A meditation practice to cultivate gratitude.
Beginning to settle in to our seat.
Beginning to become aware of our body.
Noticing where our body is making contact with the surface area.
Seeing where we can allow ourselves to feel held and supported.
By whatever is beneath us.
Doing our best to be here now in this room that we're in,
In this body,
In this moment.
Becoming aware of sensations in the lower half of our body where there may be some contact.
And just beginning to acknowledge and notice these sensations.
Very often we're unaware of sensations in our body.
Taking our body for granted.
Just assuming it will do what we need it to do when we need it to do it.
This is an opportunity to acknowledge the many functions of the lower half of our body.
And keeping us moving,
Mobile,
Active.
Instead of waiting for something to go wrong,
We can actively choose to show thanks to the lower half of our body,
To these limbs.
To this capacity for us to sit and stand.
To move and walk,
Maybe even run,
Jump,
Whatever it is these legs allow us to do.
Pause in our day to acknowledge,
To be thankful.
Same too with the top half of our body,
Our many organs and limbs.
We're pausing here to acknowledge,
To sense our gratitude,
To feel it.
Where that we don't normally pay attention to the many movements and activities of our body throughout the day.
Our capacity to breathe,
To swallow,
To taste,
To hold,
To feel.
The many,
Many different functions this body enables us to do throughout the day and night.
Just sensing in,
Noticing,
And acknowledging there may be parts of our body that don't function the way that we would like them to.
Or perhaps in the past have caused us difficulty.
Something where we can soften around these parts of our body.
Perhaps cultivate some compassion and kindness.
Perhaps allowing ourselves to spread this feeling of compassion and kindness throughout the whole of our body.
There may be parts of our body we don't like very much.
Perhaps we would like them to look different or feel different.
It's an opportunity to embrace what there is,
What does work,
What feels okay.
To be thankful.
To dwell in the parts of our body that are working,
Are functioning,
Are keeping us going.
And also to show compassion to those parts that we maybe feel less kind towards.
Just noticing what's here.
Sensing the whole of our body.
Feeling the way that our breath fills our lungs,
Fills our body.
Feeling thankful as best we can for each breath,
Each beat of the heart,
Each sensation,
Each moment that this body is here.
And seeing where we can experience the body just as it is.
All and complete,
Not needing to change anything or do anything differently.
Just allowing the body to be just as it is.
Just dwelling for a moment in that sense of the ultimate perfection of this body.
Recognizing what it does for us with kindness and compassion.
Sensing our deep humanity.
And as this meditation comes to an end,
We can see where we can take some of this sense of thankfulness and gratitude through to the rest of our day.
And perhaps allowing ourselves a little stretch.
Allowing the body to move,
Feeling into the movements.
Still maintaining that sense of gratitude as I ring the chime to end this meditation.
