Welcome to this grounded strength meditation.
The aim of this practice is to cultivate a feeling of strength and empower ourselves wherever we may be along the journey of our lives.
So I want you to take in a comfortable seat,
Whether you want to lie down or sit upright on a chair.
And I want you to keep your eyes open for a second.
Allow yourself to take in your surroundings.
And notice the sounds that are around you.
Notice the things that you can see as we get ready to turn our attention inwards.
Try to pinpoint the location of your body in space and time.
And when you make that conscious,
Allow yourself to simply sink in.
Allow yourself to become heavy.
Allow your arms to fall naturally,
Either on your lap or next to you,
Next to your abdomen.
And allow your arms to become heavy.
Take a deep breath in and gently close your eyes.
It is sometimes difficult to remember that we own this inner strength,
That we are strong and we are here in this point in time.
Because whatever happened to us in the past,
We were strong enough to overcome.
And we are resilient.
So I would like us to imagine that we are a mountain.
Try to sit tall.
And form in your mind this image of a mountain,
Which is heavy,
Sinking towards the ground.
But at the same time,
It's standing tall towards the sky.
It's reaching high up,
Up,
Up towards the sky.
And adjust your body position to be exactly like that.
Like a mountain.
And when that's settled in,
Focus on your breath.
Focus on the sensation of breathing.
Switch off from your thoughts and tune in to your bodily sensation of breathing.
There's no right or wrong way to breathe.
Just notice if your breathing is shallow.
If it's fast,
Slow,
Deep.
And just allow it to be whatever and however it is.
Now guide you through a series of deep breaths in.
I will count to four.
We're going to hold the breath at the top and then we're going to exhale it out.
We're going to sigh it out.
So inhale.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold.
Exhale.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Second time.
Inhale.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold.
Exhale.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Last one.
Inhale.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold here at the top.
And exhale.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Notice how with every inhale you expand,
Your consciousness moves higher towards the sky like a mountain.
And with every out breath,
You soften,
But you maintain the grounding strength of a mountain.
Allow yourself to sit in silence for a few moments and see what comes up in your conscious experience right now.
And don't judge whatever it is.
Just let it be.
It's all part of who you are like waves are part of the ocean.
Everything belongs.
And as we come to the end of the practice,
I want you to think of a character trait that you have.
That you're grateful for and that you consider made you strong in the past.
So,
For example,
I might see my kindness as my strength.
Or my resilience.
Or my empathy.
What do you consider your strength and name that character trait and cherish it and thank yourself for holding the space here today.
Take another deep breath in.
Be aware one more time of your heavy body sinking towards the ground in the arms of gravity.
Re-imagine the image of that tall,
Heavy mountain that you imagined and then open your eyes slowly.
And just become aware of the sounds around the room,
Around yourself,
If it's noise,
If it's voices and just welcome yourself back and to this reality of life.
Thank yourself for making time to do this practice.
Take another deep breath.
And I hope you have a lovely day.
Thank you.
