Sprinkle Your Body With Love - LIVE Talk & Practice 05-18-22

This is a recording of (part of) Femke's LIVE talk & practise, in which she addresses the harshness with which we sometimes treat our bodies. She also explains how we can take a different approach to look at our bodies. To let you experience for yourself what she means, Femke then guides you in a meditation to sprinkle your body with love and to ignite appreciation for the magnificent vehicle your body is.
Femke invites you to join her weekly Lives, the topics can be found in Femke's profile.

Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome to my special talk this Wednesday evening.

My name is Femke Bucker.

I'm obviously one of the meditation teachers here on Inside Timer.

So every talk that I have is always about a distinct topic and this topic has always something to do with you,

You in your world and especially has to do with you being kind to yourself.

Because I think at the core of everything I teach,

Whether it is just teaching meditation or whether it is teaching self-gentleness or authentic leadership or cultivating tolerance,

At the core of everything stands gentle self-empowerment.

And with gentle self-empowerment I do not mean specifically self-empowerment in a really harsh and demanding way.

No,

I mean in a gentle way.

In a way where you put yourself central,

You're kind to yourself,

You're gentle to yourself.

So that's also the theme of today.

Sprinkle your body with kindness.

And that is exactly what we're going to do in a few minutes.

Let me just see who is here and by all means let me know why does your body need to be sprinkled with kindness.

So I'll just give it a few more minutes for everyone to roll in and then I will start,

I will first hold a brief talk about why we actually should sprinkle our bodies with kindness.

I think you can understand already by yourself but let's just you know sum it up for ourselves and then actually do it.

Because I can speak a lot and generally I do but I also believe that your own experience is so much more valuable than whatever I can tell you.

So my talk is always let's say meant as a pointer.

That we're all pointing towards the same direction,

Understanding what we are at and then I guide you in a meditation so that you can actually do it yourself.

Because when I speak about gentle self-empowerment I just want to convey to everybody that the moment that you start to be kind and gentle and loving towards yourself then your perspective shifts,

Your world changes and interactions with others can change so much more for the better and that is the self-empowerment that I'm speaking about.

And of course our bodies are a big part of that because we are residing in our bodies.

A last look at the comments of today.

Rose is here because you know it will be good.

Thank you Rose,

Lovely and helpful.

Been asking too much of my body and some sprinkling would be good.

Yay!

In the right place today Rose.

Thank you for sharing that.

All right let's start.

So why should we sprinkle our bodies with kindness,

With love,

With gentleness?

Okay the title is kindness but I mean actually everything good that you can think of.

Well for starters most people including myself are pretty harsh on our bodies.

You know we basically take it for granted that we are residing in our bodies.

We are our bodies but you know generally we also experience that we can be more than our bodies just by thinking or experiencing that our thoughts can go outside of our bodies.

You know well there are a lot of philosophical debates around that let's not get into that.

But basically whatever we are thinking about the things that we have to do,

About things that we want,

About things that we expect,

When we compare ourselves with others or with a societal ideal,

We can be pretty harsh about our bodies.

For instance we feel we are tired but we don't take the time to rest.

We don't go to bed earlier.

We don't say no to certain demands or maybe just some fun things that we would like to do because our bodies are tired.

We prefer to do whatever our head is telling us that we should do,

That we have to do or that we want to do but very often at the expense of our body.

I think also that a lot of people and that's not it's not going for everyone but a lot of people look with a pretty critical eye at our own bodies.

When we look at our bodies we always think that we should have had curly hair when it's straight,

We should have had brown eyes when they're blue,

We should have had a tan skin while we are white.

We would have liked to be skinnier,

We would like to be fatter,

We would like to have different toes.

Whatever is going on we can be so critical about our own bodies.

And that's not completely,

You know,

You might know this already but you're not completely to blame for this because we're all conditioned within our societies and fact is in our societies and it's never been different than it is now,

The way we look,

The way we appear has very often been in specific focus.

Luckily last year there has been some shift in this.

We start to accept more diversity not just among ourselves as people but also in how our bodies look and with body I just don't mean the shape of your body but it can also be,

You know,

All the little elements.

When we are ill or sick whether it's just a flu or something more severe we get angry at our bodies.

It feels like they betrayed us and when it's just a flu we don't wait till we feel completely energized and fit again no and we feel a little bit better we force ourselves back to work,

Back to our duties,

Back to our responsibilities.

Well I can hear already your question now or your remark yes Femke you're right but we do have to make a living,

We do have jobs,

We do have kids or parents or other responsibilities.

We cannot always just listen to what our body needs and to go with that.

When I wake up in the morning I'm really tired,

I still have to get up because my work is waiting,

Because I have meetings and if I don't show up I don't earn a living.

Maybe not immediately but in the end I will,

You know,

They will accuse me of slacking etc etc.

All those kind of thoughts and I understand that and I'm not pleading for always following everything that your body is telling you if you would listen.

What I'm telling you is that it is important to become aware of the power of your body,

How magnificent it is when you think about it that your heart just beats.

You don't have to do anything for your heart to make sure that the oxygen that you breathe in you don't have to do anything for breathing in the oxygen.

Your lungs are working.

If you don't want to breathe,

You will breathe.

Your body,

Your lungs will force you to breathe.

The oxygen will come in and your heart will beat and will make sure that all the cells are getting the oxygen and all the other good stuff in our blood that has to go to all those cells and you don't have to do something for that.

This is just happening.

Just that in itself in itself is already really really magnificent.

Something,

You know,

To just sometimes realize how beautiful our bodies are working.

So if you ever cut yourself,

You know,

And you have some blood and you have a little wound,

Have you ever noticed how quickly that wound is recovering?

How quickly the bleeding stops?

How quickly it starts to heal?

And it's in just,

You know,

A little bit of time it is healed and you cannot really see what happened.

Such a magnificent working from your body and I understand that we cannot always be aware of that power but to appreciate it from time to time can change our relationship with our bodies and how we look at it.

The same goes with being really judgmental about the way we look.

Whether it's indeed about the form of your lips or the form of your body or whether you have enough muscles or not,

That doesn't matter so much.

You know,

Whenever you notice that you are having really judgmental thoughts about your body then take a look at those thoughts and really ask yourself if these thoughts are fair,

You know,

With whom you are comparing and why you are comparing.

For instance,

Very often women when they get into the middle age,

Like I am,

I'm 50 years old,

You know,

And then we look back at how we once were and then we see younger women and we see things that we used to have and we don't have it anymore,

We would like to have it,

Things like that,

You know.

There is a quality in getting really into your body and appreciating every element of your body because you've been here in your body already for many years.

It has served you,

It has nourished you,

It has brought you to places,

It has made sure that you can hear,

You can see,

You can smell,

You can taste,

You can feel,

You can experience,

You can hold people,

You can,

If you ever had kids,

As a woman you had a kid growing inside of you,

You know,

All these things your body was doing for you.

So I'm just scratching the surface of a variety of topics that our bodies might trigger and it might be something else for one and something else for another,

But that doesn't matter.

What I want to convey today is that our body sometimes needs some extra attention from us and it needs some sprinkling of kindness,

Some sprinkling of love because it just simply deserves it.

And the beautiful thing is when you become aware of that and you start to sprinkle your body with kindness from time to time,

Then there comes a shift in your head.

That feeling of appreciation that you start to cultivate over time,

Slowly,

Slowly changes something in the way how you look at yourself,

How you treat yourself and then you can start to take your body more seriously when it's telling you I need some rest,

I just need a break of five minutes,

I need to go to sleep early today.

And even in the moment that you are aware of what your body needs and you cannot actually give it right then in the moment,

For instance you just had a newborn and you really want to sleep but yeah your newborn is awake and it's really hard to go to sleep,

Then you know promise yourself that whenever the opportunity arises you will take care of that sleep or you will make an arrangement that you will get that sleep.

And I think that's the most important part that I want to tell you.

So what we're going to do,

I'm going to guide you in a meditation today where you are going to sprinkle your body with love and then we will end it with a beautiful dash or maybe a little bit more than a dash of appreciation for your body.

And the good news is that recently I started to record my lives and these recordings I will edit afterwards and in some time they will pop up in my profile on Insight Timer under the free guided tracks.

So if you like this practice then in some time this track will be also online and available for free in Insight Timer so you can listen again to it.

So that's the good news and if you're following me if you don't then please follow me because you get notified whenever there are new tracks,

New courses,

There are I'm currently preparing two different courses to pop up,

One in Dutch and one in English,

New workshops,

News about the mentoring,

Everything is in my profile.

All right let's meditate.

So first of all you can sit straight up,

You can lean against the back of your chair or you can lie down.

Because today is about your body if you have the opportunity to lie down that wouldn't be a bad idea.

You might fall asleep if you really feel tired and you're afraid you will fall asleep then just sit up but lean against something.

If you feel you're tired and you want to sleep then lie down and you know just fall asleep.

That's also really great your body is telling you then that you need to sleep.

So whatever you're doing make sure it is comfortable.

So don't sit in a position that is not comfortable,

Make it easy,

Make it pleasant.

While you're sitting or lying down just take a moment to experience how you are sitting or lying.

Is there any tension in your body?

Maybe that's hard to feel but don't worry we're going to sprinkle every part of your body today with kindness and with love.

So if there's any tension we will get there but if there is any tension that is really obvious right now then just see if you can settle and relax that place a little bit and sometimes it might help to make a little bit more tension and then let go and sigh it out.

So for instance I very often have tension in my shoulders so what I do right when I feel that I pull them up and I drop them and only that moment that I'm dropping them and sighing it out gives already such a beautiful sense of relaxation relative to how I was.

You might want to try it with me.

Pull up your shoulders and let go.

That's nice isn't it?

And you can gently close your eyes.

And again take a moment to be aware of how you are sitting,

How your bum rests on the chair.

Maybe you feel your back against the mattress or against the back of your chair.

You can feel your hands in your lap.

Can you feel how your feet are touching the ground?

If you're sitting cross-legged or in an easy seat you feel the sides of your feet on the ground.

And if you're sitting on a chair and you feel the bottom of your feet.

Whenever something is going on with your body it might be really good to just take a moment to just sit and feel how your feet are on the ground.

To become aware that the earth below you is supporting you,

Is carrying you.

And if you're lying down you can really feel that sense of being carried.

Carried.

Supported.

Becoming aware of that connection of your body with the earth.

That's a great one.

Bring your attention there.

Work is already really,

Really grounding.

And if you can later today or tomorrow and the weather is good outside and you have a moment then try just to lie down on the grass on the ground.

Preferably outside and just feel earth below you,

Carrying you.

That such a sense of centeredness can come from that.

All right.

I would like you to imagine that your attention,

The attention that you have which is about the center of your head,

That that attention that is always all around you,

Surrounding you,

Being aware of everything going on in your environment,

That you bundle this attention towards one beam of light.

One beam of light.

You could imagine it like a laser beam or a spotlight beam in the middle of your head and this attention is just,

It can shine at any spot that you would like to shine it.

But before we're going to do that,

I would like you to give these lights your favorite color.

Just give it a color that feels good,

A color that feels kind.

So for me this is a really warm golden light and what I like to add to it are some sparkles that are like glitter mixed into this light so that whenever I focus this light on,

For instance my right big toe,

Do it with me.

Bring this spotlight of light in your favorite color and point it,

Imaginary of course,

At your right big toe.

And can you see then that there are some sprinkles,

Some glitters of light dancing in that light beam,

Touching your big toe.

Let it shine on your toe.

And I want you to remember for this whole meditation that whenever you notice that the moment you put your spotlight of your attention on a body part and you suddenly experience pain or itching or another sensation,

Then that is okay.

It's just your attention highlighting whatever is going on there and it's okay.

You don't have to push it away,

You don't have to change it.

Just put all your attention on it and you will see that your attention,

Your objective attention will start to dissipate whatever emotions or feelings you might experience by having that attention there.

All right,

So our attention is on our right big toe.

And it's so lovely because that light beam is shining and it really puts it in a spotlight as if your right big toe is on a stage standing in a spotlight being sprinkled with glitter.

So now let's start to move this spotlight over our body.

So from our right big toe we will move to the next toe and the third toe and the fourth toe and the fifth toe.

And now let's do a spotlight move all over our foot,

The top of our foot and slowly brighten every spot of your foot going to the heel,

Circling around the heel,

Getting back to the front of your feet so that your whole foot,

Your whole right foot has been in this beautiful sparkling light.

And because this light is your favorite color,

Your light is your love,

Your light is your kindness and if you have any thoughts coming up during this,

That's okay.

Your head is made to think,

Your head is made to assess,

To tell you things that it's,

You know,

Experiencing,

Thinking about wherever your attention is,

But it's okay.

Whenever that happens,

Just let that thought hang in the air and bring all your attention with the spotlight back to that part of your body where your attention was,

Which is now your whole upper foot.

Now let's pull the spotlight up to our right ankle and slowly,

Slowly like a spotlight that follows someone on a stage.

It's now following the shape of your body getting up,

Shining on your shins and shining on your calves,

Sprinkling it with glittery love,

Pulling it up towards your knee.

Some people have some bad knees,

Sensitive knees,

And that's okay.

So you might feel your knee when you bring your attention there.

Just when this happens,

Just let your attention over there and sprinkle some extra kindness.

Sprinkle some extra glitters on your knee.

What might really,

Really help is just tell your knee,

I love you.

Thank you so much for carrying me.

Thank you so much for helping me bend whenever I need it.

Thank you so much for helping me walk.

Thank you,

Knee,

For carrying me.

Now move up your attention to your upper leg,

All over your thigh,

The front of your thigh.

It's the strong muscles that are holding you up,

That are carrying you every day.

And the muscles in the back of your upper leg,

The hamstrings.

Whether they are really flexible or not so much,

They are there helping you to walk,

To bend,

To stand straight,

To be able to sit.

And if you feel any tension,

Then that's okay.

You're just becoming aware of it and your body is telling you that there is some tension in your upper leg and you might want to take it easy tomorrow to let it rest a little bit.

Let it rest a little bit.

Alright,

Let's pull up that attention to our right buttock.

Really gently touching our beautiful buttock on which we can sit,

Which works like a beautiful cushion.

Our buttocks are so beautiful in protecting us when we fall behind,

That we can land on our buttocks.

You remember as a kid,

You used to fall away much more than now,

I hope.

And now your buttocks are always there to be like a bumping cushion.

I so appreciate my buttocks.

So from the right,

I will go to the left,

Feeling how I'm sitting or lying down on the left buttock,

How it supports me,

How it balances me,

How it makes sure that the bones of my pelvis will not be hurting on the chair because there is this extra layer of protection,

This beautiful cushion.

And if you are someone who has been critical of your own buttocks,

Because I know a lot of people who are,

Then send some extra love.

You could even tell yourself,

I have the buttocks of a goddess.

I have the buttocks of a Greek god.

Whatever you resonate with,

Experience that feeling that your buttocks are the most pretty buttocks in the world.

I'm telling you,

No one has your buttocks.

They are unique,

They are there,

They are yours,

And they are there to serve you.

And it's okay to send them some love because they are with you every step of the way.

Every step of the way.

I love my buttocks.

It's an important sentence to repeat from time to time.

I love my buttocks.

Now bring your attention to your left upper leg first,

The front of your thigh,

The quadriceps,

Strong muscle,

And then to the back your hamstrings.

So supportive of every step that you take.

Shine your beautiful coloured light,

Sprinkle the glitters of love and kindness on your upper leg,

And then pull it down to your knee,

And maybe this knee needs some extra attention,

Some extra love.

Thank you knee for carrying me,

Thank you knee for helping me bend,

For making sure that I can bend sometimes so that my back can be saved when needed.

Thank you knee for making it easy for me to walk,

To run,

To cycle,

To jump,

Because without knees I could not do this.

Now pull your attention down to the under leg,

Your shins,

And the back your calves,

Back your calves,

All the way down to your ankle.

This beautiful ankle which can move sidewards,

Up and down,

Helping your feet to move.

And I shine your light on the upper part of your foot,

And then circling around again,

Shining its light on all the elements in your foot,

All the bones,

The tendons,

The muscles,

The flesh,

To the heel,

To the arch of your foot,

And now to your left big toe.

And that toe is working really hard for you every day,

With every step you take,

With every moment you are standing,

This big toe is keeping your balance,

This big toe is keeping you strong,

This big toe makes sure that you can run whenever you need to,

And stand still whenever you want to.

Shine your light and feel if you can appreciate your toe.

Now continue to shine a light on your second toe,

Your third toe,

Your fourth toe,

And your fifth toe.

While we're sitting,

Let's take a moment again to appreciate both our feet,

And remember that the next time that you're saying to yourself,

Oh my feet are hurting me,

That you might want to take them off the floor for a moment,

That you might want to take a break even if it's just one minute.

You can always go to the restroom and just sit and take your feet off the ground for a moment to relieve them from the weight of your body,

To relieve them from the pressure,

To relieve them from the necessity to walk.

If you're a woman who is walking a lot on high heels and the next time you're saying,

Oh my feet are really killing me,

Then kick out those shoes even though it's just for five minutes.

Five minutes and let your feet be free for a moment.

There was a time that I was walking on high heels and as my work and my feet were hurting me,

I would kick them out and start to walk barefoot through the corridors between the offices and my colleagues were making fun of me,

But I was happy because my feet were happy as well.

All right,

Okay now let's take that beautiful spotlight with a beautiful light with all the sprinkles in it up and let us shine it on our belly.

Let's just stay in our lower belly and let's start to shine it upon our pelvis.

Our pelvis is such an important part of our body.

It's part of our structure.

It's part of carrying us and resting in our pelvis are our reproductive organs.

We want to shine some light there because those are always there just like our bladder,

Our intestines.

We're working really hard for us,

Helping us to get rid of the toxins and everything our body cannot use.

And generally we don't like to speak about that or we close our nose because we don't like to smell what's going on there,

But we are humans and this is part of all our processes and how grateful we can be that this is just working.

And then our reproductive organs that we can sometimes be a little bit funny about,

We will not get too deep into that,

But just sending some love there.

Love for you,

Love for the gifts they can bring,

Whether it's pleasure or actual reproduction.

These are gifts and whatever way you want to enjoy these gifts within your beliefs,

Within your needs,

Within your desires,

Just cherish them and send some love.

Sprinkle some kindness on these parts that we want to hide,

We don't always want to think about,

But they are there,

Part of our human existence.

Without it,

Humans would not be here.

Now let's pull our attention up to the whole belly as such and whoever feels that their belly is a little bit too skinny or a little bit too full,

Then send some love there.

Send some love to your belly just like you were just doing with your buttocks.

I have the belly of a goddess,

I have the belly of a Greek god,

I have the belly of someone that I love.

I love my belly because my belly is here for me.

It stores whatever it needs for more difficult times.

It shows me sometimes that I need to take better care of myself and I don't mean that in a harsh way,

But I mean that in a gentle way.

I remove our attention inside of our belly,

Again those intestines,

The upper part of those and then we have all these beautiful organs that are like an orchestra working together to process everything that we get into our body to nourish it,

To replenish it.

To take care of it.

And if you have ever experienced problems with organs or other things within your belly,

Then I might understand that it makes you a little bit emotional.

But that's okay,

That's okay.

You can still love your body.

Even more,

I think that with sending love to your body,

You are supporting it in its natural task to take care of you.

So very often when we are ill,

We have a lot of resistance,

We have a lot of frustration or anger or sadness about the dysfunctioning of our body.

And while we're in the process of healing,

Whether a doctor is needed to help us or not,

It will always help you to mentally get out of the way of your body and to trust that it has such a power to recover and heal.

And yes,

Sometimes we need doctors to help us with that.

I don't deny that.

But I'm speaking about that mental part where you send kindness and love to your body and you give your body the trust that it will get you through.

And you know what?

Trust is a matter of choice.

You might know it from trusting people or not.

It's sometimes hard to trust others.

But I'm asking you,

What is the alternative to not trust?

Yes,

It is a choice.

And sometimes when you trust,

You get disappointed.

But most of the times,

You will be rewarded for your trust.

And in the worst case scenario,

You will be rewarded by feeling better,

Experiencing more well-being in your life because with trust comes relaxation.

With trust comes acceptance.

With trust in your body comes more self-love and self-kindness.

All right,

Let's bring our attention now to the back.

Then we bring it really to our tailbone,

You know,

The end of our spine.

And let's slowly,

Slowly move the spotlight over our back,

Following the spine,

Going up.

Oh,

Our spines.

They're keeping us straight.

They're keeping us erect.

They're keeping us alive.

These beautiful spines.

Suffering so often because we push through,

We don't listen when we have to sleep,

When we have to rest.

We keep on walking when we need to sit.

We keep on sitting when we need to walk.

We keep on jumping when we have to lie down.

And our spines are sometimes suffering of that.

If you have a lot of back aches and sense some extra love,

We are now slowly,

Slowly going from the tailbone to the lower back.

And if you feel there's some sensation or pain,

Like a lot of people have that,

Then send some extra love.

Send some extra appreciation.

I love you lower back.

I so appreciate that you are keeping me up every day.

Whenever I get up,

You are there to keep me up.

You are there to make sure that I can walk and I can see and I can get to higher places.

I'm so appreciative of you,

My lovely,

Lovely lower back.

Now pull it up to the middle of your spine,

There where your ribs start to go wider,

Creating your rib cage,

Every beautiful bone of that structure,

Which is giving our bodies our shape,

Our strength.

Going all over,

Trying the whole spotlight all the way up to our shoulders.

Now bring the spotlight to the front of our shoulders and just shine first on your right shoulder.

If you feel some tension there,

That's okay.

Let the sparkles of love sprinkle their way over your shoulders so that it can relax.

And I move your attention,

The spotlight over your collarbone to your left shoulder.

Same there.

All your attention to your shoulders.

Your shoulders are carrying a lot.

All your worries that are going on in your heads are so often translated to our shoulders.

Why we have so often tension in our shoulders is because we want to brace ourselves against the things we are thinking.

So allow your shoulders to relax.

Tell them they don't have to brace.

Tell them they can relax.

My lovely shoulders,

You can relax.

It's okay.

You can lie down and nap.

Now bring your attention to your upper chest.

Also where the ribcage comes together,

This beautiful harness around the upper organs of your body,

Your heart,

Your lungs,

Protecting those crucial elements that are working together,

This beautiful orchestra of your body,

That are playing in tune with each other,

Making sure that every cell of your body gets everything they need.

And then your breasts,

Whether you're a man or a woman,

You have breasts.

And when you are a woman,

Very often we have also some thoughts about our breasts.

So just nourish your breasts.

They are here.

They're here to be loved by you,

Each with unique shape.

Shaping you to the person that you are.

If you've ever breastfed,

You could be thankful for the task that they have done.

But if you have not,

That's also okay.

And then you can relax.

You could be thankful for the task that they have done.

But if you have not,

That's also okay.

And you could say to yourself,

I love my breasts.

I have the breasts of a goddess.

I have the torso of a Greek god.

Let's put our attention one moment to our solar plexus,

That place just below our chest,

About the place where our stomach rests.

Just shine your light there.

That's your center of power.

This is where you find your core.

This is where you find a place where you can tune into whenever you meditate.

So you can hear the needs and desires of your body,

The wishes of your soul.

You can put your hands there if you like.

And let's shine our light now on our left hand.

Left hand with our thumb,

Our index finger,

Our middle finger,

Ring finger and pink.

Oh,

I love my hand.

I love the fact that I have an opposable thumb so I can grab things.

I love the new ones that my hands have when you compare them with my feet that I can make a fist and punch and I can caress with gentleness and everything in between.

I love my hands for all the work they do for me,

Every second of the day.

Hand is soft and we are not aware of what our hands can do until we break an arm and we cannot use one hand and suddenly we realize how much we actually love our hands for doing this.

So now with all your attention in your left hand I would say thank you hand.

And let's bring the right hand with it and shine the light on the thumb,

Index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pink,

High right hand,

Just like your friend the left hand.

The left hand,

Thank you so much for your opposable thumb,

Your ability to grab,

To type,

To caress,

To hold,

To hit,

To do whatever I want to do.

Thank you.

Thank every bone in your hand,

Every muscle,

Every tendon,

Every nail,

Every element,

The skin.

Do you notice how sensitive the skin of your fingers is?

That when you touch a loved one really gentle,

That it's not just gentle for them but also for you?

Do you know how many nerves are in your endings of your fingers so you can really experience the world around you just through your fingers?

This is a miracle.

This is a miracle.

The miracle of my hands.

Now let's move our attention up to our left,

Pulls,

The underarm,

Moving up to our elbow which allows us to bend our arms,

To hug others,

To hug ourselves,

And the upper arm.

Have you ever noticed how sensitive the skin of your arms is?

How gentle,

How loving it is to caress yourself on the skin?

And do you know that your body doesn't distinguish between you caressing your skin or another person caressing your skin?

And that by doing that you are helping your body to produce oxytocin,

The love hormone,

The hormone that is also made when we hug with others,

When mothers breastfeed their children.

It's helping us to bond.

So by caressing yourself,

You're bonding with yourself.

You are strengthening the relationship that you have with your body,

With yourself.

Moving up the attention to the upper left arm and then shining on the upper right arm.

Going to the elbow,

And the underarm.

Lovely.

Now bring all your attention to your neck,

The front of your neck and the back of your neck.

All those little bones and joints in your neck helping you to move your head in all directions,

Being able to see because you're going to look around.

Bring your attention up to your skull which protects your brain.

Bring your attention to your ears.

Just listen for a moment,

All your attention to whatever you are hearing.

Bring the attention to your mouth,

Your tongue,

Appreciating your ability to speak,

Your lips,

Your tongue,

To say whatever you want,

Your sense of taste in your mouth,

The joy of tasting good things,

Appreciation for your mouth,

Warning you when you eat something not good for you because it tastes disgusting,

So beautiful.

Your attention to your nose,

With which you are smelling.

Can you smell something now?

Maybe even a really faint smell.

Now bring the spotlight to your eyes,

Your beautiful eyes.

Keep them closed but be aware of a moment how much your eyes can see,

Even when your eyes are closed,

You are seeing things.

Now bring all the attention to the center of your head.

Let's hoover it in the middle of your head,

In the middle of your brain.

We can appreciate our brain that is picking up on 11 million bits of information per second.

We can only become aware of about 40 bits of information in that same moment.

So our brain is picking up so many more things that we are not aware of.

It's working hard to help us to notice things.

It tries to anticipate what our attention wants to go to,

It tries to anticipate what we are worrying about,

It tries to notice what we are worrying about,

It tries to anticipate what we are interested in.

And although that is a really,

Really beautiful function of our brain,

It can sometimes be in our way.

So we like to help our brain to understand what it is that we do want to notice and what we can ignore.

And meditation is such a beautiful part of that training of our beautiful brain.

Alright,

Now just sit still or lie still.

And just be for a moment.

We have scanned our whole body.

We've sprinkled it with beautiful lights,

A favourite colour,

A colour of love.

We've sprinkled it with glitters and kindness.

We've appreciated those parts that need some extra appreciation.

And maybe you can think of a part of your body that you feel right now needs some more appreciation and love.

So I'm asking you to decide which part of your body you want to be.

And don't overthink it,

The first part that you think of,

That is the one.

That one,

Right.

And now send that beautiful light,

Shine it upon that place and just tell that place I love you,

I shine my light upon you,

I sprinkle you with love,

I sprinkle you with kindness.

I'm so proud of you,

I'm so thankful for you always being here for me,

Supporting me and I know that sometimes I'm getting in your way,

I know that sometimes I have worries or negative thoughts or judgemental thoughts about you,

My dear body part.

But I am going to let go of those right now because I know you're here to support me.

I know that you are part of my beautiful body and I know you just want to love me and be there for me.

So I am sending you love.

And I'm sending you love through these beautiful lights.

And in this light there are some extra sprinkles of kindness because you deserve this kindness.

Maybe you want to say some things from your own heart,

Go ahead.

Alright,

Now last part of our meditation while you're sitting or lying down I would like you to imagine that you are looking up and that you see like a beautiful cloud above you,

It's a golden cloud,

Beautiful,

Shining,

It's not a rain cloud,

It's a cloud of loving sprinkles.

And this cloud is hanging above your head and it starts to sprinkle,

It's golden sprinkles,

It's golden kindness,

It's love and you're just standing in it and you are receiving all this kindness.

Every part of your body is touched by this.

And if you find it overwhelming or emotional that's okay,

Just hug yourself and tell yourself it's okay.

It's okay to receive,

It's okay to trust,

It's okay to love your body.

Every inch,

Every centimeter,

Every millimeter.

Because your body deserves all the love,

It's always there for you,

Carrying you,

Moving you,

Helping you,

Supporting you,

Giving you information,

Replenishing you,

Loving you,

Feeding you,

Nourishing you.

And when it's ill it does its best to be cured with the help of others and by itself.

And even if it doesn't always succeed there's no reason not to love your body because it's still your body and it's still here with you,

Loving you,

Being an intrinsic part of you.

Feel the sprinkles of kindness on your body and allow them to sink through your skin into every cell,

Every atom of your body.

Atom of your body.

Okay,

You may let go of your attention from the cloud.

You may let go of the spotlight,

It can broaden again,

Shine upon your whole body.

And stretch yourself a little bit,

Stretch your shoulders,

Your spine.

You can wiggle your fingers,

Wiggle your toes.

And if you're lying down and you're really sleepy then don't mind me,

Just pull the blankets over you and go to sleep.

But if your day is still waiting for you or you're not sleepy,

Which is also possible,

Then take your time to slowly open your eyes,

But really do it slow.

We've been in meditation for quite some time.

Make it gentle for yourself.

Reviews

I am grateful for this meditation. It is so positive, warm, soft and loving. Helps me reminds me to listen to and take care of my body.
🙏🏻

This was so special! A beautiful loving body blessing ! Thank you.✨

Thank you Femke, a beautiful practice for our bodies 💛🌻💛🥰

Magic, sheer magic. Love your work Femke! Definitely goes on my favourites list
🙏💕🙌