Inner Child

Let's belly breath our way to a vaction spot that will always be reachable. Join me in releasing busy thoughts while we take a journey to your safe space from childhood. Letting go of tension in the body while we travel.

Transcript

Take a moment or so to ensure that you're comfortable.

So we will use the entire time.

It goes really quickly though,

So don't get stuck on the fact that we'll be doing this for about 20 minutes or so.

And then as you first begin to settle in,

I would like to invite you to release anything I said.

So I'm sure something that I said made you start to think about an aspect of your life,

An aspect of your childhood that maybe shaped who you are today.

And I'm going to invite you to just release any expectation or anything,

Any thought surrounding that so that we can be really open for this meditation.

And then we're going to go ahead and bring our awareness into our belly,

And we're going to do some belly breathing.

So all you need to do,

Keep it real simple,

Is just inhale.

Notice that the belly will expand.

And when you exhale,

The belly releases.

So just sticking with that movement of the belly,

Just noticing the air fills the belly.

And when you exhale,

The air releases from this area.

And as you're continuing to breathe and settle into the meditation,

I want to say that you don't feel like you need to be stuck in any position.

So at any point throughout the meditation,

If you feel like you need to move,

Please do that.

And maybe also just getting a little bit of a pulse of where you are.

So for some of us,

Maybe when we're breathing,

Drawing the awareness into the belly is not requiring a lot of effort.

And that's good.

And maybe for some of us,

When we're breathing in the belly,

Our head is starting to get busy and we have to keep bringing our awareness down.

And that's just as good too.

That's just a little piece of information of what's happening for you this evening.

Even if you have been meditating for a very long time,

We all have those days or those moments where sometimes we're just a little busier inside our heads.

And maybe even the topic of any childhood work created a little bit of busyness inside of you.

So again,

Just releasing that and just reminding yourself to just breathe in the belly.

And I invite you with each exhale to let go and soften.

And that can mean physically.

So maybe with each exhale,

You just let go of any body part that feels like it's holding on or gripping.

Or maybe as you exhale,

You can even imagine as if you are breathing out any thoughts or any busyness.

And you can even just inhale and exhale and say,

Let go.

Now we're going to start to use a little bit of imagery.

I am going to invite you to transport yourself to your favorite location.

This could be a specific place that you like to vacation.

It could be maybe a hike that you always take and you love the view here.

It could be a place that you would like to visit and it's completely created in your mind.

It could even be your bed.

So a place that makes you feel safe,

A place that makes you feel calm and more like yourself.

So meaning in this place,

You can be free to be who you exactly want and know you should be.

It's a place that requires no effort.

And take a seat or lay down in this location,

Noticing any sites that you might see in front of you.

There is a reason why you're called to this place.

It could make you feel a certain way.

It could be the way that you connect to nature.

It could be just the beauty of this area or the comfortableness of this area.

Really tuning into that aspect of why this is your favorite place and feel that inside the body.

So if it's your bed,

Feel how comfy and cozy it is,

How you can just let go in this place.

If it's your favorite vacation,

Feel how in this place you have nothing to do,

Nowhere to be,

And you can just be fully present.

Does it make your breath feel smooth?

Does it make your face soften?

Do you release any shoulder tightness?

Now as you're sitting in this location or lying down in the distance,

You can begin to see a figure walking towards you.

And as the figure walks closer towards you,

You're able to recognize that it is a younger version of yourself.

What does this version of yourself look like?

Are you a very small child or a teenager?

Do you get a sense of what you're wearing?

What your hair might even look like?

What are you doing?

Does this version of yourself just come and sit down right next to you?

Are they twirling and dancing?

Are their shoulders hunched forward?

Are they looking down towards the ground?

And these are just questions.

Maybe you know some of the answers,

Maybe you don't.

And so just stick with what you might know or what you might sense.

And asking your smaller version of yourself,

What do you need?

How are you?

Maybe even questions like this start to bring up some sensations inside the body.

What do you need?

What are you to bring up some sensations inside the body?

And I invite you to sit with them.

Whenever we have sensations like this,

They're like waves.

We're not going to be stuck in this place.

And so maybe just riding the wave of that sensation,

Asking this version of yourself,

Do you need something from me?

How can I support you?

And this just might be where you stay.

Maybe you get an answer,

Maybe you don't.

Maybe you see a visualization,

Maybe it brings you to a memory.

And so for all of us,

This is going to look different.

Whatever age came to you,

Came to you for a reason.

And maybe all you do is just sit next to that version of yourself.

Maybe you just put a hand on a shoulder.

Maybe you two just sit in silence and look at the scenery.

And this is the part where I'm going to ask you to be open.

I'm going to ask you to remember why this is your favorite place and how it makes you feel inside.

And I'm going to give you some moments of silence to just see what might happen.

And it's okay if nothing happens.

Just sitting in silence and focusing on your breath is a form of meditation as well.

So you always have that belly breathing to go back to.

See if this child version of yourself wants to say anything,

Needs to ask you something,

Or if it brings you back to a memory.

We're going to take a couple more moments in this place.

And so if you feel like you need to say something to this child version of yourself,

Or do something like give them a hug,

Or dance around and twirl with them,

Remember that this place makes you feel free.

And without even overthinking it,

What would you like to do or say right now?

And thanking this version of yourself for joining you.

And acknowledging that even if this was a little difficult to do,

Perhaps you were unable to sense even an age or even answers to questions.

That's okay,

Because this could be perhaps the first time you've ever done anything like this.

I want you to stay in your favorite location as you release that younger version of yourself.

Get a sense again of how it makes you feel inside the body,

Specifically connecting to the ground in this location.

So if you're seated,

Maybe you were on the sand and you can feel that the sand comes up next to the body just a little bit.

Maybe you're outside and it's your favorite hike and you feel how strong your feet are connected to the earth as you overlook the peak.

Maybe you just lay perfectly still,

As you overlook the peak.

Maybe you just lay perfectly in your bed and feel how comfortable it is,

How soft yet supportive it is.

And then bringing yourself back to where you are presently and doing the same exact thing.

So connecting to the floor,

Connecting to a chair,

If that's what you're seated on or your bed and feeling that stable support underneath of you,

Acknowledging and feeling each point of the body that is connected to something below you.

Whether it's the soles of the feet on the ground,

Your back on a chair,

Your entire body lying down,

The heels are connected to the floor.

Noticing that some parts of the body are a little bit more connected,

Meaning that they're heavier.

And then draw your awareness to your heart space and just bringing the imagery to this space.

So your heart space is next to the physical heart.

It's right at the center of the chest.

And maybe you just draw your awareness here,

Or maybe you feel the need to place both hands on this area,

One stacked on top of the other.

Maybe it's bringing your hands to prayer,

Acknowledging we are who we are because of our experiences throughout our life,

Because of the people that surrounded us,

Because of the memories that we might have,

Even the trauma and feeling a sense of gratitude,

Gratitude for who you are right now,

Gratitude for the lovely people that surround you,

For the experiences you have gone through,

The good ones.

And even those bad ones,

Sometimes they teach us a lesson to avoid a person or to change an aspect of our lives,

Or to remind us that we are strong.

A heart of gratitude for yourself,

A heart of gratitude for taking care of yourself,

Just showing up to meditate,

Shows that you deeply care about who you are,

And send yourself love and support who you are right now,

In this present moment.

Support this person and send them a message that they might need to hear,

A message of acceptance or love,

Or of acknowledgement of how far you might have come.

A deep heart of gratitude for all of you joining this evening,

Wishing you a beautiful rest of your evening and week ahead.

From my heart center to each of yours,

Namaste.

Thank you so much.

Reviews

Feels great to show some love and support for my adolescent self. Thank you.