Bodylove: A Gratitude Meditation

A gentle, mindful exploration of your glorious human body to support you to remember and honour its many blessings. We'll journey through the breath, the heart, and use the loving touch of our hands to find reverence. Find deep, authentic gratitude for your physical form, and for your whole life.

Transcript

I ask that you find a comfortable position to sit or lie down in and really take some time to make sure your body is completely comfortable.

Add cushions or blankets and make a cozy nest for yourself where you feel fully supported,

Fully safe to let go.

You might want to pause me here so that you can take the time to do that and prepare a devotional space for this sacred time for yourself.

Once your nest is ready,

Take a couple of moments just to notice if you need to rearrange your clothes or your limbs.

Turn your attention now to your natural breath and follow it for a cycle or two in and out.

And at the bottom of your next exhale,

Pause and consciously decide to soften and expand your inhale,

Making it long and soft and slow,

Like the rise of a wave.

And as you exhale,

Open your mouth just slightly so it can fall out as a sigh.

Ahhhhhh.

And continue in this pattern of soft,

Full inhales and releasing exhales out the mouth,

Just cascading down like so much water.

Notice on your exhale how the body can sink a little more,

Dropping and softening into this nest you've built for yourself.

Taking two more of these cycles,

Soft inhale,

Nice and slow and releasing sighs.

Whole body heavy,

Dropped,

Releasing tension.

Returning to your natural breath,

Allow your mind to get swept up in this more subtle movement,

These rolling hills and valleys,

The ebb and flow.

These tides of energy entering and leaving.

And taking a moment to really notice the quality of the air as it enters your body.

Does it have a smell?

Perhaps it has a taste.

Notice its temperature and anything else that strikes you.

Becoming aware of the magic of your body,

Your body that is keeping you alive,

Keeping you safe.

Always supporting you moment to moment.

The unconscious miracle of the breath.

And turning your attention now to the quality of the air as it leaves your body.

What has changed?

How is the texture,

The flavour,

The colour different as the energy leaves your body?

Again choosing gratitude for the transformation that has occurred,

How your body knows to take what it needs and leave what it doesn't.

Finding as much gratitude as feels authentic to you.

And if you find your mind begins to wonder just lovingly,

Just lovingly bringing it back to the in-breath and the out-breath.

This beautiful mirror of the cycle of a day,

Of a year,

Of a lifetime round and round every moment you are alive.

Maybe you can also in your stillness begin to notice the many different movements necessary in your body to keep you here comfortable in stillness.

Perhaps you can feel the movement of your blood,

The beat of your heart.

Oxygen,

Nutrients,

Healing,

Flowing through your blood stream to where they are needed.

And flushing out all of that which no longer serves as they leave.

Every second of every day and every night.

Your heart,

A beating vital miracle.

Your body is wired to be always looking out for you.

Always making your life better.

How your body's purpose,

Your body's joy in this life is to offer you good things.

Finding a moment to sink into gratitude for your beating heart.

For the blood carrying good things,

Removing old stagnant things.

Giving thanks for that whole system and it's care.

Now notice your feet.

Tune into the sensation of toes.

Spaces between the toes.

Soles of feet.

Ankle bones.

Heels.

The gentle slope of your arches.

And just delight in wriggling your toes,

Maybe just imperceptibly.

Notice how the rest of your body responds when you do.

And as you tune into your feet,

Your feet that have carried you all the way through your life.

Just become aware of the millions of steps these feet have taken for you.

The different ground they have walked on,

The different shoes they have worn.

And all the places that you have seen together.

All the adventures they have carried you through.

Notice how sensitive and how alive your feet are after all they have done for you.

All the places they have been.

How your feet are always doing their best to carry you safely through life.

As well as give you vital information about your surroundings so that you can make good choices.

Marvelling at the divine design of these human feet.

Maybe your feet have danced,

Hopped,

Played.

Maybe your feet have caught you at times when you were about to fall.

Finding a way to give thanks to these feet.

To honour them.

And then turning attention to hands.

Feeling into palms.

The lines on your palms and at your knuckles.

The unique imprint of your human hands.

Sensation of fingertips.

Nail beds.

Thumbs.

Spaces between the fingers.

Backs of hands.

Wrist bones.

Remembering all the marvellous things that your hands can do.

Perhaps you remember being small.

Playing somewhere.

Perhaps in nature.

The woods.

A garden.

A beach.

How you used your hands to navigate the world.

How many textures they have touched.

Remembering how expressive your hands can be when words fail you.

These marvellous tools you can use to relate to the world and to the people you care about.

How you can use them to bring your self-comfort in your times of need.

How they catch you if you slip.

And how this simple act of extending a hand to touch and hold another can feel so profound.

So touching.

So very loving.

Appreciating all of the nuance that is available through that simple act.

Your hands are one of the most complex things nature has made.

And you get to use them anytime you like.

Often without conscious thought.

This body.

Your body is a walking miracle.

And I invite you,

If it feels good,

To take a moment to place your hands somewhere on your body and just feel the weight of them.

If that doesn't feel good or isn't possible for you right now,

The invitation is to imagine the weight of your hands where you would like them to be.

And then physically or energetically notice how your body responds to this touch.

Your touch.

The simple weight of a hand.

Becoming aware of how your hands can be active agents of wellbeing and care.

Leaning into the sensation of that contact.

Notice if and how your breath responds to it.

How your breath wants to move.

The divine orchestra of your different systems into playing with one another.

And now allow your hands to become receptive rather than active.

Softening the muscle tone,

Allowing fingers to curl slightly,

Palms to dome.

So that your hands may listen to the shape and texture of your body.

Wherever they find themselves.

How much can these hands take in?

What can they feel?

What sensation are you aware of in your palms and in your fingertips?

Can you track the rhythm of your breath in your body through your hands?

The invitation here is to imagine filling your hands with gratitude and warmth.

If it feels good,

Imagining that gratitude and warmth as a beautiful bright light.

And pouring that into the part of the body that they are in contact with.

Allowing those points of contact to flood your body,

Your whole body with sincere reverence,

Appreciation and thanks.

If it feels good,

Check in with your hands to see if they want to move a little in order to better appreciate your body.

If that's the case,

Move slowly,

Lazily.

Slower perhaps than you think you want to move.

Over your skin or over your clothes so that you can take in the different sensations.

Find a new place for your hands to pause and appreciate.

And first,

Noticing how your body responds to the touch of your hands.

Notice the weight,

The sensation of them.

How does this part of your body respond to your touch?

Hands offering love.

And then gradually inviting your hands to become responsive.

Opening them to listen,

To feel.

What does this part of your body have to say to your hands?

What can your hands appreciate here?

What feels good?

And how can your hands make their reverence to this part of the body known clearly?

My invitation for the next couple of minutes is to continue gently,

Tenderly moving your hands over the surface of your body,

Pausing here and there to feel,

To soften and to give thanks.

It may be harder to feel gratitude for certain parts of your body and that's okay.

You do not need to go any further than feels authentic to you right now,

Today.

It may be that your hands want to stay here a little longer to appreciate this place.

And that's fine too.

Okay.

Enjoying,

Appreciating,

Honoring yourself in all your states.

All your textures.

Keeping your breath in focus.

Noticing how that rhythm is affected by this gentle,

Loving touch.

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And beginning to slow this movement down,

Slowly,

Slowly.

To full stillness.

Noticing where your hands feel drawn to land as we bring this exploration to a close.

From this place of stillness,

Breathe gratitude into your whole body.

Through the crown of your head,

Down all your limbs,

Filling up with the light of your own care and loving kindness.

Perhaps you can feel a swell of love here.

And perhaps not.

Whatever level of care you feel for yourself in this moment,

The invitation is to give yourself permission to experience and enjoy it fully.

To remember that this body of yours is a miracle.

A living,

Breathing,

Feeling miracle.

Whose sole purpose,

Whose deep joy is to carry you through life as safely as it can.

You can stay here and bathe in the sensation of self appreciation for as long as you like.

Alternatively,

You can begin to wake your body back up nice and gently.

Patiently,

Slowly,

As you would with one of nature's most beautiful,

Complex and delicate creations.

Bringing the body back online.

Deepening your breath.

And slowly,

Slowly beginning to blink your eyes open.

Perhaps allowing yourself to take a stretch.

Some wiggles or wriggles of your extremities,

Whatever your body requires to bring itself back into this next phase of your day.

Thank you for practicing with me today.

Know that I am wishing you well from my heart to yours,

Whoever and wherever you are.