Welcome,
Beautiful one.
Thanks for joining me for this mindfulness meditation to help you deepen or develop your gratitude practice.
Begin by getting into a comfortable position with your head,
Neck,
And spine straight,
Or in whatever position feels good for you that you can be alert yet relaxed.
And if it feels good,
Go ahead and close your eyes so you can focus inward.
If it feels better to soft focus,
Keeping your eyes open,
That's okay too.
And begin by taking a nice deep breath in and letting it out.
And then taking another deep breath in and on the exhalation,
Just allow your body to release.
And then breathing in a way that feels comfortable to you,
Finding your breath in your body,
The rise and the fall,
The in and the out.
And if you find that your mind wanders anytime during this,
That's okay.
Just notice where it went and gently bring it back to your breathing.
And as you're focusing on your breathing,
Bring some gentle curiosity to the very act of breathing.
Feeling some gratitude for the way the breath nourishes you,
Oxygenates you.
Managing our breath can help us to feel more relaxed or energized.
But most of the time,
We're just breathing thousands of times during the day,
Bringing some gratitude for the breath.
And as you continue to breathe easily and naturally,
Bring your awareness now to your body,
Noticing the soles of your feet,
The physical sensations.
Perhaps you notice some tingling or some buzzing.
Wiggle your toes a little,
Come up into the tops of your feet,
Come up into your ankles and your calves and your shins,
The tops of your knees,
The backs of your knees,
Your thighs,
Your bottom as it rests in the chair or the bed that's supporting you.
Finding a sense of gratitude for this chair or this bed that is supporting you.
You don't even have to think about it.
It's just there.
Coming up now into your lower back and your lower belly and into your diaphragm and your rib cage and your chest,
Your middle back and your upper back,
All the way up to your shoulders and then down into your arms,
Both of them,
Down into your hands,
Wiggling your fingers a bit and just bringing to mind all of the things that your hands do for you and for others during the day and bringing some gratitude in for your hands.
Coming back up to your shoulders and the back of your head and your neck and the top of your head,
Down into your forehead,
Around your eyes and your nose,
Your mouth,
Your jaws,
Your ears,
Bringing some gratitude for the eyes that see,
The ears that hear,
The nose that smells,
The mouth that tastes.
Our experience of life is greatly influenced by our senses,
Deepens our experience,
Becoming grateful for your senses and now getting a general sense of your body and feeling some gratitude towards your body,
The way that it moves through your day supporting you,
All of the things that it can do.
Sometimes we can have a not great relationship with our bodies because of aches and pains or injuries or feeling that our body isn't right in some way but for right now just bringing gratitude to this body,
Your body.
And now returning your attention to your breath once again and then bringing to mind three things for which you are grateful.
Allowing a little smile perhaps to come across your face and noticing what happens in your body as you focus on these things or people or situations for which you are grateful.
When we're soaking up the feelings of gratitude,
We can feel less clenching,
Less gripping.
Our jaws are softer,
Our chest is more open,
There's more room between our shoulders and our ears.
So as you soak up those feelings of gratitude,
Allow them to permeate all the way down to the core of your being.
And once again returning to your breath.
Sometimes gratitude can be a difficult emotion.
Sometimes we get caught up in what we should or shouldn't be grateful for and then we can feel guilty.
We can feel some resistance.
And if that happens for you as we're going through this exercise,
This meditation,
Please try not to judge or criticize.
Just notice that that's happening for you and then gently bring your attention back to your breath and start again with a curious,
Mindful awareness.
For what are you grateful?
The sun,
The moon,
The stars,
Mountains,
Grasslands,
Flowers,
Playful puppies,
Kittens,
Children's laughter.
For what are you grateful?
Grateful for moments of peace and tranquility.
Grateful for a pause,
A time of re-centering.
For what are you grateful?
Becoming mindful of the little things.
I am thankful.
I am thankful.
I'm appreciative.
I am grateful.
I am grateful.
I am grateful for the beauty all around me.
I'm grateful for the people who have gone before me and paved the way.
Bringing your attention back to the breath and bringing some mindful awareness to your body once again.
Noticing how it feels to have soaked up some of this gratitude.
We know that our brains have a negativity bias so we're prone to thinking in a negative way.
But practicing gratitude and allowing yourself to soak up the good feelings can actually help you to rewire your brain to be a little more sticky for the positive things as well.
Wiggling your fingers and toes and maybe giving a little stretch.
Feeling grateful for the opportunity to move after being still for so long.
And then very gently,
With soft eyes,
Return to the room whenever you're ready.
Namaste.
