Hi,
This is Dr.
Adam Bledsoe,
And welcome to the re-centering in the body meditation,
Which is so helpful for a little rest in the middle of the day,
For drifting off to sleep,
Or to simply come back into your body after stress or symptoms have caused you to get stuck in your head or the anxiety.
This is an opportunity to sort of come back home.
We're going to use the idea of re-centering through our height,
Through our width,
And through our depth to come back into that body.
But let's first begin by either lying down or sitting.
If you're lying down,
Feel free to get a blanket and allow the pillows to be there to support you.
If you're seated,
I invite you to choose a blanket,
Or just simply find a posture where your feet are grounded,
And your hips are in the chair,
And your spine is comfortably straight and long.
We begin by simply arriving in this moment,
And by taking inventory of all that we bring to this moment.
All the sounds and noises that are also around us at this moment,
We don't need them to be gone.
We can welcome them.
Notice all the sounds that are sort of further away,
Some that are a little closer,
And some that are coming from very close up,
Like your breath or your heartbeat,
And allow your body now to come to rest,
Letting your stomach soften,
Your thighs relax,
And your hips relax.
Any extra holding you can let go of now.
Soften your face.
Allow there to be a little space between your back molars.
Let your ears slide down your head gently as you relax your scalp.
If you haven't already,
Close your eyes.
I invite you to do that if you like,
Allowing yourself to begin to settle,
Noticing the surface below you,
Allowing it to come up and support you,
Your body letting go a little more,
Giving over to the surface that's there to do the work for you now.
Begin by feeling the line between yourself and that surface that supports you,
All the contact points,
All the places where you're grounding to the earth,
Feeling the perimeter of your body where it's touching the air or the clothing,
Noticing your body breathing for you,
The inhale and the exhale,
Simply allowing that to occur.
And now I'd like you to take a moment and I'd like you to notice the full length or height of your body.
Allow your spine to come to a relaxed version of straight,
Your legs straighten out below you,
Your head over your shoulders,
Your neck long.
Noticing the full height of your body from your feet all the way up to your head and then centering yourself in the middle of that.
Where do you feel your center right now?
Paying attention to the full length of your body and gently affirming to yourself,
Reminding yourself this is your full height.
You can say that out loud or in your head.
This is my full height.
This is my full height.
Taking a moment to embody the full length of yourself.
Now bringing yourself into the width of your body,
You can rock your body a little bit back and forth to begin to feel the parameters of your width from ankle to ankle,
Knee to knee,
Hip to hip,
Side body to side body,
Shoulder to shoulder,
Fingertips to fingertips,
And ear to ear.
Allow yourself to be centered in your width.
Allow yourself to fall into the surface that supports you evenly side to side.
Feel your breath expand outward with your inhale and contract towards the midline with the exhale.
As you relax and your eyes soften,
You may feel your temples broaden slightly,
Your ears widen,
The jaw widen,
Your body open and relaxed.
You may affirm out loud or in your mind,
This is my full width.
This is my full width.
Taking a moment now to really embody the full width that you've been given.
This is yours.
Now we're coming into our depth and looking to center within the front to back parameter of our body.
Often we have less sensors and less nerve endings in the back of our body,
So we can often perceive it a little less.
So take a moment and begin there.
Feel the full presence of your back,
All the skin on the backside of the body,
Shoulders,
Waist,
Hips,
Legs,
Lower legs,
Back of your arms,
Back of your head and neck.
Bring your mind and your attention and awareness into the full back part of your body.
And then feeling the whole front of your body,
Face right down the midline,
The front of the body,
To the hips and the thighs,
Lower legs and feet,
Front of the arms and the palms of the hands.
Paying attention to all the space in between and finding your center between the front and the back.
Taking a moment to center yourself there and you can affirm in your mind or out loud,
This is the full depth of my body.
This is the full depth of my body.
This is your domain.
Take a moment to inhabit that a little more right now.
And now can you bring all three dimensions into your awareness?
Your full length,
Your full width and your full depth.
Can you embody and inhabit all the way to the edges?
This is all yours.
This was your gift to inhabit,
To live in,
Holding all three dimensions in your mind's attention and awareness as you affirm,
This is my body.
This is my body.
Notice right now how relaxed your breathing may have softened.
Your muscles may have opened wide,
Become warm.
You may notice you're swallowing more deeply,
The softness in muscles.
You may notice your mind operating at a different intensity,
A little more softly.
You may hear gurgles from your abdomen.
Simply noticing what sensation pops up for you most,
Becoming aware of how you're feeling right now,
What emotion is most predominant and just noticing that.
And if your intention is to drift off to sleep,
Then you can do that now.
If your intention is to finish this rest and continue on with your day,
Then you become aware of where your body meets the external environment at the edges.
Bring some motion into the toes and fingers with your next inhalation.
Allow your body to wiggle as you breathe in and out,
And then slowly allowing your eyes to open.
They may gently fix on something of interest,
Something that might bring a small amount of joy or intrigue,
Paying attention to what it feels like to inhabit your full body as you've come back into connection with it while being awake at this level of activation,
Taking your time to decide when you're ready to move and to re-engage,
And at what pace and in how you'd like to do it.
Whenever you're ready,
You can begin to move into your day again.
My name is Dr.
Adam Bledsoe,
And thanks so much for meditating with me.
