Thank you for joining me,
Jean Vitrano,
For this guided meditation.
Please get comfortable in your seat and invite yourself to ease into stillness,
Finding the position that allows you to have a relaxed presence through your body.
You can close your eyes if you'd like.
And to start,
You might do a simple scan through your body and see where you can let go of tension or extra effort that isn't necessary in this very moment.
Those places where we can simply remind ourselves that we can rest right now.
So you might bring your attention to your shoulders,
Let them relax.
Your arms can be heavy on your lap.
See if you can soften in your hips and feel the ground underneath you.
Let your weight settle right here,
Supported by the earth.
You might invite the muscles in your face to relax.
Your jaw,
All around your eyes,
Can be at ease.
During this meditation,
When you notice that your mind has wandered,
Simply let yourself begin again without any judgment.
Please be gentle with yourself.
We'll listen to the sound of the bell and then we'll work with a handful of phrases that you can coordinate with your inhale and your exhale.
You can use either the long phrase or the short phrase,
Breathing in the first part,
Breathing out the second part.
You you you As you breathe in,
I am breathing in.
As you breathe out,
I am breathing out.
I'm breathing in,
I'm breathing out.
Or simply breathing in,
Breathing out.
Invite yourself to follow your breathing just as it is in this moment,
Its rhythm,
Its depth,
Without needing to control it.
Not needing to change it.
Just breathing in,
Breathing out,
Just as you are.
This in breath,
This out breath.
If it helps,
You can bring your attention to where you sense the movement of the breath the most in this moment.
It might be in your belly,
Maybe at your chest,
Or at your nostrils.
Just sense yourself expanding and softening back in.
Present to yourself in this moment.
I'm breathing in,
I'm breathing out.
As you breathe in,
Aware of my grief.
As you breathe out,
I can make room for my grief.
Aware of grief,
Making room.
Aware of grief,
Making room.
Allowing your grief to be there just as it is today,
As if you're clearing a space for your grief.
You might see what does it feel like in your body as you make room for it?
Does it have a particular sensation?
Can see if it's located somewhere?
And let yourself breathe with the sensation,
With the experience of grief without needing to change it.
Breathing with it,
Making room for it,
Letting it have space.
Aware of grief,
Making room.
As you breathe in,
Aware of my grief.
As you breathe out,
Touching compassion for my grief.
Aware of grief,
Touching compassion.
Once we make room for our grief,
Then we can bring in compassion.
See if you can bring kind intention to your experience.
Be gentle with yourself.
You might invite patience in your process and let yourself be a friend to your grief.
Being present to yourself without trying to change how you feel.
And if you'd like,
You can place a hand on your chest and feel the warmth of your own hand,
The tenderness of your touch.
Feeling the rise and fall of your breath underneath your hand.
Bringing in tenderness and a gentle presence with yourself.
Aware of grief,
Touching compassion.
When it feels right for you,
You can let your hand come back down to your lap.
As you breathe in,
Aware of my grief.
As you breathe out,
Not adding on to my grief.
Aware of grief,
Not adding on.
In this experience of grieving,
We can practice letting go of the stories we may tell ourselves about the loss and instead just grieve.
Grieve without adding on to it.
Experiencing it just as it is.
Maybe helpful to say,
This grief feels like this right now.
This grief,
It feels like this right now.
Letting go of the what ifs and the if onlys and being with it as it is.
Aware of grief,
Not adding on.
As you breathe in,
Making room for this grief.
As you breathe out,
I know it is not all of me.
This grief,
It is not all of me.
At times,
It may feel like the grief you are experiencing is all of you,
But it is not.
There is more to you than your sadness,
Than your loss,
Than your pain.
And even if you can't feel it right now,
You can know that there is also joy in you,
Peace in you,
Inspiration in you,
And available to you.
There is enough room inside to hold it all.
And when you can experience joy or delight,
Awe or contentment,
Allow yourself that.
Even just small moments,
It does not diminish your loss.
You are worthy of feeling all of your feelings.
There is enough room inside of you to hold it all.
This grief,
It is not all of me.
As you breathe in,
Knowing that all things change.
As you breathe out,
This pain will also change.
All things change.
This pain will change.
We know that nothing stays the same.
We can experience painful feelings and not attach to them.
They will arise and fade away and arise again for as long as is needed until we can truly let them go in their own time.
For right now,
This experience is just like this.
For right now,
This experience is just like this.
All things change.
This pain will change.
To conclude this meditation,
We can remind ourselves that what we have had to let go has only been transformed.
Something cannot go to nothing.
Nothing's lost.
It is only changed.
You might take a moment to thank yourself for showing up to yourself in this practice.
May you have peace.
May you have peace.
May you have peace.
