Welcome to this gratitude practice with Helena from Giddy Studios.
And just joining your practice now with a beginner's mind,
Arriving into this session,
Meeting yourself fully where you are,
Getting really comfortable in your seat,
Or if you're lying down,
Adjusting your posture,
Closing over your eyes if that feels comfortable for you,
Or if you're keeping them open,
Just find a static spot to hold your gaze.
And now taming the mind by dropping into the body,
Taking a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in and releasing your breath back out slowly.
Taking a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in through the nose and releasing your breath back out slowly.
Taking a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in through the nose and releasing your breath back out slowly like you're blowing out through a straw.
Continuing our breath practice now for a couple of breaths without my voice.
And we're now going to bring to mind and heart some aspects of our lives that we're thankful for,
Appreciative of,
Grateful for.
I invite you to scan your life for all the experiences that you get to do,
That you get to have,
That you enjoy doing.
It could be connecting with your friends,
With family,
It could be cooking a favorite meal,
It could be going for a walk,
Or participating in whatever sport you love.
And just in the space now for a couple of moments without my voice,
Visualizing all of the experiences that you really enjoy doing.
Visualizing all of the experiences that you really enjoy doing.
Some perhaps you haven't done for a while,
Or maybe others you do regularly.
But just pondering,
Visualizing,
Reflecting on all of these experiences that you love to do,
And that you get to do,
Or maybe you haven't done in a while,
But you know that when you do these things,
You feel better.
Visualizing them,
Visualizing yourself doing one of them now.
Seeing all of the detail,
Savoring how it feels to do this activity.
Noticing how you're feeling when you visualize yourself doing this activity.
And noticing how it feels to be reminded of the experiences that you thoroughly enjoy.
Then letting go of this visual,
Taming the mind,
Calming the mind,
Taming the mind,
Coming back home to the body,
Taking a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in,
And releasing the breath back out.
Long,
Slow,
Deep breath in,
Releasing the breath back out.
And now moving to reflecting on your life with broad brushstrokes.
How you contribute to your own life,
The efforts that you make every day to show up for yourself.
Whether it's through work,
Or study,
Or tasks that you strive to complete as best you can.
Just scanning your life now with broad brushstrokes.
And observing where you have achieved so much triumph over adversity,
Perhaps.
With broad brushstrokes,
Scanning what's coming up for you when you reflect on all that there is in your life to be thankful for,
As a result of the efforts that you have made as best you can.
Observing for a moment the alignment between material gain and wholeheartedness.
Scanning where we are in balance there.
Maybe some bits are a little bit off balance,
And that's okay.
Allowing whatever is coming up for us to be there,
And celebrating what we have achieved so far.
And then dropping back into the moment,
Letting go of that visual of our lives,
Where we've achieved so much.
Striving for balance as best we can.
Letting go of all of those visuals now,
And taming the mind by coming back to the body,
Through the breath,
In through the nose,
Out through the nose,
Out through the mouth,
Like we're blowing out through a straw,
In through the nose,
Out through the mouth,
Like we're blowing out through a straw,
In through the nose,
Out through the mouth,
Like we're blowing out through a straw.
Out through the mouth,
Like we're blowing out through a straw.
And now bringing to mind a visual of our communities,
Those groups of people that are in our life that we are so thankful for.
Some might be close,
Close community,
Maybe family,
Maybe friends.
Visualizing those groups of people now that we are so thankful to have in our lives.
Seeing all those groups of people,
Might be just a tiny number of people,
It's okay,
It doesn't have to be fast and broad.
Just noticing when we're appreciating and bringing gratitude for those people in our lives.
Who is coming up for us?
Settling on someone now that it's easy to feel warmth and kindness towards.
Letting go of complex relationships,
Complex communities,
Complex connections of which there are many in this world of ours.
And settling the anchor now by visualizing somebody in our world that it's easy to feel kindness and compassion towards.
Visualizing them.
Observing what we appreciate about this connection.
Could be the authenticity that's there.
Could be the depth of kindness that exists,
Compassion,
The joy,
Pure fun.
Sitting with a visual of this person now as we see them.
See their face,
See their features.
And then feel and sense the warmth that we have inside towards this being.
It could even be our pet.
It might even be a person that has gone before us that's no longer with us,
But is in our heart.
So settling again now and choosing a final visual of that being or that person.
Feeling their warmth,
Their energy.
Bringing to heart what we observe about this being,
This person.
Savoring that feeling within,
In our heart space.
And imagining now for a moment that we are going to write a little note of appreciation towards that person,
That being.
What would we say?
Breathing in and out as we imagine what we'd say.
Feeling that warmth and kindness as we send this appreciation and gratitude outwards.
Observing what we're feeling as we savor what it feels like to appreciate somebody else.
For their appreciation of us and their relationship with us and how they have given to us generously in one way or another.
Then coming out of the mind,
Into the body,
Into the heart.
Breathing in.
Breathing out like we're blowing out through a straw.
Breathing in through the nose.
Breathing out like we're blowing out through a straw.
Breathing in through the nose.
Breathing out like we're blowing out through a straw.
Breathing in.
Breathing out and letting go like we're blowing out through a straw.
And scanning the body from our head and our face.
Relaxing all the muscles in our face and our shoulders,
Our chest,
Our heart space,
Our tummy,
Our legs,
Our knees,
Our lower legs,
Our feet.
Feeling grounded,
Feeling strong,
Feeling steady.
Feeling fulfilled from our practice of appreciation and gratitude.
And for the last couple of moments as we sit here with the resting breath now.
Noticing how do I feel?
How does my head feel?
How does my body feel?
How does my heart feel?
And gently,
Kindly coming back to the sounds and the space around us.
Before we gently open our eyes and notice the first three things we see around us.
