Welcome to the Garden of Gratitude Meditation.
Let's start with sitting in a comfortable position.
You can sit either with your legs crossed in an easy pose,
Or you can sit on your feet in kneeling pose.
You can have a cushion underneath you or behind you if that makes you feel comfortable.
Keeping your back nice and straight,
Place your hands onto your knees.
Your hands can be faced downwards if you want to send your energy into your body.
Or you might choose to have your hands facing upwards,
Ready to receive all the energy around you.
Gently close down your eyes and start to settle into your meditation.
Take a full breath in through your nose and a long breath out through your nose.
Another full breath in and a long breath out.
Notice how with each breath your body is relaxing and becoming still.
Can you notice where you feel your breath in your body?
Is it under your nose?
Maybe it's in your chest?
Perhaps in your belly?
Notice where you feel your breath come in and out of your body.
Keeping your eyes closed,
I'd like you to imagine that you are walking down a path.
There are trees on both sides and you can hear birds singing in the trees.
With each step you take,
Your body feels more and more relaxed.
As we walk down the path,
You put your hand in your pocket.
Inside your pocket you can feel some seeds.
You have seeds of kindness,
Seeds of compassion and seeds of gratitude.
Today we're going to plant seeds of gratitude.
When you come to the entrance of your garden,
You can feel the grass beneath your feet.
The grass is a vivid green.
It looks so soft.
Notice what it feels like in between your toes.
As you walk you start to sprinkle your seeds of gratitude and as you do,
You think of all the wonderful people in your life.
Your family,
Your friends or other trusted adults who care for you and keep you safe.
Is there one particular person that comes to mind when you think of all the people that you are grateful for?
Next you feel grateful for having food in your belly,
For wearing nice clothes and for having somewhere warm to sleep at night.
As you sprinkle the last of your seeds,
You remind yourself that you are grateful for being you.
Think about everything that you like about yourself.
All the things that you are good at,
All the things that you've learnt so far this year,
All the times that you've helped someone else or showed kindness towards yourself or someone else.
Doesn't it feel good to remember everything that you're grateful for?
You finish sprinkling your seeds of gratitude in the soil.
Then the gentle rain starts to fall.
Can you feel it on your fingertips?
Then the warm sun comes out.
Notice its warmth on your face.
Together the rain and the sun help your seeds to grow.
They grow into a sea of beautiful flowers.
There are red,
Purple,
Yellow,
Blue and white flowers.
Can you see them all?
One flower catches your attention.
It's a large pink flower.
Walk over to the pink flower,
Take a big breath in and smell this beautiful scent.
Notice how the smell of the flower makes you feel happy and joyful.
There's so many beautiful flowers in this garden of gratitude.
All these flowers have grown.
It's time for you to leave your garden now.
But know that it's here for you and you can visit it whenever you like.
Anytime you remember something that you're grateful for or if you want to remember all the wonderful things that you're grateful for.
Take one last look around your lovely garden of gratitude and take a few deeper breaths as you do.
Slowly start to wiggle your fingers and slowly start to wiggle your toes.
You might want to stretch your hands up above your head.
You might even want to have a yawn.
And when you're ready you can gently open your eyes.
Congratulations on completing today's meditation.
Namaste.
