Hello and welcome to your self check-in meditation.
My name is Jillian and I am honored that you chose to practice with me today.
You can move through this meditation in either a comfortable seated position or laying down on your back.
We will move through a series of steps that start with the external body and gradually turn inward to find any truths lying within.
You will hear a soft chime before each step of moving deeper.
And as you begin to settle into your practice,
I want you to ask yourself,
When was the last time you checked in on yourself?
We ask friends and passers-by all the time how they are doing or feeling and maybe if they are a really close friend or family member,
You might ask them if you can offer support in any way.
For this meditation,
I encourage you to take that same outlook.
Imagine you are taking a seat beside yourself as a loving friend and asking how you are truly doing without judgment or expectations,
Only loving and compassionate warmth.
Starting with the physical body,
Become a witness to any sensations you are experiencing.
Observe what parts of the body are connected to the ground.
Maybe your sits bones and hips,
Your legs or maybe your shoulders if you are laying down.
Can you feel the steadfast support of earth below you,
Granting you permission to relax and ground down.
Notice if there is any tension or tightness in the body.
Maybe you have sore or stiff muscles.
Observe if you are engaging any of those muscles and try to soften them down.
Can you release through the legs,
The glutes,
Relax the belly and the shoulders,
The arms simply existing in a natural state with your fingers curling in comfortably.
Are you clenching through your jaw?
Or furrowing your brows?
Let the cheeks become heavy and soften through the forehead.
Notice if any negative thoughts or feelings of poor self-worth enter the mind.
If they do,
Be sure to let them move on.
Envision those thoughts simply passing by.
Take a few moments here,
Being fully present in the wonderful gift that is your body.
Without changing anything,
Start to notice your breathing.
Is there any restriction across the chest?
How does your breath affect your physical body?
Where does your breath go?
Is it filling into your upper chest?
Can you feel your lungs rise and fall?
See if you can take control here,
Breathing into just your chest,
The space below your collarbones,
And then softly let it all go.
Now see if you can send your breath a little deeper,
Filling into your lungs,
Feeling the ribs softly expand.
Control your exhale,
Feel your ribs fall.
Breathe into the collarbones,
The chest,
And this time deep into your belly.
See if you can hold it for a moment,
Allowing oxygen to fully pass into your blood before letting go of every last drop.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Breathing in.
Continue to breathe here,
Just like that,
Noticing the effects of your breath on your physical body and letting calm wash over you with every breath.
Start to bring a certain awareness to your heart space.
Focus your mind's eye in the space between your chest and back body,
Finding your heart.
Now imagine yourself taking a seat beside your heart within that space.
A beautiful organ that can feel some of the most intense emotions.
Now you can either imagine or you can physically move your left palm to your chest,
Connecting deep within.
Can you feel anything there?
A soft beat echoing its rhythm throughout your body.
Does your heart feel the same way?
Does your heart space feel restricted or is there a wide expanse?
Ask your heart how it is doing.
What can it feel?
What is the actual mood of your heart?
Is there a sense of heaviness?
Is there joy or a sense of uplifting happiness?
Or does it feel pain,
Hurt or brokenness?
Whatever your heart is feeling,
Allow it to be.
Validate those feelings,
Honor them by allowing your heart to process what it is going through.
Allow it to cry,
To scream,
To laugh,
To truly be a heart going through the human experience.
Take a deep breath in and let it go,
Slowly leaving your heart space.
Move into the weightlessness of the rest of your body.
Slowly bring your attention to your third eye,
The space just between your eyebrows.
As you internally focus on it,
You may physically notice any sensations or tingling in the area.
Taking a mental seat beside the mind or the brain,
Start to witness any thoughts or emotions that the mind is taking in and processing.
Is the mind racing or clinging on to any of these thoughts?
Or has it slowed down?
Is it tired and hurting?
Or is there a sense of nothingness,
A mind calm and at peace?
See if you can breathe into that calm and allow it to go stronger and stronger.
And stronger.
Kindly guiding out any and all thoughts out of the mind till you can feel yourself floating nowhere and everywhere.
Start to bring gratitude into yourself.
Letting that tingling warmth fill into your belly,
Maybe bring a smile to your face,
An energetic buzzing into your breath.
Direct that gratitude to your physical body,
Your feet and toes for bringing you to all the places you want to go.
Your legs for taking you on every adventure.
Your hips for being your foundation and security.
Your abdomen for holding so many of your precious internal organs.
Send them gratitude for all the inner workings of your body.
Inner workings that take place there even though you never get to see them.
Maybe never really think about.
Send gratitude to your ribs,
Your lungs.
Thank them for every breath that they take.
For being there in every moment of every day.
For operating without conscious awareness.
Hold gratitude for your heart,
For feeling and processing the good and the perceived bad,
The hardships and the simple joys of life.
Direct your gratitude to your mind,
The complex and delicate part of our being that makes the human experience so unique.
Thank it for its wisdom.
Thank it for its willingness to learn.
And lastly,
Send gratitude to yourself in your entirety,
Your body,
Your breath,
Your heart,
Your mind and everything in between.
That create this wonderful gift that we get to call life.
