Hi friends,
And welcome to today's meditation.
Today's practice will focus on the root chakra,
And it's designed to cultivate a sense of groundedness in the body.
And how we'll find that groundedness is essentially by finding where it already exists and using the imagination to expand outward.
So I'll start by finding a comfortable seat.
You can also lay down if that is most comfortable for your body.
Try to remove any distractions that might make it difficult for you to focus on this practice.
Good,
Let's begin.
So begin to notice the edges of your body,
Where the body meets the floor,
The pillow,
The chair,
Wherever you happen to be seated or laying down.
You can notice both the points of contact with the body and the floor,
As well as the body and the air around you,
And the relationship to gravity itself.
And so can you notice that gentle pull,
That natural pull of gravity and its impact on the edges of your body and the floor below.
And see where this relationship to the floor and a sense of groundedness or rootedness to the earth itself originates or feels most strong for you.
See if you can notice how intense that sense of groundedness is,
Perhaps on a scale of one to ten or another way of delineating the strength of that relationship in this moment between your body and the earth.
See if you can arrive without judgment or striving to change,
But simply becoming curious about the baseline here as you start your practice.
Beautiful.
Now,
We'll turn attention to the breath.
So on your next exhale,
Release all the air from your lungs through your nose.
Once you've emptied the lungs,
Go ahead and inhale to a count of one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Arriving at the top of your breath,
Three,
Two,
One,
And then exhaling four,
Three,
Two,
One,
Arriving at the bottom of your breath,
Three,
Two,
One.
And then inhaling one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Floating top of the breath,
Three,
Two,
One,
Exhaling four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Continuing with that pattern of breathing.
Exhaling four count,
Pausing,
Exhaling four count.
The count,
If that is too long or too short,
Make it your own.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Roll along with this pattern of breathing for three more full rounds.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
And when you complete that final round of the square breathing pattern,
Simply allow that focused breath work to gently fade,
Just letting it pass on its own,
Maybe kind of slide to the back of your mind's eye here.
Start to bring attention toward body itself.
So notice your feet.
Notice the shape of your feet,
The pull of gravity on the feet.
And then your ankles and shins and calves and knee,
The lower part of the leg.
Just that pull of gravity,
Relationship to floor.
And noticing the calves beyond the thighs,
The hips,
The glutes,
And the upper part of your legs.
Notice your whole right leg and your whole left leg.
And with your next exhale,
Just letting it go,
Letting the sensation of your legs just subside,
Come back to your neutral center point of observation.
Now noticing your hands and fingertips,
Palms,
Wrists.
Keeping their relationship to gravity,
To the floor.
Any sensations that arise in the hands.
And then moving along just as before toward your forearms,
Your elbow,
The whole lower part of your arms.
Moving beyond the forearm towards the upper arm,
Bicep,
Tricep,
Shoulder.
And the whole right arm and your whole left arm.
And then just letting all that sensation and focus be surrendered,
Coming back to your neutral center point.
Now turn your focus towards the base of your spine,
Your middle spine,
Your upper spine,
The throat space,
And the neck.
Noticing the whole torso held upright by this integrity of your spine.
And see where that relationship to gravity and connection to the earth and quality might be there and any sensations within that.
And then go ahead and let that go.
Come on back to your neutral center point of observation.
And then go ahead and notice your jaw,
Your chin,
Cheekbones,
Your brow bone,
And the crown of your skull and the back of the skull.
Notice that relationship to gravity and connection to the earth and a sense of groundedness.
Where is it light,
Where is it heavy?
And then begin to just as before release that focus and come back to your neutral center point.
Now for a moment start to zoom out and view the body and feel the body as a complete unit together.
Control system.
Gravity working in all directions.
Keeping you held in the space you are in right now in this moment.
As you start to take that lens of focus to a finer point,
See if you can find somewhere in the body that calls out to you as feeling the most grounded.
That is forming your locus of connection to the earth here in this moment.
See if you can observe that if it exists.
And then once you find that part of the body,
Send your next few rounds of breath into that area like you are passing along a warm glowing light and energy into that area,
Fueling it with your focus and your care and appreciation.
Perfect.
And as you continue to focus on that area,
Perhaps allowing your exhales to charge a charge up that area almost as though that particular locus of groundedness could expand.
Perhaps that locus of groundedness could expand so much that it wraps through the entire length of your body.
In this moment,
Repeat to yourself the following phrase,
I am grounded,
I am safe,
I am whole.
I am grounded,
I am safe,
And I am whole.
I am whole.
See if you can continue to honor not only this particular and beautiful area of the body that keeps you rooted and grounded in this way,
That brings that energy throughout the rest of your body as well,
But that you have within you almost this foundation for the home that you exist in in this body.
Just recognize that with that quality within you,
You are always home.
You can always feel at home in your body.
Start to gently turn your attention back to your breath.
And over time,
Letting your breath awaken sensation around you,
Awareness of your space.
Start to come back into that space around you as you open your eyes.
Be gentle with yourself as you transition from your meditation practice.
Thank you so much for sharing in this practice today.
I sincerely hope that it helps you to feel more at home in your body for the rest of your day.
And today's ahead.
