Full Body Gratitude – Gentle Movement & Meditation

Sometimes it can be hard to be grateful for our bodies. This meditation is appropriate for anyone who wants to explore how to be kind to their body. Whether you struggle with body image because of your past, weight, race, size, ability, aging, illness, or more, I invite you to join me in practicing gratitude. No yoga experience is necessary. This gentle movement and guided meditation practice was created for The Body Kindness Project 2017 Retreat.

Transcript

Welcome to the full body gratitude practice.

This is a gentle movement and guided meditation practice.

The practice will be guided from a reclined position on your back and will move into a comfortable seat.

But the entire practice is also easily accessible from a chair.

This practice is for you.

Feel free to follow along or take any comfortable poses or positions for yourself.

Simply holding the practice in the mind's eye will bring all the same benefits.

Take whatever position is most comfortable for you and for your body in this moment.

If you've chosen to be reclined,

Legs can be long or knees can be bent,

Feet flat on the floor or your mat.

Bring the attention now to the toes and the feet of the body.

Feel free to lift your legs with bent knees to form a 90 degree angle,

Shins coming parallel with the ceiling,

Or to not move at all.

Begin to stretch and scrunch the toes if that feels okay in your body.

And see if you can bring just one piece of gratitude,

One thing you can be grateful for in the toes and feet.

Perhaps they help you with your ability to balance.

Begin to circle at the ankles in one direction.

Perhaps the toes and feet support you throughout your day.

Go ahead and take the ankles in the other direction.

Perhaps the feet,

The toes,

Enhance your connection to the earth.

Whatever it is that you are grateful for,

Hold this in your heart as you bring attention and movement to the toes and feet.

Shifting your attention now to your legs.

Allow those circles to grow,

Now rotating or circling from the knee in one direction.

And bringing some gratitude to the legs.

Perhaps they give you the ability to move around in this world.

Go ahead and take the circles in the opposite direction.

Perhaps your legs allow you to walk,

Run,

Dance,

Or play a sport.

If you'd like,

I invite you to point and flex your toes,

Perhaps being grateful for feeling that line of connection or energy from the toes all the way up to the hips.

Bringing your attention now to the pelvis and the hips.

If you're reclined,

Bringing the feet flat to the mat and bending the knees.

If you're seated,

Assuming a comfortable seat,

Making any little adjustments you need to be comfortable here.

We're going to begin to play with the pelvic clock.

As you exhale,

Draw your pubic bone towards your rib cage,

Allowing your low back to press into the mat beneath you.

And as you inhale,

Return to a nice neutral spine.

Do this for a few rounds of breath,

Exhaling,

Drawing the clock towards you,

Inhaling,

Returning to neutral.

Perhaps having a sense of gratefulness here for the creativity and the playfulness that live in this area of the body.

Starting to expand this movement now.

As you continue your inhale,

Allow that pelvis to tip forward,

Creating a space between the low back and the floor.

And exhale back to a nice neutral spine and all the way through to that pelvic bone towards the rib cage.

If you'd like an image,

You can imagine lying on top of a clock.

As you exhale,

That clock tilts towards 12 or the belly button.

As you inhale,

You come through neutral and the clock tilts forward to six.

And as you exhale,

That clock comes back through neutral and tilts to 12.

Continue to move in this back and forth motion.

Perhaps bringing an attitude of gratitude to your sense of sexuality,

Maybe to the possibility or past experience of having given birth.

Perhaps finding one thing in the pelvis and hips that you can be grateful for today.

Bringing the attention now to your stomach.

Flowing the movement of the pelvis and then back to stillness.

Knowing at any point in time you can stop this exercise.

Simply take a comfortable position and bring the mind's eye to the area of the body.

Or perhaps hold the movement in the mind's eye,

Knowing that you will get all the same benefits.

Choosing whatever is right for your body in this moment.

If you'd like,

I welcome you to gently allow the knees to drop from side to side in a windshield wiper motion.

If you prefer,

The knees can stay towards the right side,

Resting perhaps on the floor or a block or bolster.

Can you bring a little attitude of gratitude to that stomach?

Perhaps it helps you with digestion to get things moving to keep the body nourished.

If the legs are resting on one side,

Go ahead and take them to the other.

Maybe your gratitude for this area of the body is that wonderful soreness that you feel after deep belly laughter.

To be in touch with the body,

In touch with the joy that comes from laughing.

Feel free to stay here in stillness or come back to that windshield wiper motion.

If and only if you're ready,

You can roll over onto your right side,

Perhaps using the right arm as a pillow for the head,

And carefully push up to a seated position.

Taking any seat that's appropriate for your body,

Whether that's cross-legged,

Legs long together in front of you or apart,

Butterfly legs,

Or perhaps to be seated on a stack of bolsters or in a chair.

There's no right or wrong here,

Simply choosing what's best for your body in this moment.

Bringing your attention now to your chest,

The hands can come to the knees,

And the crown can reach for the sky,

Breathing deeply into the chest,

Perhaps being grateful for your heart,

For the pounding,

The pulsing,

The movement of the blood throughout the body.

If it feels okay for you,

You can begin a nice,

Gentle seated cat-cow movement as you inhale,

Sending the chest forward and the gaze gently upwards.

As you exhale,

Bringing the gaze to the lap,

Allowing the shoulders to curl and reach towards the back of the room or chair.

Moving through this,

Inhale and exhale at your own pace,

Allowing the cat-and-cow motion to be small,

Large,

Or somewhere in between,

Whatever feels best in your body at this time.

Perhaps being grateful for your ability to give and receive love,

What is something that your chest,

This part of the body,

Can give to you?

Feel this in your heart as you continue to move.

Allow that cat-and-cow motion to grow smaller and smaller with each round through until you find a nice,

Neutral spine somewhere in the middle.

Taking a few more seconds here for cleansing breaths and finding one thing you can be grateful for about the chest.

Bringing your attention now to your shoulders,

You can begin to roll them backwards,

Up towards the ears,

Back,

Down towards the bottom of the body,

And around and up again,

Creating circles with the shoulders.

Perhaps the gratitude here is for their ability to help you carry items in daily life.

And the shoulder is in the opposite direction now.

Maybe the gratitude here is for the support that the shoulders bring to the upper body.

Whatever it is that you can be grateful for in the shoulders,

Hold this in your heart as we continue to move.

Allowing the attention now to gently shift into the arms and hands.

Begin opening the arms wide and then drawing them in to give yourself a hug with the left arm on top.

Finding one thing to be grateful for about your arms and hands.

Perhaps they allow you to hug,

To hold your loved ones close.

Inhale and go ahead and open those arms wide and stretch.

And as you exhale,

Give yourself another hug with the right arm on top.

Perhaps the arms and the hands allow you to play an instrument,

To create art.

Whenever you're ready,

You can go ahead and inhale,

Stretch those arms wide one more time,

And exhale,

Bring them down to the left.

If you'd like,

I invite you to scrunch your fingers into a fist and then stretch them apart from each other.

Moving perhaps with the breath here or at any pace that feels comfortable.

Maybe rotating at the wrists in one direction.

And then the other.

Perhaps the gratitude here is for the ability to touch,

To caress,

To clap.

Whatever it is you're grateful for.

Take a moment to thank your arms and hands for bringing that to you.

Take any other little movements that may feel good in your body today.

Shifting your attention now to your neck.

Inhaling the spine nice and tall up to the ceiling.

As you exhale,

Bring that right ear towards the right shoulder,

Finding one thing in the neck that you can be grateful for.

Perhaps your vocal cords,

Your ability to speak,

Sing,

Express yourself,

To convey your truth.

Inhale the head back up to center and exhale left ear to left shoulder.

Perhaps the gratitude here is for the vessel for the breath.

Maybe thank you for the ability to inhale and to exhale.

Inhale that head back up to center.

Go ahead and shift the attention now to the face.

If you'd like you can give a little gentle massage.

We'll begin at the jawline.

Perhaps opening and closing the jaw and finding one thing you can be grateful for about the mouth and jaw.

Perhaps it's your ability to taste,

To take in nourishment.

If you'd like you can allow that lower jaw to move from left to right,

Massaging from the bottom all the way up to that jaw bone.

Perhaps your mouth gives you the ability to communicate or the ability to kiss a loved one.

Finding just one thing that speaks to you today,

One thing in the body you can be grateful for.

One thing about that mouth and jaw.

Allowing the attention now to travel up to the nose.

Perhaps wiggling it from left to right,

Scrunching it and letting it go.

And thinking of one thing you're grateful for about your nose.

Perhaps the ability to smell flowers,

The forest on a walk,

Or a hot cup of morning coffee or tea.

Take a couple rounds of deep gentle breaths.

Notice the breath against the tip of the nostrils.

Give thanks to the nose for just one thing that it brings you.

Bringing the attention now to the eyes.

You can take your hands and rub them together quickly to create heat.

Taking about five to ten seconds here to really warm up those hands.

Whenever you're ready,

Gently placing cupped hands over the eyes.

And seeing if you can allow the eyes to relax,

The tension to melt away into the heat.

Feeling free to rub those hands together as many times as you'd like to heat them up a little bit more.

And bring them to the eyes,

Letting go,

Unwinding.

And finding just one thing you can be grateful for here.

Perhaps that's the ability to see lovely colors,

Sunrises,

Sunsets.

You can begin to take your pointer and third finger,

And if you'd like,

Gently massaging across the eyebrow in a circular pattern moving from inside to outside.

Perhaps the gratitude here is the ability to connect non-verbally to others.

To say words with your eyes.

You can allow the massaging fingers to drift to the temples,

Applying gentle pressure and creating a movement that feels good to your body.

Perhaps your eyes remind you of a parent or a loved one.

And that reminder helps you to feel close to them.

Whatever it is you're grateful for about your eyes,

Hold it in your heart.

And finally,

You can take those two fingers and gently draw them under the eye from the lower lid all the way out to the corner,

Being careful to avoid touching the eye itself.

Whenever you're ready,

Bringing the attention now to the ears.

If you'd like,

You can massage the outsides of the ears and bring a little gratitude for what the ears give you.

Perhaps the ability to listen to music,

To listen to loved ones,

Podcasts,

To connect in an auditory way.

If you'd like,

You can gently tug on the earlobes.

Maybe the attitude of gratitude here has to do with the ability to enjoy the silence.

When you feel ready,

If you'd like,

I invite you to begin massaging the skull and the scalp,

Working from the front of the hairline all the way to the back and thinking about one thing you can be grateful for here today.

Perhaps the skull holds the brain and that's where your gratitude lies.

If you'd like,

You can gently tug on the hair.

Maybe that scalp is holding your hair and that's something you're grateful for,

Keeping you warm in the winter months.

Continuing to massage if you've chosen to do so all the way back to where the neck and scalp connect.

Perhaps the gratitude here is for that crown chakra,

Connecting yourself to a higher power,

Your ancestors,

Mother Nature,

To each other,

To love or to the universe,

Connecting to whatever speaks to you.

And free to continue the massage here or to come back to stillness.

Finally bringing your attention to the body as a whole,

Bathing in the concept,

The idea,

The practice of gratitude and connection.

And I invite you to thank yourself for this practice and you can stay here bathing in gratitude for as long as you'd like.

And whenever you're ready,

You can wake the body up with gentle movements.

The light in me honors the light in you.

Namaste.

Namaste.

Reviews

perfect for a gentle morning wake up. Out of bed and feeling refreshed! Thank you Kanjana for sharing your Light and Love You help brighten my day. Namaste...

Fabulous way to connect with yr body. Thanks.

Thank you very much 🌺🌺🌺for this body love meditation 🙏Namaste

Just right, once the background noise stopped.

Thank you thank you for this!! Such a beautiful invitation to connect with and offer gratitude to the body. I so appreciated the recognition of different abilities and capacities, and all the permission offered to do whatever worked best for my body in that moment. Oh, and that "strange clicking sound" was a pup walking into the room! I thought it was super sweet to hear and brought a smile to my face!

Love the concept of linking gratitude with body scan - great voice, tempo and content--- thanks!😀💜

Beautiful way to start your day<3 thank you

Excellent start to any day. Gratitude is always the right attitude. Many thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much for the class

Thank You Peace and Blessings

Wonderful way to wake up!

This was inspiring. Thank you for sharing this with us.
💖🙏🏼💐🦋💕🌺

I loved it. Perfect in the morning and will be perfect in the afternoon after my rest/nap. ( I suffer from Meniere's Syndrome and am receiving great help from meditations during my afternoon rests. Will add mornings now. )

Loved this. A great way to start the day.

Thank you. Gentle has never been my style, and normally I resist it. But this was really helpful.

This was amazing! Feels soo good to acknowledge and be in gratitude for the miracle this temple is .