your time to perhaps stay with your visualization and come out whenever you're ready.
And as you decide to do so,
Do so gently,
Slowly blinking the eyes open.
Taking your time to continue on with the day with a sense of peace and calm.
Thank you so much for meditating with me today.
