Hi there,
This is Brie and Janae and I'm going to lead us through a grounding practice.
If you're not already sitting,
Go ahead and just find a comfortable seat.
You can sit cross-legged on the floor,
In a chair,
On a couch,
Anywhere that feels good to you.
You can also lie down.
There's no particular posture that you need to use.
If you are sitting,
I would just recommend that you sit with an upright posture,
Shoulders slightly back,
Down and relaxed.
Just a position that you can feel comfortable in for the duration of our meditation.
Let's go ahead and begin by allowing our eyelids to just soften and close.
Let's just start to tune into the body,
Bringing our awareness to the breath.
Breathing in through the nose for five seconds.
Breathing out through the nose or the mouth for five seconds.
Breathing in through the nose.
Breathing out through the nose or the mouth.
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
Just allowing the breath to kind of take its own pacing.
Just feeling our presence in this moment as we breathe.
On the in-breath,
Feeling the expansion of our belly as air fills up our lungs and the deflation of the belly as air leaves the body.
Oftentimes in life,
We get so caught up in thoughts and our feelings about our thoughts and feelings about situations that we're living through that we kind of end up living in only our head.
Going round and round in thoughts.
Thoughts about the past,
What happened,
What we could have done different,
How we could have changed something.
Or thoughts about the future,
What will happen,
Being unsure of what could happen,
Worrying.
We can never stop thoughts and that is certainly not what we want to do in this practice.
But what we do want to do is to bring our attention back into the present moment.
My favorite definition of mindfulness comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn.
He says that mindfulness is paying attention in a particular way,
On purpose,
In the present moment and non-judgmentally.
So as we're here in this space that we're in,
In this very present moment,
We connect back into the body again.
We bring our awareness,
Our attention to the breath,
Even just for a minute,
Even just for a second,
We come into the present moment.
And the more consistently that we can do that for ourselves,
We can tune back into the self with what our direct experience is right now.
As you continue to breathe,
Perhaps just notice any sensations that you feel in your body.
Maybe wiggle your toes just a little bit,
Just noticing that they're there.
Maybe giving a slight flex of the calves.
Maybe flexing your thighs,
Your upper legs,
Your bum,
Just checking back in with the body.
Maybe give a little squeeze to your core midsection,
Your abdominals.
Notice the rise and fall of the chest as you breathe.
Notice any sensations in your shoulders and down through your arms,
Your biceps,
Your forearms and out through the hands.
Moving up to the throat,
Just noticing,
Are there any sensations here?
And then up through the face,
Perhaps you feel the air tingling on your skin and the very top of the head.
And as you're breathing,
Just imagine a cord of light that connects.
See a seed in this cord of light.
It starts as a seed in the heart center.
You can see this seed growing into the cord of light down,
Down,
Down through your midsection,
Out through your root chakra,
Down through the legs,
Out through the bottom of your feet,
Down into the earth,
Anchoring you into the earth.
Let's come back up to the heart space and let's see that seed grow and that cord of light move upward,
Up through the chest,
The throat and out the top of the head and connecting you into the heavens.
Just imagining here that with every breath that you take,
This cord of light,
Perhaps it's a golden white light or any color that suits you in this moment,
This cord of light becomes stronger and more full with each in-breath and each out-breath.
As you become connected with all of the parts of your body again,
You become connected to yourself in this moment,
Here and now.
Exercising judgment that may come up in your thoughts.
Maybe in this moment we can call upon the texture of softness to be present with us.
Maybe softening any thoughts that come in.
If our energy has perhaps felt a bit chaotic or unsettled,
Just inviting in this sense of softening,
Inviting in this sense of softness as in kindness towards the self.
Really allowing this kindness and this softness to flood through your entire being.
Seeing the softness,
Feeling the softness becoming a part of your body,
Your sensations,
Your emotions and your thoughts.
Just bringing this softness into this very moment of your experience.
When you feel your mind start to wander or you start to feel maybe distracted,
Just bring your attention back to the breath,
Back to sensations that may be in your body,
Even if they're uncomfortable,
Even if the thoughts are uncomfortable that you're having.
Allowing yourself to be present with all that is for you in this second,
In this moment.
We bring in this softness,
Can also think of it as compassion,
That kindness towards the self.
We can teach ourselves that even in uncomfortability,
We can stay present with the self.
When we can come into the fullness of our being in the present moment,
We can often find that we have the ability to stay present with ourselves in a compassionate way,
Even in uncomfortable moments,
In difficult moments.
Finding presence in the body allows us to find our center again,
That place of calm within us that is not just our conditioning,
But is our whole self that is that wise loving part of our self.
From this place,
We can make decisions with greater clarity,
With greater love,
And with greater authenticity for what is our truth.
Throughout your day,
If you need a little bit of grounding,
You can go outside barefoot,
Walk on the earth,
And just breathe.
You can consider placing a hand on your heart.
You can bring your other hand to your abdomen and feel that physical support of you and your being with your body supporting your own body,
Supporting your own self.
Maybe just do a couple rounds of breathing in five seconds through the nose,
Five seconds out through the nose or mouth.
Just observe how breathing and giving yourself that physical support of a hand on the heart and a hand on the abdomen can help bring you back into the body,
Into the present moment,
Maybe into a greater energetic space of ease,
Peace,
And calm,
And groundedness.
When you're ready,
You can offer a gesture of physical movement,
Maybe moving your shoulders,
Maybe wiggling your toes or your fingers,
And allowing your eyes to open as you're ready to.
Moving back into whatever physical space that you're in,
With your eyes open in the presence of whatever room you're in,
Maybe you're outside,
And just think of something that you're grateful for.
It can be something about yourself.
It can be something in your life that you're grateful for.
And then if you'd like to join me,
Let's bring our hands to prayer hands in front of our chest and let's take a little bow together.
Thank you for joining me in this grounding practice.
