Hello and welcome to your practice.
Today we will focus on a heart-based gratitude meditation.
The intention of this meditation is to reflect on what's already in your life that brings you joy.
In times of uncertainty an attitude of gratitude can help turn down the volume of fear,
Control and unworthiness.
When we choose to perceive life through heartfelt gratitude,
Pleasant and healing emotions like acceptance,
Appreciation and self-compassion can naturally begin to flourish.
By simply appreciating our experiences,
The people and things in our lives,
A bigger sense of connection and meaning can be built with the world around us.
So take a few moments to get comfortable in a seated position that allows your spine to feel upright and supported.
Allow any movement you need in the neck,
The shoulders and the spine to ripple through until you feel ready to settle.
Now bring your awareness to your breath.
Slowly inhaling through the nose,
Slowly exhaling through the mouth.
Simply observing the quality of your breath,
The depth,
The pace.
Now as you inhale through your nose,
Sense the air touching the nostrils and cooling your throat.
On your next inhale let air fill your lungs and soften your belly.
Simply breathing,
Sensing,
Now feeling air touching nostrils,
Cooling throat,
Filling lungs,
Softening belly.
Now slowly bring your left hand to your chest,
Gently holding your heart space.
The heart is the most vital human organ.
It emanates thousands of times more energy and magnetism than the brain does.
The heart chakra is devoted to love and compassion as well as other ingredients needed to become truly loving within and outside of the self.
So take a few moments to tune into your heart's rhythm,
Ever present,
Beating your existence with every pulse.
Now dropping into this space,
Begin to reflect on an experience recently where you felt truly appreciative of something or someone.
Now starting to explore this feeling of gratitude as an embodied heartfelt experience,
Not just as an intellectual idea.
So as you reflect on this experience,
Start to visualize with all your senses,
Colors,
Smells,
Tastes.
Start to notice what's happening in your body,
Maybe your shoulders soften,
Face relaxing,
Is your belly at ease.
On your next inhale,
Feel the heart space warm as you breathe.
Do you feel lighter in that breath?
Leading you into a sense of expansion and perhaps finding peace in that expansion.
Notice how you experience gratitude just from simply recalling a memory.
Now taking a few deep,
Clearing breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Smiling and giving that memory thanks and on your next exhale letting it go.
When you feel ready,
Take a few moments to sense any movement that may be needed in the body and then open your eyes softly letting the light in.
Namaste.
