Good morning.
Meditation can be a wonderful way to start your day,
So congratulations on choosing to meditate to start this day,
And thank you for joining me.
I'm Steve Walker,
A meditation teacher here at Insight Timer.
Let's first get settled and find a comfortable position,
Either seated on the floor,
Maybe on a cushion,
Or a blanket,
Or in a chair with your feet on the ground.
Now,
Let's do a little breathing.
First,
Close your eyes.
Now,
Take a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in through your nose,
And hold it at the top for a second or two.
Then,
Slowly exhale through your mouth.
Repeat this a few times.
One of the great things that meditation can do first thing in the morning is get us in touch with our bodies.
So,
Let's take a few moments and do a body scan.
Start at the crown of your head,
And slowly,
Bit by bit,
Work your way down to your toes,
And see how they're all doing.
How does your brain feel?
Is it cloudy,
Sluggish,
Bright,
Excited,
Busy?
How about your eyes?
And then your nose,
Your mouth,
Your jaw.
Just slowly work your way down,
All the way down to your toes.
If you'd like to express some gratitude for any particular body part,
That's great.
And you may want to notice if there are any body parts that need a little more TLC today.
Maybe even focus your breathing on those parts to try to relax them or heal them.
Now,
Let's come back to our breathing.
Take another few long,
Slow,
Deep breaths in through your nose,
Hold at the top,
And then an even longer exhale through your mouth.
Now,
Let's set some intentions for the day.
It's really helpful to set intentions first thing in the day,
So that you can live with purpose,
And meaning,
And intentionality throughout your day.
This can be about the kind of energy you want to put out.
Do you want to be generating a calming energy,
Or a positive energy,
Or a loving energy?
And what kind of focus do you want to have either throughout your day or for parts of your day?
For instance,
You might have a lot of things that you need to do today,
So you want to put out the intention of productivity.
You may have some really difficult conversations to have today,
So you may want to put out an intention of empathy,
Or curiosity,
Or being a good listener,
Being a good problem solver.
If you're going to be with family or friends,
You may want to put out an intentionality of being warm and nurturing and loving.
So think about the day ahead,
And what kind of energy and intentions you want to put out today.
Now,
Pick a couple of those intentions,
And repeat them to yourself silently,
Almost like a silent mantra.
For instance,
If your intentions today are about calm energy and being loving and curious,
Then maybe you want to repeat calm,
Loving,
Curious.
Calm,
Loving,
Curious.
You can even try to repeat this little mantra on an in-breath,
And then just be silent on an exhale.
Now,
Let's practice a little gratitude to start our day.
Think of one or two people in your life that you're extremely grateful for.
Picture them.
Even say to them in your mind,
I'm so grateful to have you in my life.
I love you deeply.
What else are you grateful for in your life?
It could be waking up in the morning.
It could be the sunrise.
It could be your body,
This beautiful vessel that will carry you throughout your life.
It could be your job or your home.
It could be your health.
Whatever it is,
Silently express gratitude for those things that you're particularly grateful for this morning.
Let's finish our morning meditation by coming back to our breath.
Once again,
Take a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in through your nose and hold it at the top for a second or two.
Then a nice,
Long exhale through your mouth.
Repeat this one or two more times.
Allow your focus to come back to the room.
Open your eyes.
Thank you for joining me for this morning meditation.
I hope you have a day full of laughter,
Love,
And joy.
