Welcome,
And thank you for joining me,
Jean Vitrano,
In practicing this guided meditation.
We live in a very fast-paced,
Busy,
Hectic world with access to incoming information at all times.
With these conditions,
We more than ever need to strengthen our ability to choose not to fill space and time and to keep us from being overwhelmed,
Crowded,
Rushed.
We can water those seeds of peace in us by refocusing our attention.
This meditation is intended to do that.
Allow yourself to get into a comfortable position,
Preferably in a position that allows you to be seated and upright so that you can be present and at ease in your body.
Take a moment to pause this recording if you need to,
To get comfortable.
You can close your eyes if you'd like,
Or just slightly lower them with a soft gaze on a fixed point in front of you.
And when you come into stillness,
Take a moment to simply arrive in your body and invite yourself to move into a place of observing and of being just as you are.
Let your weight drop down into your seat,
Allowing the surface beneath you to support your weight,
Allowing yourself to feel grounded,
Solid.
See where you might be holding any tension that you can consciously let go of or places that might be working where you can do less or soften,
Allowing your shoulders and your arms to rest.
Your hands can be at ease.
Notice any holding in your hips or in your belly and see what you can consciously relax.
Bring your attention to the muscles around your eyes and invite them to rest,
Resting the corners of your eyes,
Behind your eyes,
Between your eyes,
Inviting space into your forehead as if it's a clear blue sky,
Not thinking too hard.
And then shift your attention to your jaw and see if you're holding in your jaw at all.
You might invite some space between your upper and lower teeth.
It's okay if your lips part a bit,
Allowing your jaw to rest.
From this place of invited ease in your body,
Now bring your attention to your breathing if you haven't already.
And without changing it,
Simply start to follow along with its rhythm.
So don't think about your breathing rather just experience it.
Simply sense the breath coming in as it comes in and it going out as it goes out.
There's no need to do anything special.
Just following its natural rhythm.
However deep or slow it is,
However fast,
Shallow,
Whatever it might be,
Experiencing it just as it is.
You might start by simply saying silently in,
Out.
And we will listen to the sound of the bell three times following our breathing,
Hearing the sound as it arises and as it floats away.
The sound of the bell.
The sound of the bell.
The sound of the bell.
To help create a sense of spaciousness in our lives,
We can start by choosing to quiet the mind.
It is a conscious decision and we can do it over and over again to let our busy thoughts go.
We will work now with some phrases and when you notice that you are thinking,
Choose to let the thought go and come back to your breath and to the phrase.
You can remind yourself that you can always come back to the thoughts later.
But for right now,
You are taking some space to just be with your breath in this moment,
Not planning,
Not doing,
Not revisiting.
And we will take one phrase at a time and you can say the phrase to yourself silently coordinating the words with your inhale and your exhale.
As you breathe in,
You say the first part of the phrase and as you breathe out,
You can say the second part.
And I'll offer a long version of the phrase or a short version.
You can choose either one.
Every couple of breaths,
You might say them again and there'll be some silence in between.
The first one is simply,
I am breathing in,
I am breathing out.
I am breathing in,
I am breathing out.
You're just in,
Out.
Feeling the rise and fall of your belly,
Of your rib cage,
Your chest.
I am breathing in,
I am breathing out.
Giving yourself the gift of doing just that,
Nothing more.
And the second phrase.
On each inhale,
I create inner space.
On each exhale,
I let go.
On each inhale,
I create inner space.
On each exhale,
I let go.
We're simply creating space,
Letting go.
Creating space,
Letting go.
Experiencing what it's like to give yourself this time,
This space to just be,
To let go of thinking,
Planning,
Doing,
Improving,
To let go of tension.
And the next phrase.
Allowing my mind to grow quiet,
Allowing my body to be still.
Allowing my mind to grow quiet.
Allowing my body to be still.
We're just quiet stillness.
And again giving yourself permission to have inner quiet,
To be still,
Not going,
Not doing.
And even if there are sounds around you of life moving around you,
You can still have this quiet stillness in yourself right here,
Right now.
And your thoughts take you away,
Letting yourself begin again,
No judgment.
And the last phrase.
I am here.
This time is mine to enjoy.
I am here,
This time is mine to enjoy.
We're just here enjoying,
Here enjoying.
Enjoying that we have the choice to pause,
To be right here,
To enjoy this breath,
Not doing.
Being alive in this moment.
Enjoying having this space.
Here,
Enjoying.
And before we close this meditation,
You might take a moment and simply thank yourself for pausing,
For practicing,
For creating space in yourself.
You might notice if anything in you feels different than when you first sat down.
I bow to you.
Thank you for joining me today.
We'll close with a bell.
We'll close with a bell.
We'll close with a bell.
