Hiya,
It's Breitain here.
I thought I would do a special little self-care meditation with you this evening.
I am just about to go and teach one of my online Zoom classes.
Maybe you're just about to sit down and watch TV.
This is a kind of practice that you can do anywhere,
Anytime,
Any place.
It literally takes two minutes and it can just give you that wee reset.
I'm picking up that everybody's a wee bit stressed at the minute.
A little bit of anxiety.
There's lots of things we can do.
This is just one simple practice.
I like to call it hand cream meditation.
If you would like to try this hand cream meditation,
Go and find a hand cream.
Maybe you have a favourite one.
We usually have quite a few.
If you're like me,
I have one hand cream everywhere.
Find one that you really like the smell of.
I'll give you a minute to do that if you haven't got that already.
Go and find your hand cream.
Sit down nice and comfortably,
Maybe on your sofa,
Somewhere you can just relax.
Then pump out a couple of bits of the hand cream and start to smooth it into your hands.
Really get in touch with the feeling of the hand cream as it goes through every part of the hands.
You might even like,
If you're wearing a t-shirt,
You might like to rub it into the elbows,
Up along the forearm.
Smooth that hand cream in.
When you're doing that you might actually start to smell it as well.
Start to get some of the fragrance.
This is a nice frankincense one.
So then I want you to take one hand and hold the thumb of the other hand and pull along and then go to the next finger and pull along.
So basically we're massaging each finger of the hand right until we get to the little finger.
Then we're going to swap over and do the other hand.
Massaging every finger.
This is actually a nice thing to do for someone else.
I remember I used to give my grandad hand massage when he had arthritis in his hands.
So you can just massage your hands,
Going from the base of the hand all the way to the tip.
And really bring all your awareness and concentration into doing this practice.
Not thinking about anything else,
Just enjoying the feeling and the pressure of the hands.
You might like to actually pinch the edges of the nails.
So holding,
Squeezing the thumb and forefinger of one hand under the finger of another hand,
Squeezing it and then pulling it.
Just bring in some circulation to the fingertips.
Go into each hand.
So it's a bit like hand reflexology.
Or you could try pulling each finger.
I used to do this with my dad.
See how many girlfriends he had.
He didn't have any of course but sometimes you would get that sound.
You know that popping sound?
I don't have any girlfriends because mine is popping.
But you might hear me pop.
That's all good.
You should pull each finger.
So maybe bring both hands together and slide them up and down each other.
It's quite an essential experience.
Pretend you're in a hand cream advert.
Showing off the hands,
Getting the feeling for it.
You've really rubbed the hand cream in.
I want you to bring both hands and put them,
Cup them together over the face.
So basically you're covering your nose and your mouth.
And then breathe.
Take three big deep breaths.
In,
Out.
Savor that fragrance.
Enjoy breathing and smelling the fragrance of the hand cream.
Now I want you to rub your hands together.
Start rubbing them together and make a sound.
Get them nice and warm.
And when the hands are nice and warm I want you to place the palms of the hands cupped over the eyes.
Allow the heat from the hands to bathe and soothe and comfort the eyes.
And breathe.
Two or three breaths like this.
And then just allow the fingers to trail slowly down the face.
If you have more time you can start to massage your face as well.
Maybe get some face cream.
Have a spa evening.
Start to give yourself a little facial massage.
So that's it.
Hand cream meditation.
Just a few moments of your day.
It doesn't take a lot.
You don't have to learn how to meditate.
Just stop,
Pause,
Breathe and enjoy the fragrance of the hand cream.
