We're gonna get started with today's meditation.
If you want to find a comfortable seat,
You can also lay down.
Just somewhere where you can feel comfortable,
Making sure your spine is straight and relaxed,
And just taking a moment to come into presence.
Maybe just feeling through your body,
Quickly scanning,
Starting with the top of your head,
All the way down through your body,
All the way down to your feet,
Just kind of noticing what's there,
Taking stock of how you're feeling,
How your muscles are feeling,
Whether you've been moving around a lot today.
Maybe you've been stationary,
Maybe you've been sitting for a long time,
And as we're drawing away from the outer world,
Drawing away from the day,
Anything that happened,
Anything you're worried about,
And just coming into this moment,
Focusing more on your inner world,
Your body,
Mind,
How you're feeling mentally,
Emotionally,
Physically.
I'm gonna go ahead and start with a deep breath,
Breathing in through the nose,
Filling up the lungs,
And also the stomach,
Taking an extra sip of air at the top,
And then sighing it all out with an audible sigh.
One more time,
Breathing in through the nose,
Filling up the lungs and the stomach,
And as you sigh it out,
See if you can let go of something,
Letting go of the breath,
But also letting go of something,
Maybe that isn't serving you,
Something that's stuck in your mind.
Maybe just letting go of a sore muscle,
A tense area,
And just one more breath like that,
Breathing in through the lungs,
Filling up the stomach,
An extra sip of air at the top,
And then just sigh it all out.
You can let your breathing return to normal.
Take a moment to start,
Just feeling the top of your head,
Around the top of your head,
The back of your head,
The sides of your head,
Just noticing anything that's there,
Maybe you feel a tingling sensation,
Maybe you feel the temperature,
Heat,
Or coolness,
Maybe your head feels heavy or light,
Just notice,
And there's no need in this moment to attach a judgment to how you're feeling,
Doesn't need to be good or bad,
Right or wrong,
It's just the moment,
The noticing,
The practice of just feeling your body,
Noticing what's there,
Without any expectations,
Any criticisms.
I find that for myself there's not a lot of those moments unless I intentionally make them.
I find that my mind almost automatically attaches a judgment to how I'm feeling or my state of being.
It's wonderful to have moments where I connect with my body and I don't judge it.
As you're feeling your head,
The sides of your head,
Top of your head,
You can start feeling through your face as well,
Your forehead,
Feeling your eyes,
Feel your nose,
Your cheekbones,
Feeling your lips,
Just noticing any tingling sensations as you focus on these areas.
Also noticing any stress,
Maybe you feel your forehead and you recognize it's tense,
You can feel that stress in your temples,
Maybe you notice that you're clenching your jaw.
If you feel any areas of tension,
Any stress,
See if you can intentionally relax those areas.
If your jaw is tense,
Just take a moment to soften.
If your temples are tense or sore,
You feel some tension you've been storing there,
You can just give yourself a moment to relax,
Soften your temples,
Softening the space between your eyebrows and any areas left before moving your attention to your neck and shoulders.
Just feeling through these areas.
We hold a lot of tension in our neck and shoulders,
So if you feel that as you're scanning this area,
See if you can just imagine softening,
Imagining your muscles,
Your joint.
And a method I like to use,
Maybe as a visualization or just a way to connect with your breath,
Is to imagine as you inhale and then exhale,
See if you can visualize that exhale.
You can imagine sending the exhale,
Sending that out breath to the area of your body that's feeling sore.
So if you have tight shoulders and breathe in,
And as you breathe out,
See if you can imagine sending that exhale straight to your shoulders.
And as you do,
You feel your shoulders relax just a little more.
And now feeling through your arms,
You feel the top of your arms,
Your elbow,
Feeling your fingertips,
And just scanning,
Noticing what's there,
Removing the judgment,
Removing the criticism,
Just noticing.
And as you try to notice,
You might notice that your thoughts are wandering.
That moment in your workday,
That stressful thought,
That thing on your to-do list,
It's there,
Looming.
But it is very,
Very normal for your thoughts to stray.
As you're moving through this practice,
Our mind does it so easily,
It almost seems automatic.
But through the practice of meditation,
You can stop that automatic movement and just become more aware of where your thoughts are going.
But even if you do notice that you're kind of losing track of either the breath or your body,
Your thoughts start to wander,
I want to just emphasize it's okay.
It's normal.
And there's no reason to think that you are doing this wrong.
Anytime your thoughts stray,
You can just have a little mini celebration every time you notice it.
Because that means that you are working on the practice of noticing.
You're working on the practice of refocusing.
And this is something you can use in your life outside of meditation,
Which is why they call it a practice.
So even you trying to meditate means you have successfully meditated,
Because you're just practicing.
And as you focus on your arms,
As you feel through,
Maybe you notice that some areas of your arms are sore,
Maybe from a workout,
Maybe from writing,
Maybe from sitting at a desk,
Using a mouse,
Whatever is whatever area of your arms feels tense.
Just see if you can intentionally soften in that area.
Maybe visualizing that healing breath being sent straight to that area,
Help you melt away stress,
Melt away the tension.
Now we're going to move on feeling through our torso,
Including the chest,
The stomach,
The abdomen,
But also feeling your upper,
Middle,
And lower back.
Just scanning the area as you breathe in and out,
Refocusing when your thoughts wander,
Bringing yourself back to your body,
Back to your torso,
As you just feel without judgment.
Maybe you can feel yourself breathing,
You feel your lungs,
Trying to feel your organs,
Without judgment,
Without expectation of how you should be feeling.
Not attaching yourself to how you're feeling,
How your body's feeling in this moment,
Not criticizing.
But if you do feel areas of tension,
Maybe in your upper or lower back,
It's so normal to hold stress there.
Maybe you feel it in your stomach,
Anywhere where you feel tension.
Imagine sending your exhale to that area.
You're breathing in,
And as you breathe out,
Send the out breath to the area where you feel any stress or tension,
Letting it melt away,
Letting it soften.
Can you let go of one more thing?
Maybe it's a muscle in your back.
Maybe it's a thought.
Just giving yourself permission to let go,
To release,
To surrender to the present moment.
Maybe showing yourself some compassion,
If your mind is wandering.
Remembering that it's the most normal thing in the world.
And that you noticing every time your mind is wandering.
It's kind of the whole point.
And now moving your focus down,
Feeling your pelvis,
Your glutes,
Your hips.
Feeling where you meet,
Your body meets the seat.
And just feeling through this area,
Scanning for tension.
Also just noticing what is there.
Maybe there isn't tension.
Just noticing any sensations,
Tingling,
Temperature,
The feel of your clothing against your skin.
One way,
If you do have some thoughts coming in,
You find yourself getting distracted.
I heard this once and it helped me to think of the thoughts coming in,
As they come in,
Maybe not pushing them away so quickly,
But acknowledging that that thought is there for a reason.
And then also acknowledging that you don't need to be dealing with it right now.
So that thing,
That thought,
That reminder,
Whatever your brain is coming up with at this moment,
That may be an important thing.
But you do have permission in this moment.
You can give yourself permission to take time for yourself.
A lot of times,
To the visualization of letting the thought come in and then fly away like a bird or float away like a cloud.
I'm going to move our attention down,
Down to your legs.
Feeling your thighs,
Your knees.
Noticing all the sensations in your ankles,
Your feet,
Your toes.
Just scanning,
Not looking for anything in particular right at first.
Just taking time to feel through your body,
To feel your body with nothing else in the way,
Nothing you need to be doing,
No way you need to be feeling.
If you do feel tension in your legs anywhere,
Or in your feet,
You can take a moment to soften just a little more.
Releasing tension,
Sending that healing breath wherever it needs to go.
And with each exhale,
You can find those tense muscles,
Those stressed areas,
Softening a little more with each one,
A little more with each exhale.
Finding yourself now scanning through your entire body,
From the top of your head,
All the way down to your feet.
Maybe noticing if you feel a little different.
Maybe not.
Maybe you feel exactly the same.
That's completely fine.
Maybe you feel a little more relaxed.
And now you can relax your attention.
Just taking a moment to focus on your breath.
Noticing when thoughts are coming in.
Acknowledging that the thought is there,
That it exists,
But it's not something you need to focus on right now.
And you can save that for later after the meditation.
Bringing yourself back to your inhale and your exhale.
First noticing where you feel your inhale the most.
Do you feel the expansion of your lungs?
Maybe you feel the inhale more in your nose,
Feeling the rush of air in your nostrils.
Or anywhere along the way.
Just noticing if you can pinpoint the feeling of the inhale.
And now noticing the feeling of the exhale.
Where do you feel the exhale the most?
Maybe you feel the exhale as your lungs contract.
Maybe you feel it in your stomach,
Your nose.
Just noticing how that action is existing in your body.
You can relax your attention,
Just breathing normally.
Just taking a moment to visualize a place that you love.
Is there you can think of?
Maybe you've been there.
Maybe you have fond memories there.
Maybe you've never been there.
Maybe it's just a place you want to go.
An idea in your mind.
Maybe it exists in the world.
It's another country,
Another city.
Maybe it's not even real.
Whatever that place is,
Just visualize it in your mind.
And try to see if you can notice the feeling in your body when you think of that place.
A place that you love,
A place where you feel peace or safety or even just the absence of stress.
Maybe it's somewhere you've vacationed before.
You imagine how nice it was just to exist without having some giant to-do list.
Imagining that place in your mind and feeling it in your body.
Feeling the peace,
The safety,
The comfort.
And letting that feeling as you imagine the place,
Letting feeling of it take over your body.
Just feel it in your chest.
Feel it expanding.
And just let your feelings of this place completely fill you up and take over.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Letting yourself fill up with love for this place.
Imagining a person that you love.
Someone you trust.
Someone who's in your corner,
Who cares about you,
Who shows it.
Someone you feel safe around.
If you receive unconditional love from anyone,
This is maybe the person to think of.
Just someone you care about who cares about you.
Maybe you have fond memories of them.
And see if you can.
I know it's not always easy,
But in this moment,
As you're feeling your intention right now,
The intention is just to feel.
See if you can let the feeling of love for this person fill you up.
Just feeling your entire body.
Maybe it starts in your chest,
Starts at your heart,
And just moves out from there to every corner of your being.
And you can imagine this love as a light.
It's a white or bright light just moving through your body.
Growing,
Expanding with every inhale and exhale.
You know I want to try something a little different.
Taking that feeling of love,
That bright light,
That warmth,
That's filling your entire body for the person that you love.
And now seeing if maybe you can give that same love outward.
Can you take that love and that warmth that's filling you up and imagine spreading it.
Now you are that light.
That feeling that fills you up,
You also now have to give to other people.
Just as others have given it to you.
It's not always easy to do.
I think there's so many people we come into contact with that our interactions don't maybe want,
We don't immediately feel like we want to spread and share love.
But I honestly believe that the best way to interact with everyone around us is with that same level of love that just filled us up.
And even if you don't receive that love back from that specific person,
It will come back to you in multitudes.
Just letting that light guide.
Bright white light.
I had an experience last week where I think I have always heard the concept of we are one.
There are songs about it,
And it's not a new concept.
But in some ways it is to me.
I have always been an island.
It seemed safer.
It was meant for protection.
And maybe at one time it served me.
But as I open up more and more to the idea that the whole point,
The whole point of all of this is connection and love.
I don't,
I no longer believe I'm supposed to be an island.
And for me,
The purpose really seems to be about connecting with other people.
I still think there's truth to protecting your energy when you need to.
But leading with love,
Letting kindness be the default.
Lately,
That's just making more and more sense to me.
It's like taking that feeling,
The feeling of light and love that we feel so strongly for a place or a person,
And just turning that love outward.
Continuing to spread it.
It really never ends.
Taking a moment to feel gratitude for the place and the people we love,
Who love us back,
Who bring us warmth and safety and peace and all the good things.
You can start to come back into your body.
Maybe just wiggling your fingers and toes.
Coming back to the room.
You can open your eyes if they were shut.
Thank you so much for joining me for today's meditation.
And hopefully we'll see you next time.
