Welcome.
I invite you to find a quiet space for this meditation.
Either lying down or seated.
Your hands can be resting in your lap or out at your sides.
Your eyes can gently gaze ahead of you,
Or you might choose to close them.
Imagine a bubble around you.
You can even give it a color if that's helpful.
Outside the bubble are all the decisions and stresses.
Things that need to be done.
And on the inside,
You're providing yourself a quiet moment.
For contemplation.
To notice simply.
Physical sensations.
Emotions and thoughts.
Without judgment.
If it brings you peace to imagine that there's the universe or God or any supporter surrounding you around that bubble,
Feel free to bring in anything that gives you comfort.
We begin by slowly breathing in and breathing out.
If possible,
You're breathing in and out through your nose.
For some people.
Imagining an ocean wave helps them center.
Inhale,
The wave goes up.
Exhale,
The wave rolls out.
Allow yourself to relax a little deeper with each exhale.
Sometimes it's helpful to let out a sigh.
If you feel you're carrying any tension.
And give yourself space to allow your breathing to become more fluid.
Sometimes when we're stressed,
We might find ourselves holding our breath.
Or maybe the breath feels stagnant in some way.
So gently breathing in.
And breathing out.
The first thing we do is become aware.
The qualities of our breath.
We may notice simply.
Our belly and chest rise and fall as we breathe.
We may notice the sound of the airflow in our head,
Almost like an ocean.
We may feel the airflow in our throat as we breathe in and out.
We may even notice the cooling sensation on our nostrils as we inhale.
And the warming as we exhale.
In the first phase of this exercise.
We begin to gently soften.
And relax our body.
Noticing any subtle physical sensations.
So we gently start at the top of our head.
Relaxing our hair and scalp.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Relaxing our face.
Unclenching our jaw.
Allowing our shoulders to gently be lowered away from our ears.
Feeling a gentleness in our neck.
Notice how our arms feel a little heavier.
As they relax downward.
Relaxing through our chest and belly Relaxing through our thighs,
Down through our toes.
With each exhale,
Imagine letting go and releasing any physical tension in our body.
As we do this,
We take a moment.
To notice if there are any areas that still feel a little tense.
Imagine we're breathing healing,
Life-giving oxygen into those areas.
And with each exhale,
Allowing them to relax.
In this moment of presence.
We imagine we're gently scanning our body head to toe from the inside.
Becoming aware of any physical,
Internal sensations.
Becoming aware of external sensations,
Such as feeling the weight of our body in our chair or our hands resting in our lap.
Become aware of your body in space.
As you breathe in and as you breathe out.
Notice the sensations and the sounds around you.
If your eyes are closed,
You might hear some external sounds.
You might feel sensations such as if there's air flowing or if it's very warm.
We accept all these things as part of the experience.
And simply breathe.
In this next phase.
We begin to become aware of any emotional states.
Sometimes it's easy for people to name their emotions.
Sometimes it's more of a challenge.
So we free ourselves from judgment of what we find or don't find.
Honoring that all feelings and emotions are valid.
So take this time to gently explore your emotional state.
If it makes sense to name the emotion or emotions,
Feel free.
Otherwise,
We gently observe them with curiosity.
Honoring that we have emotions,
But we are not our emotions.
We're not judging the emotion as good or bad.
We're not judging ourselves for having them.
We simply breathe with softness and acceptance.
Next.
.
.
We begin to become aware of the thoughts floating in our mind.
For some of you,
The thoughts have been going this whole time.
For others,
You might only now become aware of them.
Simply notice the thoughts.
If it is helpful.
You can label them.
Such as This is my to-do list.
These are my fearful thoughts.
This is me ruminating.
Notice the thoughts that surface.
Not judging the thought or yourself for having them.
Reminding yourself.
I am not my thoughts.
I am having thoughts.
We may notice as these thoughts surface that new emotions arise.
Because many thoughts lead to new emotions.
And we remind ourselves,
We can have these thoughts,
We can have these emotions.
We may notice physical changes in our body as we have these thoughts and emotions.
But we do not have to act on them.
We can observe and honor and process.
Reminding ourselves again.
I am not my thoughts,
I am having thoughts.
I am not my emotions.
I am having emotions.
My body experiences different sensations.
And I honor that.
If it brings you peace.
Notice any thoughts that you'd like to perhaps release or let go of.
I want you to imagine as if There's a balloon in front of you.
One for each thought.
And this balloon is a helium balloon.
And it could be a thought of.
A to-do list.
A judgment thought.
Whatever it is.
Imagine the thought is on this balloon.
You can even imagine that maybe there are words written on the balloon with the thought.
Tied to this balloon could be an emotion.
So without struggle or strain.
If you notice any of these balloon thoughts.
Tied to emotions.
That are ready to float away.
Gently allow them.
To float off into the distance.
You when you're ready.
Gently guide yourself back to your breath.
Simply breathing in and breathing out.
Showing yourself self-compassion Showing yourself love and acceptance honoring all thoughts,
Emotions,
And physical sensations.
As part of this divine experience?
And part of your magnificent self.
So while you are not your thoughts,
Your emotions,
Or even your physical body,
You transcend that.
Yet you can honor this body,
These thoughts,
These emotions.
As part of.
Your magnificent experience on Earth.
And remind yourself.
How magnificent you are.
Thank you for joining me.
