Hi,
This is Andrea.
I'll be guiding you through today's meditation.
This meditation will have a focus on thinking versus sensing.
It would be especially helpful for people who might be perhaps hiding behind their thinking and cognitive thinking functions a bit more than listening to their sense feelings and sensations in the body that might be giving them different guidance.
So just find a place to feel comfortable.
You can take some time to adjust the body so that you're sitting comfortably or lying down,
Finding a space where you won't be disturbed.
Coming into the practice with an open mind,
Thinking about something perhaps that's been on your mind,
Decision or something coming up that you might feel you need some guidance to get through it and using this opportunity to use your own inner guidance rather than looking to others or outside.
So as you relax,
Just notice the body becoming settled,
Noticing any tension in the body.
Just doing a quick scan from the head through the neck and shoulders,
Down the arms,
Through the hands and fingers and thumbs.
And then just taking a moment to adjust the upper body if you need to so that you can rest the head back gently,
Propping the head with cushions or the chair,
The bed,
Allowing yourself the luxury of not having to hold up the head with your neck.
And then just becoming aware of the back and the contact of the back with the surface.
Just noticing the upper trunk,
Relaxing and releasing,
Noticing any tension as you go through.
The middle section of the body,
Down to the hips and pelvis,
Just noticing this area of the body fully supported,
Feeling held,
Just letting the hips and pelvis sink into the surface,
Relaxing and releasing,
Noticing the back and the contact of the back to the surface,
Relaxing and releasing,
Noticing the head resting gently,
Relaxing and releasing,
Letting go of any tension in the neck and shoulders as you relax and release.
And then just noticing the head,
Just noticing from the hips and pelvis,
The legs and the big muscles in the top part of the legs from the backside through the top legs,
The front side to the knees.
And then just noticing the knees,
Releasing any tension,
Becoming aware of the lower part of the legs,
Muscles in the lower part of the legs,
Relaxing and releasing to the ankles,
Top of the feet,
Through the feet,
All the way to the toes,
Just releasing any tension.
And just bringing your attention to your thoughts.
I may have slowed down at this point or you might have redirected your attention to the sensations in the body,
Just noticing the tension anywhere you feel it or if you're feeling fully relaxed,
Sort of in a state of a blank slate.
I'm taking a moment to then bring to mind something that's been on your mind and simply noticing as soon as that comes to mind,
Any change in the body,
Any sensations or feelings,
Perhaps even images or thoughts associated with that thing on your mind.
And trying not to define it too much,
But just getting a sense of it globally,
Letting it sit with you,
Just noticing its presence,
Bringing it to mind and noticing any feelings you're having.
What comes up?
Where is it in the body?
What's the body trying to tell you?
Is it sitting okay?
Is there some sort of connection to some other feeling?
Memory?
Often it's not even related,
But it can bring up things that suddenly connect.
Things in our subconscious that we're not even aware of.
Allowing yourself some time to sit with this thing on your mind.
Just noticing if it needs more attention.
What is it that seems to need attention about it?
If you notice yourself starting to go through that cognitive process,
Justifying around it or thinking around it,
Notice if you are trying to make something work with your mind.
When it doesn't seem to fit or if it seems to gel,
Feel just right.
Notice any resistance to different aspects of the thing on your mind.
Just letting yourself sense them,
But also through an objective lens,
View them from the outside a little bit.
Just notice that if you are trying to make something work that doesn't seem to fit or trying to justify something,
It's not sitting right with you.
Notice where that's coming from.
Perhaps there's another memory in your past that fits the sensation in your body.
Perhaps it points to an event,
A person,
A place.
Think back to that memory if that's the case.
And maybe in this way you can think about how you might like to act differently in this space with this new thing that's been on your mind.
Using the clues from sensations,
They are giving you some direction,
Validating that your feelings are never wrong.
Imagining what it would be like if this thing in your mind was all okay.
What if it was all working out?
How would that feel?
What would it look like?
What would it present like?
Are there some different conditions where it works?
Perhaps there's some small way that it could change.
I'm just going through this exercise noticing back and forth from this thing that's been on your mind to the felt sensations in the body,
Any feelings that are coming up,
Any connections to memories.
Allowing yourself to sit within the sense,
Taking time to feel into sensations,
Noticing where they're coming from.
What are they trying to tell you?
Imagine these sensations like your friends,
They have insight.
What are they trying to convey in this situation?
Just notice your response.
If you find yourself becoming emotional in any way,
You might want to also sit with that feeling of why that's happening.
And again,
The why being sort of looking for any connection through the sensation of a previous memory that might be triggering that connection to something else.
So many times people fall into patterns in their life.
And throughout their lives,
They can continue to make decisions within these patterns of being and wonder why they keep making these decisions.
But never really stopping to notice how they can break the pattern or notice how they could do something differently or make a different choice.
It's easier just to fall into what's next without really contemplating it too much,
Or justifying it,
Making it work because we think somehow things will work out.
Even when we know deep down inside,
Sometimes unconsciously that this won't be the case.
I'm just trusting that inner wisdom,
Even if it seems like the best course of action for right now.
In the long run,
How will it serve you?
So if you can take a moment to project into the future,
This thing that's on your mind,
Perhaps it's not even going to be important in a couple weeks or a couple months or even a year or more.
How significant is this?
Sometimes just questioning that can ease tension or it can ease sort of ginormousness of what we feel like we're sitting in at the moment and shrink it down to something that we can deal with or tackle in this moment.
And if all this time you've brought this thing that's been on your mind to your awareness,
And it's felt okay,
Then this is also a sign and you can relish in this luxurious space of feeling good,
Feeling the resonance and what you're going to choose or how you go about something or this thing that you're sitting with.
I'm just noticing that and this meditation is not about solving things or telling you what to do.
This meditation is for you to explore your sensing self and use the information from your sensations to guide you.
I'm just noticing the body now in space and you can take all the time you want to explore this thing that's been on your mind further or you can bring it to a close for right now,
Letting these thoughts,
These images or sensations go back to where they came from,
Bringing awareness back to your relaxed self in the space that you're in,
Knowing that you're in a space that's safe and comfortable right now,
That you don't have to do anything right this minute,
And just bringing awareness back to your body,
Sensations of feeling the surface,
Feeling the air in the room,
Maybe the noises from inside the room or outside,
Noticing yourself coming back awake and alert into the real world,
Ready to move forward the best you can for the rest of today or tonight and I hope that you found this helpful,
Insightful,
Resourceful.
Come back again if you need to.
I look forward to meeting you next time.
