Welcome to another moment of meditation.
Thank you so much for joining me.
I'm Carrie with JJ Dack.
I hope you celebrate yourself for giving yourself this moment of meditation.
This is a demonstration of self-care and self-love.
Today we are going to do a smiling meditation.
This meditation can be used anytime and I find it especially helpful whenever I need a little bit of a pick-me-up.
I love this meditation because it usually shows just how much joy you can find within yourself at any time.
This meditation works best if you're in a sitting position that allows you to comfortably have a straight back but your comfort is the most important thing.
So if you want to lie down or be in some other kind of posture go ahead and do that.
I'm going to invite you now to close your eyes,
Let your hands rest comfortably on your thighs or your knees or your legs,
Wherever is most comfortable.
We're going to begin with a few deep inhales and full complete exhales.
So let's go ahead and take a deep full breath in and a full complete exhale.
Again a full deep breath in and a full complete exhale.
Continue with a few more of these deep and complete breaths but do them at your own pace.
While you're doing them check in with your heart area,
That area right at the chest.
How does it feel?
Is it tight?
Is it light?
Is it heavy?
Is it flowing?
Is it stagnant?
Take notice without judging whatever it is you discover.
As you're connecting with your body and are aware of your breathing go ahead and invite your body to soften.
If possible keep your back straight and soften your shoulders.
Relax your shoulders,
Relax your jaw,
Soften your eyes,
Relax your eyebrows,
Soften your entire head.
Keep breathing.
It doesn't have to be as deep as it was before.
Whatever natural breath comes for you.
As you inhale focus on your awareness of your breath and your body and as you exhale focus on softening.
Softening your entire body.
Inhale focus on awareness,
Exhale on softening and just keep breathing at your own pace.
Now we're gonna move into the smiling part of the meditation.
So allow a smile to gradually spread across your face.
Really invite you to feel how the muscles around your mouth move as that smile grows and it grows and it grows.
Such a beautiful incredible feeling of joy as the smile grows on your face.
You don't have to do anything other than smile.
Keep smiling and then bring your awareness back to that heart area.
How does your heart feel now as you smile?
If you want you can bring your hand to your heart,
The palm of your hand right on your chest and notice how that feels.
With full attention on your heart breathe into the heart and keep the smile open and joyful.
Feel what happens in your heart.
How does your heart feel as you smile broadly and how is it different from when you checked in on your heart earlier?
Is it different?
Feel the joy that you express through the smile in your heart.
Now gradually let go of the smile,
Allow the muscles around your mouth to move back to their neutral position.
From this neutral position move your awareness again back to your heart.
How does the heart feel now on your not smiling?
What does it feel like?
What is the sensation in your heart and around your heart?
Now I invite you to smile once again.
Reconnect with that joy with the bubbling happiness from within.
Let the smile again gradually grow and as it happens bring your awareness back to the heart.
Feel the heart,
Feel around the heart.
Now we're going to take that joy and happiness we're getting from our smile in our heart and invite that joy and happiness to the rest of our body.
The way we're gonna do this is I want you to visualize your heart as if it was a lake.
A lake that is filled with joy and happiness.
The water is instilled with that joy and happiness and all of that is connected to the smile that's on your face.
I want you to invite the water to overflow from the lake in your heart into your whole body.
Imagine how the water flows from your heart,
That water of joy and happiness and how that water then connects with every blood cell in your body.
How it connects to every bone,
Every muscle,
Every part of your being.
It's being filled with this incredible feeling of joy and happiness all from the water,
From the lake,
In your heart,
From your smile.
I invite you now to sit.
Sit in that joy and happiness.
You find that your mind is wandering to a thought,
An image,
An idea.
With that smile still on your face bring your attention back to the sensations in your body.
Bring your attention back to the feeling that starts with a smile and goes into your heart and spreads into your whole body.
This sense of joy and happiness is available from within you.
It's always available to you.
All it takes is a smile and your focus.
Return your attention to that joy,
To that happiness,
To the smile on your face.
You Now I invite you back and invite you to reconnect with your whole body.
Notice the chair against your body.
Notice the sound of my voice.
Notice your presence,
My presence,
Our presence together.
Notice your seat.
Notice your feet.
Wiggle your toes.
Wiggle your fingers.
Slowly move your neck or shoulders.
Slowly open your eyes and look around the room for four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Close your eyes again.
Bring your attention to your breath and take a deep breath in.
Slowly exhale and release your breath.
When you're ready go ahead and open your eyes and move your body in whatever way feels right for you.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
I hope you enjoyed this moment of meditation.
Take these feelings of happiness and joy you created in this session and bring them forward into your next activity.
Please join me next time for a moment of meditation.
