Heartbeats

Rather than focusing on your breath, have you ever tried to follow your pulse? You can feel it throughout your body - especially in your neck, fingers, and toes - and your heartbeat is also a great source of calm, relaxation, and self-soothing. Practice sensing the flow of blood coursing through you, and you'll be filled with ease, strength, and energy.

Transcript

In this meditation,

I invite you to stand or sit or lie down without a part of your body touching any other part any more than necessary.

Typically,

Meditations rely on breath or external stimuli as a source of focus.

Today,

We're going to attend to a part of our body over which we have no conscious control.

It's relatively easy to feel your pulse if you press a finger to your throat or a wrist.

Yet today,

We're going to try to locate our pulse in various parts of our body simply by noticing.

It's possible,

Not easy,

And it requires enough of our attention to draw us into a state of mindfulness.

As you slow down your breath,

Draw yourself even deeper into your body,

Slowing down your breath,

And often the easiest place to experience your pulse is between your throat and your heart itself.

Those arteries are very intense,

So try to notice and locate your pulse.

Maybe you can notice the gentle and rhythmic throbbing of your throat and the blood flowing to your head.

Sometimes if you can't find it,

You can just picture it steady like a metronome.

Once you find it or simply imagine it,

Gently allow it to slow down.

See if you can get your pulse to beat just a little slower.

Maybe as you attend to the beating of your heart and the flow of oxygen and nutrition in your body,

You can feel it in your forearms,

Wrists,

And in your fingertips,

The steady thrum of your pulse.

Without touching,

See if you can't notice your pulse and perhaps count.

One,

Two,

Three.

Maybe you can get the pulse to slow down.

Continuing to breathe and feed that circulatory flow.

Follow your pulse to your extremities,

Your farthest reaches of your ankle,

Achilles,

Foot and toes.

See if you can find the rhythm at that remove,

The same rhythm.

Slowing down.

Slowing down.

Continue to draw breath,

Feeding the flow of oxygen through your blood.

Continue to attend to and hear the rhythmic pulse of your heart and circulatory system.

And continue to try to slow it down with your attention.

Keep attending and slowing until the end of the meditation.

Blessings.

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