Welcome to this meditation on the wisdom of the body.
One of the most magical processes in our life occurs so close to us that we often fail to recognize it at all.
The miracle of our own body.
Recognizing this miracle is as simple as tuning your awareness right now to the fact that without much of our conscious effort,
Your body is silently working to maintain you alive,
Balanced and capable of appreciating the multi-sensory experience of life.
Your heart is pumping the oxygen you breathe to every part of your body.
Your brain is automatically interpreting the sounds you're hearing and sights you're seeing.
And the organs of your digestive system are transforming your food into energy.
Even the more unpleasant aspects of our bodies,
Such as the experience of pain,
Can be seen as an amazing process for which we can be grateful.
Indeed,
Not only does pain enable us to keep our bodies safe from threats,
But it often carries important teachings about how to lead our lives.
All that is required is that we take time to listen to it with our loving attention.
Noticing our physical sensations is the gateway to accessing the intelligence of the body,
Also known as our intuition.
Our intuition has been fine-tuned to our environment by millions of years of evolution and is constantly sending us signals to inform us of what food,
What people,
What activities and what environment are good for us.
The more we learn to listen to these different bodily signals,
The more we manage to orient ourselves effectively towards what is beneficial to us.
And in order to best listen to these signals,
There's no better approach than to regularly practice the technique of the body scan,
Where we learn to focus non-judgmentally on what is happening in our body here and now.
This is what we'll be doing in today's meditation.
Start by finding a comfortable seat,
Making sure you're in a position that allows you to stay both alert and relaxed.
Close your eyes,
Take a deep inhale through your nose that fills your entire body,
And slowly exhale.
Inhale,
And slow exhale.
Turn your attention inwards.
Allow your breath to fall back to its natural rhythm.
Observe the sensations of the breath where you feel it the clearest,
Perhaps at the entrance of your nostrils,
In the rise and fall of your chest,
Or in the movements of your belly.
If at any point during this meditation you're bothered by distracting thoughts,
It's perfectly normal and it's part of the practice.
When you notice these thoughts,
Refocus your attention on the sensations of your breath,
That is to say on the present moment.
We're now going to practice a body scan to strengthen your capacity to feel the signals of your body and to listen to its wisdom.
Imagine you just arrived in your body five seconds ago.
You now have the opportunity to discover what's happening within you,
As if you were exploring a new territory for the very first time.
Start by placing your attention on the top of your head,
Your forehead,
The space between your eyes,
The inside of your nostrils,
Your mouth and your jaw,
The sensations in your throat,
The back of your neck,
Your lower back,
Your shoulders,
Your biceps,
Your upper arms,
The sensations in your hands,
Your chest,
And notice if you can feel your heartbeat,
Your solar plexus,
Your lower belly,
And the area around your navel,
End of your tailbone,
And notice how the weight of your whole body rests on your cushion or your chair,
Your genitals,
Your upper legs,
Your knees and lower legs,
The sensations in your ankles,
The top of your feet,
Your heels,
The soles of your feet,
And your toes.
You can now release your focus and broaden your attention to all the sensations in your body from head to toe.
These bodily sensations you've observed often have something to tell you.
They're signals emerging from the very processes that keep you alive in each moment,
That allow you to breathe,
To replenish your energy,
To heal wounds,
And all of this without you having to control anything.
Now think of a situation in which you have to choose between two options,
For example to go to an event or not,
Or to follow this path or that path in your life.
Visualize the first option as if a movie were playing before your eyes.
Repeat this choice silently,
For example,
I will go to this event.
I choose this course of action.
While remaining focused on your breathing,
Listen attentively to what your body is telling you regarding this option.
Now visualize the other option,
The second option.
Repeat this choice silently,
For example,
I will not go to this event,
Or I will choose that particular course of action.
While remaining focused on your breathing,
Listen attentively to what your body is telling you regarding this option.
Finally,
You can release your focus and let the silence guide you,
Paying attention to all the information you may receive in the form of thoughts,
Images,
Or physical sensations.
Before ending this meditation,
Once again notice your current mood,
Observe how you feel when you're connected to the present moment.
Now slowly come back to this space around you by noticing the surrounding sounds,
The weight of your body on your seat or cushion.
You can slowly open your eyes.
I hope you enjoyed this meditation.
You can keep strengthening your access to your intuition and to the present moment by taking some time each day to patiently listen to your physical sensations.
As you hone your ability to understand your body's messages,
Not only will you better respond to its needs with the adequate love and care,
But you will also be able to use them as guidance to make important decisions.
I hope you have a wonderful day,
And I'll see you next time for new meditations.
