So starting to find your comfortable position and you can choose to be seated for this meditation or you can choose to lie down and if you're seated allowing your feet to be flat on the floor,
Allowing yourself to feel supported by the chair that you're in,
Keeping your spine straight,
Your neck and head tall and long and having your hands resting comfortably and if you have chosen to lie down,
Allowing your body to be long and straight through the spine,
Allowing your legs and your feet to be comfortably resting on the floor or the bed and if it feels comfortable you're welcome to close your eyes or it's also fine to keep them open and just take a soft gaze,
Giving yourself permission now to really drop into this space today.
This is time for you,
This is time to slow down,
To pause.
There's nowhere that you need to be now other than here,
Giving yourself the complete freedom to be here now in this time to nurture yourself and just now consciously taking three deep breaths in,
Filling the lungs as much as you can and then gently releasing the out breath and filling the lungs and allowing the breath to exit the body and just allowing the breath to return to its normal rhythm and knowing that the breath is your anchor during this meditation.
So if at any time you feel you need to reconnect and re-center if your mind wanders,
It's coming back to the breath.
Taking a very quick scan of the body now and noticing into any areas that hold more tension.
Notice where you feel those areas and then taking an extra deeper breath,
Sending the breath to that part of the body that needs it and allowing the exhale to gently soften and release the tension from the body.
Just allowing the softening and the release to allow you to sink that little deeper into your chair or into the floor,
Allowing and giving permission for the body to just rest.
And now recognizing the season that we currently find ourselves in,
Summer.
And while the weather has been a bit up and down this past week,
This first week of summer,
We're going to connect in to summer and what summer means to us by connecting in to our five senses.
So as I take you through each sense,
You're going to reflect on what first comes to you,
Just a first reaction of what summer means.
So starting with the sense of taste,
So thinking about foods of summer,
Drinks you have in summer,
Just a first reaction,
What comes to mind that is the food or the drink that you associate with summer.
Is it some summer fruits?
Maybe some festive food?
Is it iced cold drinks on a hot day?
And just connecting in with the flavors,
The textures that you experience in your mouth around summer tastes.
Moving to your sense of smell.
What are the smells that you associate with summer?
Are there smells in nature that really make you feel like it's summertime?
Is there fragrances that come out of the kitchen during summer,
During Christmas?
Is it the smell of a summer morning?
The warmth in the air?
Or is it the smell of a cool change rolling in and smelling the warm rain approaching?
And just taking a moment,
What's been your first reactions to the smells of summer?
Moving to your sense of hearing.
What sounds remind you of summer?
What's the first thing that comes to you?
Is it the sound of cicadas on a warm summer evening?
Is it the sounds of children playing outside on a warm summer's day?
Maybe it's music.
Just spending some time allowing your first reactions of the sounds of summer.
Then moving to the sense of sight and what you see during summertime.
Summer often is associated with many outdoor activities or gatherings of people.
So what are the things you see during summer and what first comes to mind?
Is there a holiday destination that you go to in summer?
Or is it familiar groups of people,
Friends,
Family?
Particularly over Christmas and holidays that you see?
Just connecting in and reflecting on what you see in nature during summer.
And then moving to the sense of touch and your skin.
What do you associate around your sense in summer?
It's perhaps obvious to think about the warmth of the sun on your skin standing outside.
Maybe it's the texture of clothing that you wear in summer and how that feels moving around your body.
Maybe it's the texture and the coarseness of sand when you're on the beach.
Whatever it is that's first come into your mind,
Just reflecting on what summer feels like on your skin.
Just bringing all those five senses back together and all those things that summer mean to you,
From what you taste,
What you smell,
What you hear,
What you see and what you touch that make you feel it's summertime.
And inviting in a sense of gratitude for what summer means for you.
Being thankful and grateful for the times of celebration,
The warmth of nature.
Just being grateful for whatever it has been in your experiences of summer and there could be many.
Just inviting in that appreciation,
That acknowledgement of what this time of year does for us all.
It could come with challenges and that's okay.
Just noting and appreciating how summer is part of our seasons of life.
Just connecting back to your breath if you need,
Using that as an anchor and just reflecting in silence now for a few moments.
Very gently now,
Just placing your attention back onto your breath,
Your body,
To return back slowly into the present moment.
Just letting any reflection go for a little moment and connecting back in to the surface that you're sitting on or lying on.
Starting to feel into your fingers and your toes,
Making any gentle movements that feel good.
And when you're ready to,
And there's no rush,
If you've got your journal handy or paper and a pen,
Just going to use that to take some time now to just write down any observations that you had around what summer means for you.
What came up as you thought about summer,
Using all of the physical senses.
