Hi,
This is Jonathan.
Thank you for joining me for this guided mindfulness meditation.
Let's get started.
I invite you to find a comfortable position,
Either standing or sitting or lying down.
And we'll begin by taking a few deep breaths through the nose.
And on your last exhale,
Gently close your eyes.
Now allow your breathing to return to normal.
In this meditation,
We will move our focus through a series of anchors and then settle on the breath.
If the mind wanders during this or you become distracted by anything,
Just become aware that distraction has happened and bring your focus back to the anchor.
Begin by just feeling the body.
Know the presence of your body.
Recognize how it feels.
How it feels to inhabit the body and observe this sense of gravity and weight.
The pressure below you and know that it's safe and that it's stable.
Now bring your attention down to your feet and relax your feet.
Move your focus up to your ankles,
Feel your ankles,
And relax the ankles.
Move your focus to your lower legs,
To your shins and calves,
And relax these parts of the body.
Move to your knees and relax your knees.
Move to your thighs and relax the thighs.
Now move your focus to the pelvic region,
To the hips,
Feel your hips and this pelvic bowl and relax this area of the body.
Move your focus to your lower back and relax your lower back and now the upper back.
Feel it expand and contract with your breathing and now relax the upper back.
Move your focus around and down to your stomach and relax your stomach,
Allowing it to fall as the breath comes in and out.
Now move to your chest and relax your chest.
Move your focus to your hands,
Relaxing the fingers,
Relaxing the thumbs,
Relaxing the palms and relaxing the wrists.
Now move to your forearms and relax the forearm muscles,
Relax the elbows,
Relax the upper arms and the shoulders.
Relax your neck and relax the muscles of the face,
The jaw,
The tongue,
The lips,
The cheeks,
The eyebrows and the forehead.
Now bring your focus down to your belly.
Notice the sensations of breathing there.
Feel the rising and the falling of the breath.
Feel the inhale,
Feel the exhale and the space between the breaths and anchor your focus here,
Becoming aware when thoughts are present or the mind has become distracted.
Observe the presence of any distraction,
Be it thought or sensation or smell or sound or vision and without judgment or reaction,
Just gently bring the focus back to the breath and we will practice this for two minutes of silence starting now.
Now,
Once again,
Bring your attention back to the sense of your body and feel yourself inhabiting the body.
Feel its weight and the sensations of gravity.
Feel your body safe and stable and calm and relaxed.
Just feel the body.
And now bring a little movement to the body by moving your toes and feet and fingers and hands and your neck and the muscles of the face.
And when you're ready,
Take a few deep breaths and gently open your eyes.
This brings us to a close.
Thank you.
