Heart Opening Gratitude Practice

A gentle practice that opens your heart through cultivating gratitude. Slow your body and mind, through gentle movement and breath to become present. Once in the present moment, you will use gratitude to connect to your heart space. Allowing you to open up, feel joy and love, and radiate it out into the space that surrounds you.

Transcript

Thank you so much for joining me for this meditation.

Before we begin,

I invite you to get comfortable.

So that could be a cushion on the floor or a supportive chair,

Just somewhere that you can be seated upright and feeling open and supported throughout the practice.

Number one is always finding comfort when we practice so that it's something that we can look forward to,

Something that we wanna return to every day.

And once you're comfortably seated,

Let's just take a moment to start to ground our bodies here.

We are whole beings,

Mind,

Body,

And spirit.

And so it's really important that we begin to connect all of these parts of ourselves in our meditation practice.

So I'll invite you now just to gently roll your shoulders forward a few times,

And then slowly roll your shoulders down,

Breathing in and out while you do.

And then when you're ready,

You can reverse that direction,

Gently rolling your shoulders up towards your ears and letting them fall down and away.

And then slowly rolling your shoulders down,

Slowing our bodies down.

And take a deep breath in.

And when you exhale,

Just let your shoulders fall down away from your ears and settle in comfortably.

I'll invite you here to just gently begin to circle your head to the right,

Slow and steady,

Just to unwind our neck.

Start to release some of that tension,

Remembering to breathe.

And when you're ready,

You can switch directions and just gently circle your head to the left,

Breathing in and out.

And when you're ready,

With your next breath,

Just allow your head to come back to a neutral place.

Take a breath in and gently let it go.

And now I invite you to let your eyes gently drift closed.

And just breathe here,

Just noticing your breath,

Just as it is.

Is it fast or slow?

Is it shallow or deep?

Just watching it.

Just feeling your chest rise and fall.

And now let's bring some more attention and intention to our breath.

So I just want you to follow my count.

Breathing in to the count of five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

And exhaling for six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And breathing in for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And breathing out for six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Breathing in for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And exhaling for six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And just repeat this pattern on your own for a few moments.

Breathing in for five and exhaling for six.

Just allowing the inhale.

And allowing the exhale.

And now in the space of a more deep breath,

Just letting the exhale.

And breathing in for six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And exhaling for six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And now in the space of a more relaxed body and mind,

Let's begin to tap into our heart space.

Our heart is so intelligent.

It carries so much wisdom,

But sometimes we can forget that.

We can become a little disconnected from that space within us.

To fully feel joy and love.

And so now I just invite you to feel yourself breathing in and out of your heart space.

And if it helps,

You can even just gently place a hand over your heart,

Physically connecting to the space,

Breathing in and out through this heart space,

Placing your attention here.

Feeling with each breath in that it can expand and become spacious and open.

And with each exhale,

Letting go of any resistance,

Any constriction.

And now let's open and connect with our hearts even more by cultivating gratitude.

Gratitude is like a key that allows us to release and open up our hearts to truly feel joy and love.

And so now I invite you to feel yourself breathing in and out of your heart space.

And if it helps,

You can even just gently place a hand over your heart space.

Gratitude is like a key that allows us to release and open up our hearts to truly feel the love and joy that we were meant to feel.

So to start,

Let's just ask ourselves,

Who am I grateful for?

Who am I grateful for?

And just let that list run.

The list of all those people in your life that you're grateful for.

No thinking,

Just feel this list come up from your heart space.

Just let it flow.

Who am I grateful for?

Who am I grateful for?

And now I invite you to ask yourself the question,

What am I grateful for?

What am I grateful for?

And just list all of the places and the things that bring you joy and love.

And just let that list run,

Rising from your heart,

Not from your mind.

And now blessed with this list of gratitude,

I'd like for you to pick just one thing from that list,

One person or one thing.

And I want you to bring it into your heart and just let it rest here.

Bringing your attention to that one thing or person that you're grateful for.

And I want you to allow yourself to lean into the feelings that arise when you place your attention on this one person or thing.

Allow those heart centered feelings of love,

Joy and kindness to just rise and swell.

Feel the light and warmth it generates in your heart.

And now just rest in this feeling of warmth and light.

You can gently release whatever was holding your attention and just allow yourself to feel the sense of peace and warmth and light that's radiating from your heart space.

And with each inhale,

Feel that light in your heart space grow and expand,

Slowly spreading through your body,

A warm and welcome wave of light.

And with each inhale,

Feel it radiate and shine just a little brighter.

Inhaling,

Feeling it fully fill your body,

Allowing the light to fully fill your form from head to toe.

And on your next inhale,

Feel how it can radiate outside of your body,

That light and that warmth surrounding you entirely in its warm glow.

And just rest gently in this place of warmth and light and comfort.

And in this space,

Let's sink a little deeper into our meditation.

We use the Sanskrit mantra,

Aham prema.

Aham prema.

I am divine love.

My true nature is that of unconditional love.

Just silently repeat the mantra to yourself.

And if you find you drift away to a thought or sound or feeling,

That's OK.

Just gently drift back to the mantra,

Using it as your anchor.

This practice will just be a gentle drifting back and forth,

Aham prema.

I'll watch the time.

And when you hear my voice,

Just sit gently with your eyes closed.

Aham prema.

I am divine love.

I am that which I seek.

I radiate beautifully perfect love.

I am all love.

You can let go of the mantra.

Let all the stillness and silence settle in.

And as you rest in this open-hearted space,

For today,

I'd like you to set the intention to practice true,

Authentic self-love by treating yourself with respect and care,

Honoring your body through joyful movement,

Eating nourishing foods,

Resting,

Spending time in nature,

Meditating,

Laughing,

And always remembering to be tender and gentle with yourself.

I invite you now to bring your palms together and place them in front of your heart.

And just gently bow over your own heart.

Thanking yourself for taking this time for you today.

Reviews

Great guidance. I will do again. Love the mantra

Beautiful thank you 🙏🏽 ♥️

Wonderful. Thank you.

Lovey, many thanks. 🌷

A simple, beautifully spoken and paced guided meditation. Thank you.

♥️♥️♥️beautiful. Thank you 💜💜💜

Beautiful & exactly what I needed. Thank you so much💖🦋✨

Spectacular! Thank you

Divinely conduction! Namaste 🙏🏽

I love your clarity, Danielle, both in practice and voice quality. My heart opened immediately with your guidance. Thank you. 🙏

Awesome way to start the day! Thank you!

Beautiful!
Thank You
Namaste
❤️
🙏🏽

This is so wonderful. Thanx for sharing. Namaste.

Thank you so much! Beautiful meditation 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Thank you for beeing here trying to ease my pain from sorrow🙏Promise myself to practice this mantra more often! Perhaps it could help in the long run! So hard to let go of all that meant so much to me.......