Heal The Body

This meditation begins by introducing the idea that energy flows where attention goes, setting the tone for a practice focused on mindful awareness and healing. It guides you to connect with the breath, exploring how it moves through the front, sides, and back of the body — forming a cylinder of energy that expands and contracts. You're then invited to bring attention to a part of the body in need of healing, using breath and visualization to send loving, supportive energy to that area. Emotional awareness is woven in, encouraging you to connect physical sensations with feelings like grief, anxiety, or fear, and to balance them with opposite energies like contentment or gratitude. The meditation ends at the heart center, inviting loving-kindness for yourself and extending that love outward to someone in need.

Transcript

Is there's one thing that I wanted to say before we began the meditation,

And it is that energy flows,

Where attention goes.

So I'm going to kind of break down that quote as to what it means because this is going to be the premise of our meditation today.

And so if you think about energy is going to go to where your attention goes.

So let's just say that I'm going to bring my attention into my shoulder.

Just by doing that,

You're going to begin to bring energy in to that area.

And why do we care about that?

Because sometimes within our body,

There can be stagnation.

There could be even pain.

And the reason that there could be pain,

Because maybe there is a bit of stagnation or maybe there's energy that's not flowing in that specific area.

And so we're going to work with that.

We're going to bring our attention to specific parts of the body to just kind of bring energy into that area for a bit of healing.

So I just want to give you a little bit of an outline of that before we begin the class.

And then a little intro again of the beginning of the class,

We're going to start with our breath.

So the breath also is really healing energetically wise as well.

And so we're going to go ahead and begin in any position that feels good for you.

Of course,

We want to be as comfortable as we possibly can while still feeling upright.

While still feeling supported.

So ensuring that your back feels supported in whatever position that you might be in.

And even if you're laying down,

Perhaps putting something underneath the knees,

That always helps with lower back pain as well.

And then I always want to say that whether you would like to close the eyes or not,

I want you to always follow what feels safe for you to do.

One of the big keys of meditation is to calm the nervous system.

But if we don't feel safe,

That second step,

That calming of the nervous system is not going to happen.

And so if you want to bring your eyes to a soft gaze,

Keep them slightly open.

If that makes you feel more safe,

Then go ahead and do that.

As I said earlier,

We're going to begin with the breath.

I just want you to begin to notice that as you breathe,

When you begin to inhale,

There's going to be movement of the body.

And I'm going to ask you to bring your awareness specifically to the front part of the body.

And we're going to kind of travel around and notice what we notice with the breath.

But just first start in the front.

It's a little bit easier to feel in my opinion.

This beginning part of our meditation is really just getting to know our breath.

Don't feel like you need to exaggerate or elongate the way that you're breathing in this present moment.

It's just really being open and curious as to what your breath is doing.

For some of us,

Maybe we feel the inhale,

The lifting in the chest.

And there's a bit of that fall,

The letting go as we exhale.

Maybe you can get a sense that the breath is a little bit longer than the chest.

Meaning maybe perhaps you feel it in the center of the torso or above the belly button area.

And again,

This will be the actual physical movement.

The inhale will lift these parts of the body.

And for some of us,

Our breath might even be longer.

We might feel it below the belly button.

Perhaps if we are very aware of our pelvic floor,

We can even feel the breath moving in this area.

These are the physical parts of the body that move with the breath.

I'm going to give you another moment or so just to be with your breath,

Really being exploratory and open.

And you're not critiquing yourself.

It's really just a sense of getting to know your breathing in this moment.

There's nothing wrong that you're doing.

Now we're going to begin to notice the breath on the right and the left side of the body.

Maybe perhaps your arms are resting near the torso.

And as you inhale,

You'll begin to feel the expansion laterally as your ribs open.

Maybe you feel them getting closer to the arms if your arms are close enough.

You don't feel like you need to move,

Though.

And specifically,

Really bringing your awareness to the side ribs.

Noticing that just like the front of the body,

There is this movement with the inhale.

There's an expansion happening right to left.

Now I ask you,

When you first start inhaling,

Does one side of the body fill up first?

And this might not be true for you,

Or it might be.

And the more curious and the more you're aware of your breath,

Do you notice that that first side that fills up,

Does it actually open and expand more than the other side?

And again,

We're not critiquing,

We're not criticizing.

It's nice to get this information about ourselves if this is happening for you.

Or it's even nice to know that you equally breathe on your right and left side.

And then the last place we'll bring our awareness is to the back of the body.

If you're laying down and resting,

Sometimes it's a bit easier because there's something that the body is connected to.

So when you inhale,

You might become more connected.

But if you're seated,

Still noticing.

Is there this open expansion with the inhale?

It's just like the front of the body,

It's just like the side of the body,

It's a lift.

I must note,

There are definitely different positions that make it a little bit more accessible,

A little bit easier to feel the breath in the body,

In the back of the body.

And so just noticing whatever you notice.

Now we're going to put all that together.

This whole cylinder of the torso.

As you inhale,

Can you feel the expansion of that cylinder widen,

Open,

Expand?

And as you exhale the cylinder becomes smaller.

Resets back to your starting point.

As the breath leaves the body.

And we're going to stay here for just a couple moments of silence before we move on.

Just by breathing like this.

The energy is flowing within this cylinder.

Any parts of stagnation in this area are being moved just by breathing.

Some of us can see energy.

Some of us might just intuitively know.

Some of us are just at the very beginning.

Maybe even just getting to know what energy might mean.

And I invite you to bring in that trust.

The trust that the breath is healing.

And if for no other reason,

It calms your central nervous system.

Now I'm going to ask you to bring up a part of the physical body that could use some healing.

It could use a little extra energy there.

Maybe it's your weak ankle.

That always seems to sprain.

Maybe it's your belly area because you had a baby recently.

When I was doing this meditation earlier,

I went to this spot.

Maybe it's your neck.

You always just feel like you're holding your neck,

You're gripping your neck.

Maybe it's your neck.

Just choose the first place.

Bring your awareness,

Specifically to that point.

And just by doing this we're bringing energy here.

Imagine as if there is this loving sense of energy surrounding this area.

And maybe to you that looks like a sparkling little light.

Maybe there's a color.

Your visualizations are perfectly right.

And then we're going to use the breath just like we did in the cylinder of the torso.

I want you to imagine as if you're going to direct the breath to that area,

Even if it's outside of the cylinder where the breath actually goes.

And there's going to be this inhale.

The inhale is going to travel to that space.

There will be a lift.

Use your imagery.

And then as you exhale imagine as if anything in this space just leaves the body.

As you release the breath.

The inhale,

The loving supportive energy.

The exhale,

The release.

Nurturing this part of the body.

And notice any visuals that may come along.

Maybe it's you see darkness leave.

Maybe you feel healing.

Don't feel like you always have to stick to exactly what I'm saying.

Let your imagery be your own.

We're going to spend just a little bit longer in this area.

Now I'm going to ask you the question.

Has there been an emotion recently that needs a little bit of support?

Has there been a bit of sadness or grief?

Have you had some anxiety?

Have you had some anxiety?

And I asked you,

Is there a part of the body that this is associated with?

Don't question it.

Whatever intuitively comes up.

That is the part we'll work with.

And if you don't know.

Just choose any part.

That's an option.

And if you feel like you need to go back to the original part of the body that we worked with,

That physical area,

That's also an option.

I want you to bring your awareness to now this either new or same part of the body.

This part of the body.

You get a bit of a sense of as to the quality of this part of the body.

This maybe shows up in colors or feelings or just intuitively knowing.

And we're going to do the same thing.

Draw your awareness here.

Fill it with love and support.

Maybe even fill it with the exact opposite emotion.

So if it's grief.

That would be contentment.

It's in Chinese medicine.

Emotion.

The opposite of fear is gratitude.

Again,

This is in the Chinese medicine modality.

So you can you can go with that or you can choose something your own anxiety might be grounded.

And trusting that just bringing your awareness to this space.

You're healing it just by doing that.

You're bringing energy there,

You're filling it with this emotion with this law with this light.

And trust that these positive emotions also have energy associated with them.

And then we're going to breathe into it just like we did the last place,

Or maybe,

Again,

You're back here again.

The inhale,

The expansion the support the love.

The exhale there's a release,

A letting go a movement of any stagnation.

Or debris in that area.

Maybe say with the visualization of the breath,

Maybe it transforms into something new.

Trust wherever these visualizations may take you.

We're going to spend another moment or so in this area.

Inhale.

As we bring our meditation to a closing.

I mean to the heart center.

Maybe perhaps that was already one of your places.

Center of the chest.

This is the energy center associated with love.

Love on all levels.

Fill this space with a kind message,

A message of law of acknowledgement of gratitude.

And trust that your words have energy.

And as I said that this area is all about love.

So I'm going to ask you to direct love to someone in which you love dearly.

One who might need a little extra love right now.

Just think of sending them a kind of message,

A message of gratitude,

A message of motivation or support.

It is always a honor to practice with you.

From my heart center to yours.

Namaste.