Congratulations on your wedding day!
This is a big day,
So many reasons to celebrate.
All the excitement and the planning and the chaos,
It's important to take a few minutes for yourself.
To really ground yourself into this moment so you can find more peace and joy throughout the rest of your day.
Feel free to do this meditation by yourself or share it with the wedding party.
Throughout our lives,
And especially during special events such as a wedding,
We plan a lot.
We plan and plan and plan,
With the hopes that with all the planning,
Everything will go perfectly.
Everything will go the way we want it to,
Exactly how we've pictured in our minds.
The problem,
However,
Is that no matter how much planning we do,
We cannot guarantee that everything in our lives will go exactly the way we want it to.
This is the nature of life for everyone.
We can't control everything that happens or the emotions that arise in us as a result of those events.
What we do have control of,
Though,
Is how we respond to our emotions.
When we react,
Instead of responding skillfully,
We cause ourselves more discomfort.
However,
When we respond with an understanding of the unpredictable nature of the world and with compassion for ourselves and others,
We can navigate difficult emotions like frustration more skillfully.
We can allow ourselves to feel the strong emotion,
Breathe deeply and remain rooted,
And let the difficult emotion pass.
This is the practice of equanimity.
Much like a tree,
We want ourselves to remain grounded.
When unexpected things happen,
Our branches will sway in the wind,
But we will remain firmly rooted in the ground of our inner strength.
Another advantage we have as a tree is that we have the most spectacular view of our surroundings.
We are not low to the ground,
Torn apart by each difficulty we face,
But rather,
We have a wide view of everything around us.
Let us remember today and every day that we are trees.
We will notice all of the beauty,
Love and joy that surrounds us and we will meet our strong or difficult emotions with equanimity.
If your eyes are not already closed,
I invite you to close your eyes now or allow them to rest half open in a slight downward gaze.
Then finding a position that is upright and alert yet comfortable with your feet firmly planted to the ground.
And then do a quick scan of your body,
Releasing any obvious tension,
Relaxing the brow line,
Loosening the jaw,
Resting your shoulders down away from your ears and relaxing the belly.
Now we are going to begin with a short breathing exercise and then move into a body scan to help us relax.
We'll start by taking a few guided breaths and then you can return to your natural breathing pattern.
The purpose of this exercise is to activate the autonomic nervous system by slowing down our heart rate.
We will breathe in through our noses for five seconds,
Hold for five seconds,
Then breathe out slowly through pursed lips for ten seconds.
We will do this three times.
Now I invite you to breathe in two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Hold two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Exhale.
Inhale,
Hold,
Exhale.
Inhale,
Hold,
And exhale.
Now you may return to your natural breathing pattern.
Today we are going to do a body scan with guided imagery at the end.
We'll begin at the top of our bodies and work our way down,
First bringing awareness to the forehead or brow line and the eyes,
Taking a moment to notice any tension that may be present and gently letting it go.
Then moving your awareness down to your jaw,
Simply observing the muscles in the jaw.
Relaxing any tension that may be present.
Releasing your tongue from the roof of your mouth.
Now bringing your awareness down to your neck and shoulder muscles,
Relaxing the shoulders down,
Away from the ears,
And imagining any tension slowly melting away.
Now drawing your awareness on down through your arms,
Down to the tips of your fingers,
Imagining that you can feel your arms from the inside out,
Releasing any tension or tightness.
Then bringing your attention to the muscles of your mid to lower back and your abdomen,
Letting go of any tension that may be present.
Relaxing all of those muscles.
Then bringing your awareness on down through your pelvic region,
Then into the thighs,
Down to your knees and your calves.
Noticing and releasing any tension and feeling your legs from the inside out.
Now finally bringing your attention down to the tops of your feet and down to your toes.
And then drawing your awareness down to the bottom of your feet and feeling where your feet are making contact with the floor beneath you.
Now I want you to imagine roots,
Thick roots growing out the bottom of your feet deep into the ground.
Let it make you feel sturdy and stable and grounded.
Take a moment to notice all the other trees that you are connected to.
To send some gratitude for all the causes and conditions that brought you to this moment today.
All the love that went into making today possible,
All the joy.
Allow yourself to feel wrapped and held by this love.
And once again bringing your attention back to the breath without trying to change it.
Just noticing the physical sensations as you breathe in and out.
Perhaps the cool air passing through your nose as you inhale.
Or your chest or belly moving and brushing against your shirt.
Now for a moment,
Picture this day full of joy and love.
Picture yourself smiling,
Laughing,
Full of happiness and light.
Your heart is already full with the love you give yourself.
Any other love you are given today just overflows your already full heart.
Spend the rest of this day in this light,
This vision,
Keeping your roots firmly planted to the ground so that any obstacles that may come your way may blow your branches but not tear you down.
Keep looking out from above at that wide expansive view.
Letting yourself soak up all the beautiful moments.
