Your Quiet Place Meditation (For Kids & Adults)

This is a guided imagery meditation. It is a reliable way of letting go of distractions and/or difficulties by instead turning our attention towards something inherently calm and peaceful. Please remember when using imagery in meditation it is important to trust your own spontaneously arising image. Many thanks go to Ian Gawler for first sharing a version of this practice with me and for allowing me to share it with others.

Transcript

Your quiet place meditation. So let's get our mindful bodies on if you're sitting sit open and upright still and strong like a mountain or if you're lying down like balanced and symmetrical. Your palms open wherever they're resting and I invite you to gently close or lower your eyes and let's start with three conscious deep belly breaths together. Breathing in one more and I invite you to let your breath settle now just let your breath breathe you and begin to allow an image to form in your mind of a place where you feel particularly peaceful and comfortable and this might be a place that you've been to before or it might be a fantasy place. Just take a few moments to allow an image to form in your mind of a place where you feel particularly peaceful or comfortable and we're going to explore this place your place in more detail. I invite you first to notice where this quiet place this peaceful place is. Is it a fantasy place or perhaps a mix of several places you know or is it one specific place and just be reminded that there's no right or wrong in this just focus on this place which is special for you your quiet place and I invite you now to begin to pay attention to what you can see in your place notice what is nearby notice what you can see in the middle ground and notice what you can see off in the distance what shapes and sizes of things can you see are there trees in your quiet place and if so are the trees short or tall are the trunks broad or narrow what shapes are the leaves or perhaps there's some grass or shrubs in your quiet place notice colors pay close attention to the different shades or variations in color and notice if there's any movement in your quiet place or is it quite still and what time of day is it in your quiet place if the sky is visible is it a clear sky or are there clouds about what can you see in your quiet place and I invite you now to begin to listen what can you hear in your quiet place are there any sounds are there sounds coming to you from far away and what sounds can you hear coming from nearby can you hear the subtle sound of your breath what can you hear in this place and I invite you to begin to notice what you can smell in your quiet place notice any fragrance or odor what can you smell in this place and I invite you to begin to notice what the temperature is in this place is it warm or cool or neutral what temperature is it do you feel any wind on your skin or perhaps Sun on your face what does it feel like and do you have contact with the earth or the grass the sand how does it feel what do you have contact with and how does it feel is it hard or soft damp or dry warm or cool or perhaps neutral just noticing a sense of touch in this place and I invite you to begin to ask yourself just gently check in and ask yourself how do I feel in this quiet place how do I feel right now and become aware that if there's anything that would make this place even more peaceful or more comfortable then you could change it with your imagination and now you will probably be aware of a certain part of this place that appeals to you the most and if you're not already there I invite you to imagine yourself moving over to this part so that you can rest a while imagine yourself lying down and as you do so feel your body relaxing completely relaxing relaxing so much so that you feel almost as if you could float up off the ground a little and just rest for a few moments now floating just a few inches or centimeters off the ground relaxing and floating and I invite you to remember that at any time you choose to in the future you can return to this place to your quiet place and that each time you do it will be easier and even more complete and so as we come towards the end of this guided quiet place meditation I invite you to start to reactivate and re-energize your body perhaps with a little wiggle of your fingers a little wiggle of your toes you might like to give yourself a big hug and when you're ready you can open your eyes if they were closed and gently go on your way thank you