Honoring The Body

An enlightening practice to help you appreciate the gift of the body you've been given. This meditation will help you find joy for the ability to use your body to serve yourself and others. You will be guided through different parts of your body noticing what discomfort is not present, and appreciating the ease that is. Towards the end, you will practice Loving-Kindness directed toward the body. In the first few minutes, Lou shares the inspiration for the practice.

Transcript

Hello welcome this is Lew and if you've practiced with me before you know that many of the practices are inspired by my own experiences or my misadventures at times and this one is definitely one of them and I have a tendency I could be a little bit unmindful with things let's say maybe even a little bit arrogant in certain ways and I caught myself doing this pretty recently where I was having a conversation with a friend who was a yoga teacher and we were talking about the differences in teaching meditation or teaching yoga and I was just expressing my dislike of teaching a lot of physical yoga it's not really kind of my highest passion but I do do some classes and I was saying these words to him which now looking back was really really dumb and very unmindful of me to say and what I was saying to him was you know what I just really don't care about the body that much I just I don't care about teaching it I don't care about the way that it moves it's just not my passion and I was saying this with really just uh the word I got this just keep saying is unmindful just a really unmindful way and shortly after that I think it was like a week or so I was playing tennis with a friend and I sprained my ankle and once I sprained my ankle that night when I was lying in this excruciating pain that I could not get out of I really cared about my body and I realized how dumb the things that I was saying and how much I was taking for granted and please my situation is the tiniest thing of spraining an ankle compared to so many other things with the body but just in that just in that pain of a night I forgot what real pain felt like and I realized my shortcomings in this and I these things are cliche but it brought me back to that appreciation for oh right yeah it's really awesome when we don't have pain that's really great and it reminds me of something I think Thich Nhat Hanh would say and something like when we have a toothache we know that not having a toothache is a wonderful thing but when we don't have a toothache we don't really think of the unhappiness that is not present and I think that's a lot of places in our day in our life and with the body so this practice is really inspired by that and just noticing how our body's feeling noticing what's not there and then giving our body the love that we know that it deserves so go ahead and begin to find your space find your breath find your connecting point to the floor to your chair begin to lengthen the sides of your body and soften through your face and your shoulders your thighs and we're putting kind of some good amount of attention on the body as we move through but first as we attune with our breathing as we find our own rhythm and expansion and contraction we'll connect with the kind of the other fact that that we have this body but we are not this body and this body is a vehicle for something so much greater so with each breath see if you can acknowledge and release into that greater part of you the eye behind the eye and allowing us to ground in that space and the part that is greater than our bag of bones and just a few more here opening to the energies of the body that we can't see we can touch or that we can't feel and go ahead and we're gonna take a breath in and soften and let that go and just because we're not our bodies doesn't mean that we shouldn't revere our bodies and Lord knows that many of us have spent enough time doing the opposite with drinking and drugs and the whole slew of things that I'm sure many of us don't even remember and then it brings with it this sense of humility and surrendering that reminds us that you know we are not in control right this body started from seemingly nothing and grew into where it is today I'm just acknowledging that is is a is a miracle and no matter how young or old we are or get our body has its limits so today we're gonna show love and appreciation and reverence for what is here and what is not here in your own body whether we love it or not whether we wish it was the body we had 20 years ago or not we can still find appreciation for this vehicle that we find ourselves in so I'm calling this more of a not a body scan but a body appreciation so go ahead and let's start to just be aware of our forehead and the top of the head sides of the head and as always allowing the breath to to be your guiding light through our practice be that home base as we as we move and as you start to notice different parts of your head I'd like you to acknowledge if there's anything that's not there and I could you acknowledge if there is maybe not a headache and there might be and that's part of also breathing and softening into that but if there's not a headache maybe remembering a time you did have a headache and wish it was like it is now appreciating different parts of of your head and how it feels and moving down into your eyes or your nose noticing if there's ever been an issue in these areas maybe you are a glasses wearer maybe you've had poor sight maybe appreciating the site that is still there noticing how the nose feels how the breath feels through the nose and if it's clear you're recognizing a time that you had a cold and wish it was like this again we're just acknowledging what's not there and appreciation excuse me appreciating what is moving down into your mouth moving to the into the neck shoulders checking in with how they feel what is not present what is not present.

I'm going through upper chest and down through the chest area.

I'm actually going to come through the side of your body,

The side of the torso.

Noticing how it feels,

Noticing if you're able to sit up straight and just the length that you're able to create.

Maybe finding that appreciation,

Noticing if there's any pain when you sit in your sides.

And then we're going to actually bring it back up to your back,

The top of your back,

Middle of your back.

And maybe you do suffer with back pain,

Chronic or not.

Or maybe you once have and just checking in what's not there.

What can you find appreciation for?

And seeing if we can find just peace in that,

Peace in what's not there.

And go ahead and move up back into the shoulders and let's move and scan through the arms.

Triceps,

Biceps,

Elbows,

Forearms,

You'll be noticing if you've ever broken an arm in your past and what that was like.

How it felt to be in a sling or a cast for a little while.

And maybe appreciating what is not there,

That there is no cast.

And moving down into your hands and your fingers.

And these tools really that we are blessed with,

Each finger allowing us to do so much.

Maybe you've had pain here in the past or arthritis.

Maybe you feel it now,

Maybe you don't.

Maybe you're finding peace in that and if you do,

Breathing and seeing if you can still send some love for what you're able to do and release.

And if you've lost maybe a finger or have some sort of different dismemberment in your hand,

Still acknowledging yourself for moving through.

And we're going to come back up the hands and down and through the torso again into your abdomen and the belly.

Connecting and maybe noticing if there was ever a time that you had stomach ache or even worse,

Food poisoning.

And how all you wanted to do was be able to digest and feel okay and comfort.

Do you feel that here?

And moving down now to your tailbone,

Down to your seat,

Your hips,

Thighs,

What is not present.

Down to your knees,

Acknowledging if you've ever had some sort of surgery or any sort of issues.

And again if you have,

We're just breathing and appreciating and releasing maybe any tension that's there.

And if we're not,

We're just finding peace in the health of this part of our body.

And down into the calves and shins,

How are they feeling?

And down into the ankles which at this moment are super relevant to me and my appreciation as I have gotten back on my feet.

And at one point that night all I wanted was to be out of pain and get some sleep.

And to find peace in the health of the ankles,

Of our feet,

Our toes.

And the fact that we can walk and do the things that we want and love to do.

And now checking in with the whole body.

Giving experience as a whole,

How was the body physically?

How are you feeling?

And what's not present that could be?

And I'm going to give us all just a minute to sit and to breathe and to notice.

Just a little bit of silence to appreciate the body as a whole.

And let's take a breath in together.

And let that go.

And for this last portion of our practice,

We're going to do a loving kindness practice but instead of to ourselves as a whole,

We're really just going to focus on ourselves as our bodies.

We're really going to use that key word of body to just change that awareness a little bit.

So bringing the awareness on again the whole body and repeating these words to yourself out loud or into your head or you can just listen as I speak them.

May my body be healthy.

May my body be strong.

May my body be easeful.

And may my body support my dreams.

Let's do that one more time.

May my body be healthy.

May my body be strong.

May my body be easeful.

May my body support my dreams.

And now thinking of someone in your life that may be going through an injury or a physical illness and you'd like to wish these same things upon.

And thinking a moment to bring this person into your mind,

Into your awareness and into your heart.

And saying these words to them as it feels right for you.

May your body be healthy.

May your body be strong.

May your body be easeful.

May your body support your dreams.

And maybe picking one of those to repeat to this person that feels like more what they need.

And then finally bringing all of us,

All beings everywhere into our awareness,

Our friends,

Our pets,

Our loved ones,

Even our enemies.

May every body be healthy.

May every body be strong.

May every body be easeful.

May every body support their dreams.

And start to come back into this your space.

And maybe for a moment again reconnecting with that limitless part of yourself.

And the part that is not the body.

However the part that we can trust and the part that actually can really heal our body,

Heal our minds,

Can heal our misguided youth and all of the blocks that we've put over our hearts.

Whenever you feel ready you can go ahead and start to open your eyes.

And come back into your room.

As always I thank you so much for practicing with me.

And I hope this helps you honor and appreciate your body wherever it is at this moment.

However better it can be,

However skinnier it should be,

Whatever the shoulds that we make up,

Just appreciating what is and what it's allowing us to do and to create.

And so I hope you use your body for good.

And I hope you continue to share your light and your love with those that you come across.

As always much love and I'll see you again soon.

Reviews

Transformative

I loved everything about this meditation! Beautiful and just perfect 👌 🙏

Very nice. Surprisingly good.

Thank you for the body appreciation/ scanning, being able to see what is there and what is not. A healing for me but with being able to send it out to others, Namaste

So nice, thank you.

I love the love and kindness at the end for the body!

One of the best “body scan” meditations I’ve done 🙂 I do think there was a missed opportunity in skipping the reproductive organs as it’s a common “in need” of healing area for a lot of people. But otherwise perfect. Thanks as always 🙏🏾

Lobes it! Thank you!

Great meditation experience. Many thanks.

Wonderful. Gratitude. 🙏

Recovering from an injury that’s currently keeping me from my “normal” life... this was exactly what I needed to hear today to feel encouraged. Thank you !

Thank you for this beautiful way of honoring and appreciating all that my body does to support me.

Another thoughtful & honest guidance from you. After recovering from a life threatening illness and as I get older, I have been greatful for the miracles my body performs for me on a daily basis; from a heartbeat to putting one foot in front of the other to really seeing and hearing everything around me. And when something hurts, I respect that too. Listen to your body! Thanks again Lou 🙏🏻🌺

Thank you for sharing your light and love. Very nice.

Really a beautiful and helpful perspective ! Many thanks!!

I just finished a sweet slow gentle yoga practice outside, and the background of cicadas and wind accompanied this practice as I let my body settle in to the earth. Just the perfect meditation for a waning moon in Taurus on a late summer day, Lou! Thank you!

Dear Lou, thank you for this practice. I appreciate the wisdom of noticing and feeling grateful. I longed for a longer silence to allow your words to marinate in my body. Sending good wishes with gratitude.

💖every lovely, gentle word - thank you💖

As always, this was very nice! I hope it helps many people. I do appreciate my body but what I also appreciate is how all the small pieces work together. I work with a personal trainer and whenever I have a small ache or pain, it’s usually because I have not been using some other body part in the best way so something else compensates. I’ve learned that I can improve the way I do some very basic things, like standing and walking, things I totally took for granted. And the brain and nervous system plays a big part in all of this too so it makes me see what an incredible creation I am and how finely tuned all the parts must be to work together. Our bodies are pretty amazing!

I hope many people will enjoy the message of this meditation as much as I did! Glad your ankle is feeling better!