Hi,
Hello and welcome.
My name is Julie and I'll be taking you through a short mindfulness exercise in just a moment.
The exercise this week can help us arrive in the moment.
It can help us arrive in our bodies.
We'll practice a grounding exercise on a chair with our feet flat on the ground.
This exercise is a little preview of the mindfulness series I'll be releasing from next week onwards.
Today's meditation is a grounding exercise.
It sounds kind of wooly,
Maybe a bit mumbo jumbo,
But it's precisely the opposite.
Often we spend too much time in our heads and we don't really know what the rest of our body is doing at all.
With this exercise we'll try to get out of our heads a bit and divide our attention more evenly over our whole body.
Okay first of all we'll find a comfortable seated position.
If possible keep both of your feet on the floor or place something underneath them so you can feel the soles of your feet.
If you're comfortable let your eyes slowly close.
If you prefer to keep them open let your eyelids relax and let your gaze move down in front of your feet.
Now bring your attention to the parts of your feet that are in contact with the floor.
Feel into your feet.
Notice how solid the ground is underneath your feet.
If you're wearing shoes then feel where your shoes are touching your feet.
Feel every point of contact between your feet and what's beneath them.
Let's then go on to the thighs and the buttocks and notice where they make contact with the chair you're sitting on.
Allow the chair,
Allow the underground to hold you and support your body without you having to do anything.
Now bring your attention to your back.
Where is your back touching the chair?
Can you feel the difference between where there's contact with the chair and where there isn't?
Then slowly move your attention to your hands.
Become aware of your hands.
Maybe notice the position of your hands.
Observe what your hands are touching.
Perhaps it's the chair or your thighs or they're touching each other.
Feel into your hands.
You can wonder how do I know I have hands without looking at them.
You just know.
You can feel your hands from within.
And then slowly bring your attention to your shoulders.
Feel whether you can relax them slightly.
Whether you can let them sink down.
Observe whether they're touching the chair.
Now broaden your awareness.
Feel your whole body sitting there in this moment on this chair.
And now for the last part of this meditation,
Bring your attention to your breath.
If you like,
You can make the next few breaths slightly deeper so you can feel it better.
Observe where you can feel the breath the clearest.
Or where the sensations of the breath feel the most pleasant.
Perhaps in the belly.
Or in the chest.
Maybe in the back of the throat.
Or maybe by the nostrils where the air enters the body.
Pick a spot.
Pick a sensation.
And use that spot as the anchor of your attention.
We will keep our attention with this place.
And breathe.
Let your breath breathe itself.
You don't need to change the breath.
You don't need to control it.
The breath is breathing itself.
When your attention wanders,
Don't worry too much.
Gently come back to the breath.
Continue breathing.
In a moment I'll end our short mindfulness exercise.
Voila.
That was it for today.
Thank you so much for listening and for your support in the last year.
If you would like to continue your mindfulness journey,
We'll be going on next week with a simple body scan.
Until next time.
