Physical Mindfulness, Fingers, Toes & Giant Figure Eights

In this meditation, there is tactile awarenss to keep the mind from wandering. After my favourite body awareness, fingers and toes, this guided meditation shifts to moving energy, visualizing giant figure eights in and out of the body.

In giant figure eights, the meditator creates flowing energy lines in and out of their body, anchoring the lines with the core and fingers.

This is a good meditation for folks who have trouble concentrating, or sleeping, and one can keep the mind and physical body busy during the meditation.

Transcript

Let's begin. Make yourself comfortable either sitting or lying down. Take a few moments to feel your body. Feel your weight on your legs or feet or back. Let's take a few slow and deep breaths. If you wish, Breathe in through your nose and exhale through your mouth in general. I tend to imagine the shape of my breathing simultaneously while also focusing on another specific meditative task. Take a moment to remind yourself that you are carving out some time for yourself and there's no other thing that you need to be doing now, No other thing that you have to be thinking about now or at this moment. This is a time for you to dig in, To tune in a bit to what is healthy and tune out a bit to what might not be serving you in this moment. There may be noise and thoughts that creep up while you meditate and that's okay. That happens. And once we start into our fingers and toes meditation, If you get lost, You can always refocus on where we are in the meditation and just start from there. Never judge distractions. Note the distractions but try not to affix judgment or to allow an unpleasant emotion to arise. Simply circle back to what you were doing in the meditation. I ask you to focus on your fingers and toes now. Place them wherever you wish or wherever you're comfortable. I like to have fingers placed on my body near my hips. Feel free to place them where they come in contact with the surface of some sort. Let's focus on our breathing. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Feel free to breathe through your mouth only or your nose only. As we breathe, We imagine in our mind's eye the entry point of air, Your nose or mouth. We follow the air, Its pathway from where it enters. The path of the air down deep into the lungs and as we exhale, We follow in our mind's eye the air's route from the lungs back up through the body. And perhaps we notice the heat in our nose at the end. I'll do some breaths alongside of you. Again, Try to imagine the airflow as you're doing the breathing and the air entering and leaving your body. I'll bring you back to your fingers for the moment. Find your left pinky and continue breathing and continue imagining the airflow in and out as you could almost see it. If you lose the image of the air with a combination of the fingers and toes meditation, Let the imagery of the airways go. Focus on the fingers and toes meditation. As we start the meditation fingers and toes, I will be asking you to literally press your fingers lightly or move your toes slightly. The touch is sustained for one full breath for each digit until we move to the next finger or toe. This will lead into two more geometric meditations, A line energy process followed by a figure eight line energy meditation. So let's begin. Begin while touching your left pinky to a surface of some sort. Breathe out while your fingers touching. Release the left pinky and slightly press the left ring finger. Breathe in while you touch the left ring finger to the surface. Imagine the air in and out, Then release it. Breathe in while you touch your left middle finger, Allowing airflow in and out. Breathe out, Then release. Breathe in while you touch your left forefinger. Imagine the air in, Imagine the air out. Breathe in while you touch your left thumb to a surface. Imagine airflow in, Breathe out while the fingers touching. Release. Touch your right pinky to a surface. Breathe in, Imagine the airflow in, Imagine the airflow out. Breathe in as you touch your right ring finger to a surface. Air in, Air out, Release. Breathe in as you touch your right middle finger. Follow air in, Follow air out. Breathe in as you touch your right forefinger. Follow air in, Release air out. Breathe in as you touch your right thumb. Follow air in and release. As we head to our toes, We will bring some movement to our toes as much as you're able and we will excuse how imperfectly we find specific toes. On the right foot, Find the baby toe. Engage in one light movement. Breathe in fully as the toes engage. Breathe out slowly. Breathe in as you engage your right ring toe. Imagine airflow in, Imagine airflow out. Breathe in as you engage your right middle toe. See your air in, Engage the toe, Air out. Breathe in as you move your right toe. Imagine air in and out. Breathe in as you engage your right big toe. Air in, Air out. Engage your left big toe as you breathe in deeply. Air in, Air out. Press your left index toe lightly as you breathe in. Air in, Air out. Breathe in as you press your left middle toe. Air moving down, Air moving up, Out. Breathe in as you engage your left ring toe. Air in slowly, Air out. Breathe in as you press the left pinky toe. Slowly air in, Air out. Nice. I'm going to continue back to the fingers shortly and the first meditation can be repeated as many times as you wish. In the next meditation, You will not be moving fingers and toes but rather imagining energy being felt in each digit as we follow the movement of the air in and out. If you have trouble imagining the energy in a digit, Try to sustain an imagined feeling in that digit or imagine sending energy pulses there. And if that's still hard to imagine the energy, Try to imagine the energy it would take to place the finger and actually start to press it and to stop your finger from just before you press. To imagine the energy between pressing and not pressing and then focusing your energy in that space. So let's focus on our left pinky. Take a few deep breaths and I will start in with you shortly. Left pinky. Breathe in while imagining energy in your left pinky. Breathe out while you're imagining energy in that finger. Breathe in while you send energy to your left ring finger. Imagine the air in. Imagine the air out. Focus energy in your left middle finger. Imagine air in. Follow air out. Follow energy into your left forefinger. Imagine the air in. Imagine the air out. Breathe while you're feeling energy in your left thumb. Air in. Release. Imagine energy in your right pinky. Breathe in. Air flow in. Air released. Breathe in as you send energy to your right ring finger. Air in and down. Breathe out and release. Energy to your right middle finger. Follow the air in. Follow the air out. Breathe in as you send energy to your right forefinger. Follow air in and out. Breathe in as you light energy to your right thumb. Follow the air in and out. On the right foot, Find the baby toe and we'll start there. Take one breath for yourself. On the right foot, Find the baby toe. Energy to your right baby toe. Breathe in. Breathe out. Send energy to your right ring toe. Imagine the air flow in. Air flow out. Light energy to your right middle toe. Send energy in. Air out. Breathe in as you send energy to your right index toe. Imagine air moving down and out. Breathe in as you send energy to your right big toe. Air slowly in and slowly out. Send energy to your left big toe. Breathe in deeply. Air in. Air out. Energy to your left index toe as you breathe in. Air in. Air out. Breathe in as you send energy to your left middle toe. Air moving down. Air moving slowly up. Release. Breathe in as you send energy to your left ring toe. Air in slowly. Breathing out. Release. Breathe in as you send energy to your left pinky toe. Slowly air in. Move deeply into the body and energy. Releasing. Okay, Let's begin to make lines that extend from our fingers and toes. This is geometric meditation. As we inhale, We'll extend forward out of ourselves an imaginary line from each finger or digit as far as you wish. And when we exhale, The line comes back quickly and goes out the same distance in the opposite direction. If you're in bed, Imagine the line goes deeply into the ground. We're going to begin on our left hand. So let's take a breath before we begin. So let's begin with our left. Your lines will go through any space you wish. Left pinky. Breathe in while sending energy from your left pinky out as far as you wish. Breathe out. Pull that line back quickly. Send it right back out in the opposite direction. Left ring finger. Energy out in front of you. Pull it back quickly. Right back in the opposite direction. Left middle finger. Breathe out the energy right in front of you. Full out. Exhale. Pulling the line back. Sending it the opposite direction. Left forefinger. Breathe in. Sending the energy out in front. Breathe out. Pulling the line back. Opposite direction. Left thumb. Breathe out. Sending the energy forward. Breathe out. Pulling the line back. Sending in the opposite direction. Take a breath for yourself. We'll move to the right pinky. Right pinky. Breathe in. Sending the energy out in front of you. Pull it right back. The line in the opposite direction. Right ring finger. Breathe in. Sending the energy line forward. Pulling the line back. Sending in the opposite direction. Right middle finger. Breathe in while the energy goes forward. Breathe out. Pulling the line back. Right forefinger. Breathe in. Sending energy forward. Breathe out. Pulling the line back behind you. Right thumb. Breathe in while sending the energy out in front of you. Breathe out. Pulling the line back. Sending in the opposite direction. We'll start shortly with our toes. Our right baby toe. Right baby toe. Breathe in. Send energy out in front of you. Pull it back behind you. Right ring toe. Send the energy out in front of you in a line. Pull it back behind you. Opposite direction. Right middle toe. Breathe in. Sending the energy out in front of you. Breathe out. Pulling the line back. Opposite direction. Right index toe. Breathe in. Sending energy out in front of you. Pull it right back behind you. Opposite direction. Right big toe. Breathe in. Sending the energy line from your right big toe. Pulling the line back. Sending in the opposite direction. Left baby toe. Send the energy out from your body forward. Pull the line back behind you. Left ring toe. Breathe in. Sending the energy in front of you. Breathe out. Pulling the line back in the opposite direction. Left middle toe. Breathe in. Sending the energy line forward. Breathe out. Pulling the line back. Left index toe. Breathe in. Sending the energy line forward. Breathe out. Pulling the line back. Left big toe. Breathe in. Sending energy from your left baby toe. Breathe out. Pulling the line back. In the next phase of the meditation, We're going to create figure eights with big circles that circle out in front of us and circle out behind us in a giant figure eight. Before we start, If we imagined at our left pinky, We could breathe in, Create a big circle left around in front of us 360 degrees. It goes as far as you wish back to your right pinky. Crosses across our body back to our left pinky as we exhale. And then we continue in the figure eight behind us back in the opposite direction in 360 degrees. It circles back to our right pinky, Crossing back to our left ring finger, Creating a new figure eight through successive fingers. We'll do this for our left hand, Then our right hand. When we change hands, We'll change directions. Let's begin with our left pinky. Let's have two breaths before we start. Left pinky. Breathe in. Send out a left circle in front of you. Circle back to your right pinky. Exhale. Continue. Cross the line through your body back to your left pinky. Send behind you a big circle to the left. Circle back to your right pinky, Crossing your body to your left ring finger. Breathe in from your left ring finger. Send out a big circle left in front of you. Circle back to your right pinky. Exhale. Continue the line across your body back to your left ring finger. Send behind you a big circle to the left, Circling back to your right pinky, Crossing your body to your left middle finger. Breathe in from your left middle finger. Send out a left big circle in front of you. Circle back to your right pinky. Exhale. Cross your body to your left middle finger. Send behind you a big circle to the left, Circling back to your right pinky. Cross your body to your left forefinger. Breathe in from your left forefinger. Send out a big circle in front of you, Circling back to your right pinky. Exhale. Cross across your body left forefinger. Send behind you a big circle to the left, Circling back to your right pinky, Crossing your body to your left thumb. Breathe in from your thumb. Send out a big circle in front of you left, Circling back to your right pinky. Exhale. Continue to cross the line through your body. Send behind you a big circle to the left, Circling back to your right pinky, Crossing your body to your left thumb. We'll take a few breaths before we change hands. Let's begin with our right pinky. Breathe in from your right pinky. Send out a big circle in front of you, Circling back to your left pinky. Exhale. Cross across your body to the right pinky. Send behind you a big circle to the right, Circle back to your left pinky, Crossing your body to your right ring finger. Breathe in from your right ring finger. Send out right a big circle in front of you, Circling back to your left pinky. Exhale. Cross your body back to your right ring finger. Big circle to the right, Circling back to your left pinky, Crossing body to your right middle finger. Breathe in from your right middle finger. Send a circle right in front of you, Circling back to your left pinky. Exhale. Cross across your body to your middle finger. Send back a big circle to the right, Circling back to your left pinky, Crossing body to your left forefinger. Breathe in from your right forefinger. Send out a right circle in front of you, Circling back to your left pinky. Exhale and continue to cross the line through your right forefinger. Send that behind you. Circle to the right, Circling back to your left pinky, Crossing your body to your right thumb. Breathe in from your right thumb. Sending a right circle in front of you, Circling back to your left pinky. Exhale. Continue to cross the line through your body back to your right thumb. Send behind you a big circle to the right, Circling back to your left pinky, Crossing your body to your right thumb. These meditations can be practiced over and over again and tried in any direction that makes sense for you or from wherever that you wish to start. I hope that these meditations and geometric figures can bring your mind some and bring your mind some peace. As always, I wish you the most sincere peace.