Good morning.
Welcome to this Monday's Meditation on the Lawn,
Offered by the University of Virginia.
I'm John Schorling,
The director of the University of Virginia Mindfulness Center.
Today we're going to be doing an appreciation practice.
Intentionally cultivating positive emotions like appreciation or gratitude can be very powerful.
These practices can help regulate our stress levels.
They up-regulate the parasympathetic or relaxation nervous system and down-regulate the sympathetic or stress nervous system.
So let's begin now.
Finding a comfortable position,
Sitting in a chair,
Sitting upright but not stiff,
Sitting on a cushion,
Also cultivating an upright,
Dignified posture.
Allowing the eyes to close if you're comfortable doing so.
Keeping them open and just gazing softly in front of you if you prefer.
Now bringing attention to the whole body and the whole body sitting,
Noticing the space occupied by the body,
The weight of the body,
And the points of contact of the feet with the floor,
The back of the legs,
Of the chair or cushion.
Noticing the overall state of the body.
Is there any tension present that you can identify?
Any tightness?
Bringing awareness to the face and the jaw and allowing them to soften.
Standing down through the neck and shoulders,
Releasing any tension.
Relaxing the arms,
The hands,
The legs and the feet.
Settling in to being right here,
Right now.
Using a posture of relaxed attentiveness.
Relaxing not to fall asleep but to fall awake.
Relaxing to your present moment experience,
What's arising right now?
Noticing the activity of the mind.
Is the mind active,
Thinking,
Planning?
Or is the mind more settled?
A lot of thoughts are arising.
Just acknowledging them,
Letting them go.
Allowing them to drift by like clouds in the sky.
Bringing awareness now to the sensations of breathing.
Allowing the flow of air into and out of the body.
Allowing the breath to flow naturally.
Noticing to control it or to change it.
Just noticing the sensations of breathing in and breathing out.
And when the mind wanders,
As it will do inevitably,
As soon as you've noticed that it's wandered,
It's disengaging and guiding the attention back to the sensations of breathing.
Now following the sensations of breathing into the chest,
Into the region of the heart,
The center left side of the chest.
Breathing into this area,
Noticing if there are any sensations present in the region of the heart.
Breathing into this heart space and breathing out.
And as you do this,
Bringing to mind someone or some place that you really appreciate.
You feel gratitude for,
Bring to mind a person or a pet,
Some special place.
Holding this image in your mind,
You continue to breathe in and breathe out.
As you hold this image in your mind,
Someone or some place that you really appreciate,
Noticing if there's any felt sense of appreciation that's present,
Especially in the region of the heart.
You may notice particular sensations,
You may not.
Just continuing to hold this image in your mind.
Breathing in and breathing out,
Holding an image,
Someone,
Some place you really appreciate.
Breathing into the region of the heart,
Breathing out,
Noticing any felt sense of appreciation.
Now breathing in again,
And as you breathe out,
Letting go of this image.
Breathing in again,
Breathing out,
Letting go of any residual of the image you've been holding in your mind.
Starting to follow the sensations of breathing.
Then checking in,
Your present moment experience in the state of the body now.
Breathing in awareness.
You follow the flow of air into and out of the body.
Following the breath.
Noticing when the mind wanders and guiding it back.
Now taking in a few deeper breaths,
Allowing the lungs to fill,
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Emptying the lungs.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Taking in one last deep in breath,
Allowing the lungs to fill fully.
Breathing out,
Emptying the lungs completely.
Breathing in once more,
Opening the eyes if they've been closed as we end this meditation.
So we did two brief meditations this morning that can be practiced anytime.
The first was brief acknowledgement and noticing of tension in the body and intentionally letting it go,
Settling in to being present.
And that's something we can do anytime.
It only takes a few minutes to scanning through the body,
Releasing or letting go of tension.
Noticing the breath for a few in breaths and out breaths.
And then we practiced a brief appreciation meditation of bringing to mind someone or someplace that we appreciate,
Noticing any felt sense of appreciation while breathing in to the region of the heart.
As I mentioned,
Both of these can help regulate our stress levels,
Downregulate the sympathetic or stress nervous system and upregulate the parasympathetic or relaxation nervous system.
As I said,
They're simple.
They can be practiced anytime.
So I'd like to thank everyone who joined this morning.
Hope you will join us again for Meditation on the Lawn next Monday.
So take care and have a good day.
