Hello,
My name is Kimberly Johnson and I am going to be guiding you through this meditation today.
I just want to say thank you for being here.
I know what it probably took and I acknowledge that you are here.
Today's meditation is going to be a very short moment to pause and begin to sit with yourself,
Get to know yourself and build relationship with yourself.
I so often hear the term love yourself,
Take care of yourself,
Know yourself,
But there isn't much guidance into the complexity of what that actually means.
And I've been thinking about it a lot and I think it's actually way more simple than we think.
So go ahead and we'll start by you just getting settled in to this moment and into your body.
And I like to settle in by just like shaking off the day.
So literally I'll like shake my hands out,
Shake my arms out.
You can shake your head around or do some head,
Neck,
Shoulder circles.
And then after you've got your squirms out,
Your wiggles,
Just allow yourself to begin to find stillness.
Taking a few micro movements to just find balance between your left side and your right side,
Getting really still.
And right here,
Just taking a moment to maybe shut the eyes down.
When we shut the eyes down,
It begins to push our attention inward.
So just allowing the attention to move inside.
And maybe just take a deep breath,
Deep inhale and a deep exhale.
Let's do one more like that,
A deep inhale and a deep exhale and just settle into stillness.
And right here as you settle into stillness,
I want you to just ask yourself,
How is my body feeling?
And I want you to just scan your body,
Maybe notice where you're holding tension and maybe even practice letting it go if that feels right for this practice.
Notice if you feel any tightness,
Pain,
Heart palpitations,
Belly grumbles,
Whatever you're feeling in your body right now and just take time to ask and notice.
And as you do this,
You might even give yourself permission to attend to the places in the body that might feel some discomfort,
That might feel some pain,
That might feel tight.
And notice what it feels like to give your body attention in areas that might be calling for attention.
Maybe you rub that part of the body,
Maybe you just bring your attention there and breathe.
Maybe you do a few more micro movements to get more comfortable.
Maybe you change your posture altogether.
What would it look like right now for you to be fully aware of your body,
How it feels,
And then giving yourself permission to attend,
To nurture,
To take care of it.
Take one more deep breath,
Being with the body.
And maybe pause and send the body,
Maybe a beautiful thought,
Maybe a touch of your hand to your heart,
Maybe a thank you,
Maybe a I see you,
I'm with you.
And then gently let the body go,
Coming back to stillness.
Now ask yourself,
What am I feeling?
What emotion or feeling is here right now within me?
What is this feeling like?
How does it show up in your mind and your thinking?
How does it show up in your body?
Realizing the whole world of your feelings in this moment.
And see if you can just relax your body and just pay attention to the feeling,
To the world of this feeling.
Let's go.
Taking a moment to give gratitude,
Whisper some kind words,
Maybe place a hand wherever you feel the feeling the most in the body.
Just taking a moment to honor and bow to the feeling that arose,
The feeling that's here right now.
Taking a deep breath and letting that go.
Coming back into stillness.
Next,
I want you to ask yourself,
What do I need?
Right now,
Is there anything that I'm needing in order to feel my most peaceful,
Content,
Loving self?
What do I need?
What am I needing most right now?
And I want you to just practice listening,
Relaxing the body,
Asking the question,
What do I need?
What do I need most right now?
And really listen,
Not from your mind,
But from your body,
From your whole self.
I want you to practice listening and listening right now,
And from the learner's side.
And see right now if you can begin practicing giving yourself what you need,
Saying the words you need to hear,
Letting your body move the way it needs to move,
Taking the actions you need to take,
Practicing giving yourself exactly what you need.
Okay.
Taking a deep breath,
Feeling your inhale,
Feeling your exhale.
And just take a moment to intentionally place your hands on your body.
Sometimes I will interlace my fingers and hold my own hand.
Sometimes I'll place my hands on my thighs and squeeze them.
Sometimes I'll place my hands on my heart or my belly.
Sometimes I'll place my hands on the back of my neck and kind of squeeze,
Like give myself a little back neck massage.
Sometimes I'll rub my own feet.
That one is really juicy.
So just placing your hands intentionally wherever it might feel best.
And if you're feeling resistance to put it in a certain place,
I would maybe practice putting it there.
Sometimes it's maybe on your breasts or your booty or,
You know,
On your face or in your armpits or,
You know,
Whatever it is,
Knowing that you're just practicing being in relationship with yourself.
You're practicing knowing yourself,
Knowing what feels good touch wise.
So just placing your hands.
Now I want you to just put some pressure into your touch,
Just feeling your own touch.
So enough pressure where you can feel supported,
You can feel your touch and enough pressure where it feels good.
And then you can make some gentle movements with the hands.
So right now I'm kind of rubbing my quad,
Feeling my touch,
Giving myself some,
Just massage some touch.
And I want you to just whisper these words.
You are not alone.
I am right here with you.
You are not alone.
I am right here with you.
Spending time with you.
Feeling to know you.
I am right here with you.
You are not alone.
Taking a deep inhale.
Keeping the eyes closed.
I'm going to end with a quote and then a ring of the bell to pull us out of meditation.
The value of the personal relationship to all things,
Including yourself,
Is that it creates intimacy.
And intimacy creates understanding,
And understanding creates love.
I'm going to end with a ring of the bell.
