Welcome to My Morning Meditation.
Let's get started with coming into the body,
Doing a little 4-5-7 cycle of breath.
Four on the inhale,
Count of five holding,
Seven on the exhale.
So in two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
On your own now.
Maybe one or two more cycles of this,
Adjusting your posture as you go along.
Upright,
Dignified,
Erect spine,
But muscles soft and loose around the spine.
Hands comfortably in your lap,
Feet grounded,
And just tuning in to your overall being.
You have this body.
Tuning into it,
Noticing where you might be holding,
Where you might be tight,
Where you might be tense,
And letting that soothing balm of awareness just kind of glide throughout your body,
Releasing and softening some of that tension.
You can do a little wiggling,
A little moving,
A little relaxing,
Whatever your body might be needing.
Now developing the concentration for a few minutes by coming into the inhale,
Noticing it,
Knowing that you're inhaling.
Coming into the exhale,
Noticing it,
Knowing that you're exhaling.
Letting your awareness land on wherever it's easiest for you to notice the inhale and notice the exhale.
We know the monkey mind won't love this.
The mind likes to think,
And that's okay.
When that happens,
Nothing is wrong.
The meditation isn't going south.
It's just the instruction to label it as thinking and come back.
No big deal.
Maybe noticing different types of thinking,
Like planning and preparing.
Remembering,
Doubt,
Planning,
Preparing sounds like,
What's for lunch?
What do I have to do today?
Remembering sounds like,
I can't believe so-and-so said that to me yesterday.
Doubt,
Is this meditation working?
Am I doing this right?
Judgment sounds like,
This is boring,
Or I'm not good enough.
Just noticing.
You could stick with that umbrella term of just labeling all thought as thinking and just come back to the breath,
Come back to the body.
That's your anchor to be present over and over.
So let's practice this for a couple more minutes.
Transitioning now to a brief gratitude practice.
As we do this,
You can keep part of your awareness on the breath.
You can continue that body scan,
Just kind of noticing what's here right now.
A little movement to kind of soften or release feels right.
Feel free to do that.
Keeping the awareness in the body as we practice gratitude.
My go-to gratitude is just grateful that I have two eyes that can see.
I'm grateful that I have two ears that can hear.
I'm grateful that I have a pain-free breath and pain- free.
So whatever you're grateful for,
The practice is just to remind yourself that there are these things to be grateful for,
Which gets those gratitude neurons firing and wiring,
Creating new neural pathways.
Transitioning to some intention setting.
And again,
Staying inside the body,
Noticing the body,
Observing the body as we make these transitions and do these practices.
One of my intentions is to be embodied today,
To go through my day noticing the body,
Checking in with the body,
Accessing my safety anchor within the body when I feel a little activation arising.
So I'm setting the intention to reside in my body today.
I'm going to set the intention to have an undefended heart.
This means to let go of who I think I should be in order to be who I really am.
So to notice all the subtle and not-so-subtle ways I might be trying to manage the impression,
We call it impression management.
And just come back to the undefended heart,
Which is just the authentic me,
Letting go of who I think I should be in order to be who I really am.
Some other go-to's when it comes to intention setting,
Noticing fear and shifting toward love,
Noticing separation and shifting toward connection,
Noticing clinging and control and shifting toward allowing acceptance and this healthy surrender,
And noticing lack and shifting toward wholeness or abundance.
So whatever intentions make sense for you,
Spending a moment or two setting that intention.
Staying in the body,
Being able to access that ability to connect with others in this very tender and loving way might be an intention.
And now lastly,
Let's shift into a little meta practice,
Loving kindness.
May we all be happy,
May we all be healthy,
May we all feel at ease,
May we all feel loved.
That includes myself,
May I feel happy,
At ease.
May those who I feel close to feel happy,
Healthy,
At ease,
And loved.
May those that I have challenges with,
That I don't feel a connection to,
Feel happy,
Healthy,
At ease,
And loved.
Lastly,
May all beings up high,
Down low,
Near and far,
Feel happy,
Healthy,
At ease,
And loved.
Coming back into the body,
Noticing those inhales,
Noticing those exhales,
Having these intentions set,
Having your gratitude practice done,
Being tuned in to how you want to approach and engage throughout the day.
Thanks for listening.
Come back tomorrow with repetition and consistency.
This meditation will surely impact you and others in your world in healthy and beneficial ways.
Thanks again.
See you tomorrow.
