Hello and welcome.
It's Fe here and I'm here to lead you through a body awareness grounding meditation practice.
We'll start grounding with this practice with a count of 10 breaths and these breaths can be as short or as long as you like.
Perhaps you play around with trying to make it longer each time but no worries if that doesn't feel right for you.
Choose a breath that is comfortable and then we'll shift into the body awareness practice which is simply bringing awareness to each of the different parts of the body so we can develop a better connection and perhaps gain a deeper clarity or understanding of what might be in the body or settling in the body.
So let's take a comfortable position if you aren't already.
Allow your spine to be nice and tall.
Maybe you imagine a string coming from the top of your head creating a little more lift,
Creating a little more space in the body.
You can soften your eyes down and away from the screen or fully close them if that's comfortable for you.
We'll start with the counting breaths.
So emptying all the air from your lungs we'll start with an inhale for one and exhale one.
Inhale two and exhale two.
Inhale three and exhale three.
Inhale four and exhale four.
Inhale five and exhale five.
Inhale six and exhale six.
Inhale seven and exhale seven.
Inhale eight and exhale eight.
Inhale nine and exhale nine.
Inhale ten and exhale ten.
Take a moment now to notice what the breath feels like in the body and as best as you can try and do this without judgment,
Without thinking that something is right or wrong.
There is no right or wrong way to do this practice.
Maybe you notice where the breath is the strongest in the body.
Is it in the nostrils,
The throat or chest?
Or maybe you feel it all the way in the belly.
Shifting now your awareness into the body and how it feels against the surface that you're sitting on.
Is the weight evenly distributed?
What sensations do you notice as your feet touch the ground?
Is it warm or cool?
Or maybe the ground is soft,
Fuzzy.
Now shift that awareness to the crown of the head.
What sensations do you notice?
Is there a tingling?
Is there a tingling or a buzz?
Lightness maybe.
Or maybe you notice no sensations there and that's okay as well.
And if your mind begins to wander during this practice,
Know that it's okay.
Know that you aren't doing anything wrong in this practice.
So when you notice your mind beginning to wander to your to-do lists or other things that might be popping up,
Simply acknowledge it and see what else might be there.
Simply acknowledge it and return back to noticing the sensations of the body.
Moving that awareness now down to the forehead and brow.
Maybe you notice the temperature of the air on the skin or maybe you notice some tension.
Or maybe the simple neutral feeling of the skin.
Whatever you can feel,
Feel.
Tend to it with mindfulness.
Tend to it with a gentle curiosity.
Gentle curiosity leads to discovery,
Maybe even deeper understanding.
Notice the sensation and become curious of what's there.
Move your awareness down to the cheeks and the jaw.
Are you holding any tension there?
Are you clenching?
What do you feel?
Moving through the body like this,
Rest your awareness gently observing what you can physically feel.
Tune in to the feeling at the nostrils and upper lip.
What sensations do you notice?
Most likely you're noticing an inhale and an exhale.
Maybe the temperature of the inhales are cooler than the temperature of the exhales as they leave the nostrils.
Now moving down into the mouth,
Bringing your attention to the tongue,
Your lips,
Your teeth.
What do you notice?
Where is the tongue resting?
What's the sensation of the saliva?
Is there any movement in your mouth?
Continue to move through the upper body like this.
You shift your awareness slowly through the neck and out the shoulders and down to the hands.
Rest with each part of the body for a few moments,
Simply noticing with that gentle curiosity what is present.
Bring the awareness back up to the shoulder blades and move down the back.
Feel the posture of the spine,
The muscles in the back,
And any expansion or contraction as the body breathes.
Maybe you even start to imagine yourself as a curious explorer,
Someone stepping into this body and just noticing and observing what's here.
Now tune in.
Tune in to the front of the torso,
Starting at the chest.
What do you feel?
Maybe you feel the clothes touching your skin or the breath moving in your body.
As you continue down into the abdomen and stomach,
Maybe you begin to notice feelings related to hunger or digestion.
Bring your attention now down to the pelvis and hips,
Down the legs,
Into the feet.
Notice the points of contact,
The feelings in the joints,
Maybe any tension that might arise,
Maybe you notice a tingling.
When you reach the tips of the toes,
Expand your awareness to the entire body as a whole.
From head to toe,
Sit with the experience of having a body,
A body that does so much for us,
That requires not much in return.
The body is a beautiful and incredible organism that acts and feels on its own and communicates that to us once we are still enough,
Quiet enough,
Curious enough to see.
Start to deepen the breath and take a full breath in through the nose,
Filling all the way up.
And then through an open mouth,
Exhale,
Releasing,
Letting everything go.
Slowly begin to wiggle the fingers and the toes,
Bringing your awareness back into this present moment,
Back into the physical space you are in.
And when you're ready,
Blinking the eyes open,
Welcoming yourself back into the physical space.
Thank you for meditating with me.
Namaste.
