Welcome to this Kids in Nature Listen Close meditation.
My name is Jessica Amos.
I am founder of Stay With Yourself,
The practice of being who you are,
Where you are.
No matter where you are,
What you're doing,
Or what age you are,
You can do this meditation as a way to bring you closer to present moment awareness with nature as your guide.
Find a spot outside to sit,
Stand,
Or lay down comfortably.
If you need to pause this meditation to get comfortable,
I encourage you to do so.
And when you are ready,
Hit play again.
Now that we are comfortable,
Let's start with a short breathing practice.
Bring awareness to your breath,
Moving in and out.
And begin breathing a little deeper.
You can take a deep breath in through your nose.
Breathe all the way down into your tummy.
Imagine your tummy as an empty balloon being filled with air on each inhale.
And on each exhale,
Exhale through the mouth and imagine your tummy is softening and releasing tension.
Breathe deep in through the nose down into your tummy.
Expand and exhale.
Release tension.
Let's do that a couple more times.
In through the nose,
Exhale out through the mouth.
Release your shoulders and hips.
Relax your body.
Inhale through the nose,
Exhale through the mouth.
Letting yourself relax and be here outside.
With your eyes closed,
Let's take a minute or two to just be still and listen to the sounds around us.
Do you hear the wind,
The birds,
The bugs,
Vehicles driving by,
Planes in the air?
Just listen near and far and see what you can hear.
Let's take a minute or two to listen to the sounds around us.
If you become distracted by thoughts,
Just come back to listening.
See what you can hear closest to you.
And now see what can you hear?
What's the farthest sound away from you that you can hear far in the distance?
Listen far with your ears.
Listen up into the sky.
What do you hear above you?
Listen down close to the earth.
What do you hear below you?
And now find a sound that you really enjoy listening to out here outside.
And just listen and notice the sound.
Let it surprise you.
Let it delight you.
Let yourself be curious about what you're hearing.
This is a very fun practice that you can do anytime,
Anywhere.
Not just outside but inside too.
If you're becoming overwhelmed,
You can just stop.
You can close your eyes and just listen to the sounds around you.
And just take them in.
Allow yourself to be surprised by what you hear.
And if you're doing this meditation with other people,
When it's over,
You can take turns talking about the different sounds that you heard,
What you enjoyed about them,
What you think about them.
Being able to stop and listen gives your brain and your body a rest.
And you're allowed to just be here now,
Taking in what surrounds you with joy and curiosity.
Thank you for sharing your meditation practice with me today.
Until next time,
May you stay with yourself today and always.
