Hi all,
Welcome to the first I am mindful meditation.
Our world is currently going through a tough time and people are experiencing a tremendous amount of physical and emotional pain.
I myself have been unwell this past week with the temperature,
So I thought to create this meditation for anyone who is feeling physically unwell and displaying symptoms of coronavirus or just generally unwell.
The goal of this meditation is not to get rid of the pain and sensations in your body,
But to simply learn to see and accept them for all that they are,
Sensations.
When we give meaning to sensations and attach stories through thoughts such as,
When will this end?
Why is this happening to me?
Or even labeling the sensations as pain.
We add another layer of suffering that we need not have to our current experience.
When we can learn to accept and feel the sensations in our body and be mindful of them and turn down the chatter in our mind around them,
Sometimes the pain can lessen.
Also fear adds stress to the body which dampens the immune response,
So just be aware of those feelings in your body and breathe into them as best as you can and come back to the present moment exploring them.
Let's get started.
Please find a space in your home where you will be understood for the next little while.
Get cozy and grab a blanket and pillow and either lie down or get in a seated position,
However you feel most comfortable.
Start to bring awareness to your body and breathe.
Place your hands on your stomach or palms facing upwards either side of you.
If you feel comfortable,
Gently begin to close your eyes.
Let's start by taking a few rounds of breath.
Breathing in for 6 seconds,
Holding for 5 seconds and out for 7 seconds.
Continue like this for a few more rounds of breath,
Observing the rise and fall of your stomach and the cool air that comes in and out of your nostrils.
It doesn't matter what the number sequence for breathing you choose is,
Just as long as the exhale is longer than the inhale to trigger the relaxation response.
Now keep breathing and start to notice the feeling of your body resting on the couch or bed,
Chair or wherever you are and notice the feeling of the blanket or your clothes against your skin.
Start to also bring your awareness to sounds around you in the room nearby and also far away.
Notice if any judgement pops up for you or a desire to move when your mind wanders as minds always do,
Just observe it,
Be kind to yourself and refocus on just noting what you can feel and hear as well as breathe.
Let's come into the now together.
Let's begin this version of a body scan and start to feel your feet,
Gently scan through your feet and toes and notice sensations.
Notice the temperature,
Any pins and needles or anything else happening for you here.
Move into the sensations and observe what you feel.
Focus on feeling where the sensations go.
Do they stay in one place or do they move?
Now do the same for your calves,
Knees and ankles of both legs and observe what you feel.
Whenever you notice yourself attaching a thought to what you're experiencing,
Don't get caught up in it.
Just notice it and let it go and return to observing as best as you can.
Keep that deep breathing happening as we work our way through the body towards our stomach.
Like an explorer,
You're searching and exploring areas of your lower and mid regions of the body.
Now move your awareness to your hands,
Your wrists and arms.
Keep breathing as you take your time exploring and noticing and sitting with these feelings and accepting and just being okay with them.
You're doing a great job.
This isn't about trying to change any feelings or sensations again,
It's just about sitting with them,
Noticing them and your thoughts and coming back to accepting and observing the sensations.
Continuing to breathe,
Let's move our awareness to the chest and shoulders and then throat and noticing what's here for you.
Now move to the face,
Head and jaw.
Take another few deep breaths and now we're going to try something new,
A little bit experimental but a bit more of a healing meditation now that we've learned to accept our sensations in our body.
Let's begin at the toes again and I want you guys to imagine a beautiful bright white healing light moving up your body and entering your bloodstream,
Your muscles and bones.
As you keep breathing it flows through your legs,
Your arms,
Your stomach,
Chest,
In through your throat and all the way up to your head and face.
This healing white light is always accessible to you whenever you need it.
Taking another deep breath,
Let's start to bring our awareness back to the breath and feeling your body against the surface that you're on.
Start to listen in for sounds around you again.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes.
