Cultivating Physical Energy

If you're feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or have been dealing with long periods of stress, you're probably exhausted. We live in a perpetually busy world where stopping and resting aren't supported. If you do, you're considered lazy, or indulgent. This world normalizes chronic stress and encourages us to keep pushing ourselves past our limits. This meditation is designed to help you find energy in your body, even though you may feel completely exhausted.

Transcript

Welcome to this energizing morning meditation by Gabriella Demore. This meditation is going to help you wake up and get ready for the day. Rather than grounding and calming ourselves, If you have trouble in the mornings, You feel a little tired or a little groggy, This meditation will be fantastic for you. Let's start by taking some deep energizing breaths. Lengthen your breath, Inhaling deeply through the nose and exhaling slowly through the nose or the mouth. Continuing to lengthen and exaggerate your breath for a few more moments. Breathing in through the nose, Out through the nose or the mouth. And as you breathe in, Make sure that your belly is coming out, Becoming full like a gentle balloon, Keeping the shoulders down. And when you exhale, Really exhaling fully to expel all of the air left in your lungs. When you fully exhale, Gently bring the belly towards the spine, Allowing yourself the space to have a nice full inhalation on the next breath. As you continue to breathe, Center your awareness on your breath as it moves through your nose, Down to your belly, From your belly back up past your diaphragm, Chest, Throat, Mouth, Out of the nose on your exhalation. Trace the breath and use it as you come into the center of your body and the mind will try to distract you, It always does. But every time there's some thoughts or something to do, Or a reason to get back to life early, Simply tell the mind we'll come back to it later, We'll come back to the day, We'll come back to our preparation. But for now, This is the absolute best thing we can do for ourselves to get this day started. Taking some time now to just focus on your exhalation and just allow yourself to acknowledge any fatigue in the body. Acknowledge your tiredness, Acknowledge your heaviness, Acknowledge the weight of the world on your shoulders, Acknowledging the stress of the day that lays ahead of you, Acknowledge any overwhelm, Stress in the body, Any feelings of being low or down or sad, Noticing and acknowledging any sense of having low energy, Acknowledging that these feelings are there and validating them. But now we're going to shift our mental state, We're going to shift our awareness away from these heavy and tired feelings and using your exhalation, Breathe out using each breath as an opportunity to let go of the fatigue, The tiredness, The heaviness, The stress. Let it move out of your body with each exhalation. Breathing in nice full breaths and as you exhale, Let go a little bit more of all of the heaviness present here in your body and in your mind. Breathe out anything that feels heavy or dark colored, Anything that's dragging you down. Use the exhalation to move this energy out of your physical body, Let it leave the body through your exhalation. Any pain or tension in the body, Any aches, Move it out of the body with your breath. And lastly, Any resistance to facing today, Any feelings of being hard done by, Of life being unfair, Of the work being too much, Simply let those heavy and burdensome feelings move out of the body as you continue to focus on your exhalation for a few moments. These feelings may be present just today or they may have been lingering around for a long time. You may simply be tired today or there may be many layers to your exhaustion. You may have been pushing yourself extremely hard for a very long time. Just take your time now to do your best and continue to breathe out deeply, Letting go of all of the fatigue and heaviness in your body. And when you feel that you've adequately acknowledged and let go of all of the feelings of heaviness in the body, As much as you possibly can, I'm going to invite you now to focus on your inhalation. As you breathe in through the nose, Visualize breathing in a beautiful light color, Like a vision of fresh air, Fresh breath coming into the body, Replacing all of that heavy, Dark and dull air that we've exhaled. Start to rejuvenate and nourish your physical body with fresh air into the lungs with these long, Deep breaths. And with each inhalation, I'd like you to try and infuse each breath with a sense of energy, As if you were drawing energy from the outside world through your breath and bringing it into your physical body. Imagine that with each breath in, You are cultivating and breathing in more energy for your body. With each breath, Energy is being cultivated and channeled fully throughout your physical body. And this breath can move to every part of your body, Re-energizing and awakening your face, Awakening and energizing your shoulders, Awakening and energizing your chest and your arms, Your torso, Your belly, Energizing and lengthening the spine all the way down the back of your body. Breathing in and sending this energizing breath to the back of your pelvis, Your hips, The base of your spine, Your coccyx, Your glutes, Energizing and replenishing the thighs, The knees, Sending this energizing breath as if we were rejuvenating every cell of the body through our breath. Sending this feeling down past the knees, Into the shin, The calf muscle, Ankles and feet, Trying to remind your body or remember that sensation of feeling completely ready for the day, As if you're ready to exercise or you feel energized after exercising. Remind the body of that feeling and those sensations, Even if it feels a little unfamiliar now. Now we're going to focus on specific parts of the body as we cultivate energy in different ways. Firstly, I'm going to invite you to squeeze your hands into fists, Clench and unclench your hands tightly, Bringing all of the energy and your awareness now to the fists of your hands. Feel the sensations in your hands, The tingles. Feel them as you clench them tight and when you release them open, Awakening the hands and allowing them to feel strong and muscular. When you release the hands, Start to notice and become curious about the sensations in your fingers, Palm of your hands. Notice in great detail how the hands feel, Both when you squeeze them tightly and when you release them freely. Notice how the longer you stay here, The more awareness you have of the hand, The tingling sensations, Perhaps a zinging feeling. I'd like you to identify, Notice and call this or identify this as energy in the hands. I'm going to ask you to do this one more time. Close your hands in a fist, Holding them tight for a moment and then letting them go. Notice the sensations, The awakening of the hands. It's almost as if we're starting a fire by moving the hands in a different way. After a while, Rest the hands again and simply notice the energy and awareness of the hands as they lay still. Notice how the hands feel different from the rest of the body, Feeling more alive, More awakened. And as we do this, It's also okay to feel anticipation towards this energy, To feel curious towards these sensations. Just allow this curiosity, This excitement, This anticipation to be present. And now I'm going to invite you to place your hands together flat and rub your hands together. Create friction and warmth between the hands, Generating energy, Feeling the different sensation of your hands and palms rubbing together. And when the palms become very warm, Almost too warm, Separate them again and rest the hands on your knees or your lap and feel the different sensations in the palm, The tips of the fingers. It's almost as if you have cultivated two balls of energy in the palms of your hand, Like a current or electricity, A gentle vibration inside of the hand. Take a moment here to really tune in in great detail to the warmth and the energy you've cultivated with your awareness inside the hand. Imagine now that your hands are holding a ball of energy, That if you moved your hands closer or further away, The ball of energy would still be present. And you can even try that out now. Move the hands a little closer and a little further away. Notice the ball of energy is still present, So long as you rest your awareness here on the warmth and the sensation in the palms and the fingers. Now, Using your imagination and your sense of touch and feeling, Visualize this ball of energy moving up from the hands now towards your inner forearm, Moving ever so slowly towards your elbows, Energizing the forearms, Warming the forearm, Moving up to the inner and outer part of the upper arm, Exaggerating and intensifying these warm and energized feelings from the ball between your hands, Up your forearms, Your upper arms, And resting now at the tips of your shoulders. If you feel you get lost or you lose the sensation, Come back to your hands, Rub them together gently or clench them as fists again, Open them and feel the energy reactivated between your hands. Draw this up so that this sensation is now cultivated throughout your whole arms to the tip of your shoulders. Continue to breathe deeply as you inhale, Using your inhalation to breathe this energy up from the inside of the hands to both arms to the tip of the shoulders. Let's place your hands now gently down wherever is comfortable and let's explore your feet for a moment. Leave your warm and energized arms to simply be and now become aware of your feet. Notice any dullness or tiredness or numbness in the feet. Just simply be curious about what's there cultivating your awareness of any sensations in the feet. You'll notice that the longer we stay on a particular part of the body, The more awareness or intelligence comes to your mind. Your sense of that place is heightened and awakened. It doesn't mean that the energy is only there when you're focusing on it, It simply means you're becoming aware of the present energy by directing and focusing your attention there. We're going to move the feet now, So still with your eyes closed. If you're sitting down and your feet can reach the ground, Attempt to just move on to your tippy toes or the balls of your feet, Lifting the heels of your feet, Keeping the toes on the floor, Pressing in and out pressing into the ground, Squeezing your calves, Letting the feet go down again, Resting your soles of the feet on the ground. Squeeze the feet as if you were curving them like a ballerina or a dancer. Move them down to the ground again, Then lift the feet up, Squeeze them, Squeeze the calves. This time if it's possible, Come up right onto the big toe. Every part of the foot is lift off the floor, You're simply resting on your big toe. If you're lying down you can still do this. Point your toes very directly, Curving them as much as you can, Stretching over the top of the foot, Stretching the shin and then pulling them back, Flexing the feet so that they point upwards, Stretching the calf and stretching the soles of the feet. And just repeat this sensation, Flexing and pointing the foot if you're lying down. If your feet can touch the floor, Continue to raise them up until you're on the very big toe, Settle them down flat again, Tuning into the sensations of the feet, Front of the foot, Soles of the feet, The toes, The ankles, The shins and the calves. Now hold your feet away from the floor or the bed and move them in semi circles or full circles in one direction. Just simply exercising the ankles, Moving your feet in circular motions in one direction and then changing the direction of your circles, Using your ankles to move your feet in the other direction in swift small circles. Let the feet settle now and lastly you're going to point your toes and the heels of your feet towards each other like they were facing each other. Curve the tops of the feet and point the toes so that you make two little semi circles with your feet facing each other, Attempting to make a circular shape with your two feet facing each other. Stretch and point and awaken the feet in this position, Relax them for a moment and then point them again together. Lastly, Shake the feet out as if you are pedaling or swimming in the air. Allow the feet to become free and loose, Stretch the ankles, Shaking them freely in whatever direction or position feels comfortable. Shake them vigorously, Really awaken and energize the feet. Allow yourself to get ready for the day and when you're ready, Place your feet on the ground again or let them rest on your bed. Tune in to and become aware of the new sensations now in your awakened feet. They may be subtle or different to the sensation in the hands and that's okay. You want to become curious and interested in the sensations of the feet. Rest your awareness here in the feet, The lower part of the legs, The ankles. Become really aware of the energy in the feet. Feel the tingly sensations waking up the feet completely as we identify this energy in every part of both feet. Now using your breath as you continue to breathe deeply and slowly, Imagine pulling the energy from the feet very slowly up the full length of your calves, Up your shins to your knees. Allow the energy to fill the car, Allow the energy to become fluid and move all the way up to the knees. Your whole lower legs are now invigorated. Continue to breathe in moving over the knees, Allow that energy, That awakened sensation to move over the knees, Now to the thighs. Intensifying and exaggerating this awakened feeling from the feet as much as you can. Feeling the energy move to both the inside and the outside of your thighs now towards your hips. You can feel this sensation both inside the muscle and the few millimeters outside of the body. As we come up to the thighs, I'm going to invite you to use the inner hands, The palms of your hands again and start to firmly stroke the outside of your thighs in an up and down motion or left to right, Whatever feels comfortable. Being quite firm and creating warmth and energy, Use the inside of the hands on the thighs and outside of the thighs, Moving up and down with swift brush strokes. Do whatever feels good. You may even like to gently pat the thighs or gently squeeze them. Keep doing this vigorously until you feel a lot of heat created on the thighs, Both from the tops of the thighs near your hips and down towards your knees. Now massaging the side of your thighs, Your hips, Closing your fists and gently pummeling your thighs like a gentle massage, Fully awakening the thighs, Cultivating heat and energy in the knuckles, The gentle fists as well as your thighs. Massage and awaken your thighs in any way that feels good to you, That feels awakening and reinvigorating. Take as much time as you like and when you're ready, Rest your hands to the side. Settle your awareness on your thighs now and start to search and explore for the energy created here in the thighs. It may feel different to your calves and feet. It may feel unique. Just explore and be curious. If the sensations are not strong, Feel free to rub and massage the thighs again so that you can cultivate more energy. It's as if you are completely invigorating every cell in the thigh, Every pore, Every muscle, Awakening them with that buzzing, Tingling sensation which you can now feel from the tips of your toes all the way to your hips. It's as if your legs were completely alive now, Completely ready, As if you were powered and ready for a run or an exercise. Legs are ready to go, Ready for the day. Move now to your arms once again and I'm going to encourage you to raise your arms above your head, Squeezing your fists above your head and then very gently moving your arms so that you feel some gentle rotations in the shoulders. Squeeze and open your hands above your head, Gently rotating the shoulders in small circles in whatever direction feels comfortable for you. Squeeze and release them very gently in little forward and back motions or little circles. Just moving the arms, Continue to do this, Creating more tension and energy. The hands may start to feel tired as we continue to move them freely. When you're ready, Drop the whole arms back down, Rest your hands on your legs or your side and tune into the sensations and the energy we've cultivated in the upper arms, Shoulders and the neck. If this feeling doesn't feel strong enough, You may like to hold your hands out in front of you, Flex your hands upwards towards the sky and then point them downwards towards the ground, Flexing up and flexing down or rotating the hands around by moving the wrists in a circular motion. Tune into the energy that you've cultivated, The tingling, The sensations and now moving this sensation throughout the full arms, Back of the shoulders, Down the spine, Down each vertebrae of the spine. Allow it to drain down or move down from the hands that we were holding above our head all the way down the back of the back of the spine. Lastly we're going to activate the belly or your core. If you're sitting we're going to do this by inviting you to very gently lift your feet off the floor and if you're lying on the bed you can still do this by gently lifting your feet off the bed. Just 10 centimeters is perfect, Just enough to engage your core. If it's difficult, Relax your feet and come up again for one or two moments and rest your feet again. If you have a stronger core, Keep your feet off the floor and warm and energize and awaken your belly and your core muscles. Continue to lift the feet off the floor, Squeeze your core and hold this pose for as long as you can, Almost giving yourself this feeling of doing a plank position on the floor. You're probably feeling this heat on the tops of the thighs as well, This is perfect. Squeeze the core, Lift the legs up higher if you need more of that sensation. Allow the warmth to build here, Allow your core to become awakened, To become shaky, To become energized. When you're ready, Release the feet back down for good. Send your awareness to the belly now and notice in detail the sensations that we've cultivated here. The belly is awake, It's turned on, It's ready. Move this sensation created in the lower belly now throughout the full belly to the sides of your ribs, Up towards your chest, Moving across your chest to the sides of your shoulders, Sending this energizing breath from your core to your whole torso, Side of the ribs, Side of your hips. Using your breath now to move this sensation to any part of the body which still feels dull or lethargic, Particularly the back of the body. Your legs, Your core, Your arms are now charged, Energized, Ready to go. Encourage this feeling to grow, To get bigger, To get stronger. Make sure no part of your body now is missed. Use your inhalation to send this warm fiery energy to every cell, Every pore, Every muscle, Moving it up to your face, Up to the muscles of your face, Your eyebrows, Over the scalp. Let it move throughout every strand of hair, Back of your neck, Top of your shoulders. Notice how we are creating energy in the body without too much effort at all, With our breath and our visualization. Allowing ourselves to become attuned to the energy that is ready to go, That is ready to support us. Coming out of the mind which says we're tired, We're exhausted, We're dull. Notice the buzzing electric current moving throughout our body that we've cultivated with very simple movements. Continue to intensify and exaggerate this as much as you can, Almost as if you could leap out of the chair or the bed for a full day. Feeling light and weightless and powerful at the same time. Completely feeling this energy from head to toe, As if you could lift something very heavy, Run far or do a strong exercise class. Ready to fully act and use the body physically. Lastly sending this sensation of energy to our brain, To our mind, All parts of the brain, All sides, Base of the scalp, Top of the skull. Using the breath to rejuvenate and renourish the worrisome brain. Energize, Renourish, Rejuvenate the dutiful and hard-working brain. Allow it to cover every part of the brain so that your mind feels powerful and unstoppable and clear. As we welcome and encourage this feeling to be with our bodies, As we move throughout the day, Throughout the evening, Throughout our week, Notice how energy feels different to anxiety, Different to nervousness. Fully prepared and fully ready for the day. Before we close this meditation, Just take a final few moments to really notice and identify what this feeling feels like in the body and how different you feel from when we began this meditation, Identifying and validating our feelings of tiredness, Sluggishness or darkness. Take a few final deep inhalations and long exhalations as we're nearly ready to face our day. Focus on the inhalation as being energizing rather than the exhalation being tiring. Fill your lungs to their full capacity with fresh oxygen. Be with the inhalation for just a few more moments and when you're ready, Remember your full body where we are, Perhaps gently moving your toes and your fingers. You're ready to face the day from a grounded, Clear and energized manner. When you're ready, Taking your time, Opening your eyes, Coming back to the present moment and facing your day bravely. Thank you for listening to this meditation.