Outside Meditation

This is a grounding and guided meditation to support being in nature for 15 minutes to ease the mind. Explore Yoga concepts such as concentration on the senses and breath, working through the Chakras and the Koshas (layers of our being). Recorded in nature with natural sounds in the background.

Transcript

This is a grounding meditation to help encourage you to spend a little time outside.

Of course you could do this inside as well,

But our intention is to give you something to listen to and help you to ground and take a moment to spend some time outside.

To find a comfortable seat,

It could be on a rock or a piece of wood,

A deck,

A chair.

You could sit right on your seat,

Right on the ground.

If you're sitting on something,

Uncross your legs if they're crossed,

Feel your feet on the ground.

If you're sitting cross-legged,

Feel the parts of your feet that are touching the ground.

Resting your hands on your lap,

Feeling the spine long all the way to the crown of your head.

Feeling your bottom on your seat,

Feeling your connection to the ground.

I was taking a moment to take a few breaths,

Feeling the breath flowing in and out of your body.

Bringing awareness to your feet,

Your legs,

And your bottom again.

Feeling the support of the ground.

Feeling that you are supported.

Traveling up the body into the belly area.

If you'd like,

You could bring your hands to your belly.

I'm just feeling the breath in the low part of your body,

Feeling the breath in your belly,

Feeling the breath in your back.

Let's take a moment to take five long breaths,

Not trying too hard,

Just noticing your breath for five breaths in and out.

Traveling up your body to your mid-back,

To your upper belly.

If you'd like,

You can place your hand on your upper belly,

What we call your solar plexus,

Right where the rib cage connects.

If you'd like,

You can place one or both hands there,

Maybe one hand on the belly and one hand on your upper belly,

Lower belly and upper belly.

Just feeling the breath in that part of your body,

Feeling that this is a strong part of your body.

And the breath opening.

If you'd like,

You can imagine a little sunshine in that area of your body,

Some warmth.

Perhaps feeling the breath expanding out into your rib cage,

To the sides of your ribs,

Perhaps into the mid-back.

We'll just take five breaths here,

Focusing on the breath in your upper belly.

Traveling up your body to your heart,

If you'd like,

You can take one or both of your hands and place them over your heart,

Feeling the chest rising and falling as you breathe in and out.

You feel the breath in your upper back,

Between your shoulder blades.

If you'd like,

You can bring your hands to prayer pose at your heart.

Just taking five more breaths here,

Feeling the breath in your heart.

Taking a moment to feel that you are loved on that,

You love extending that out from your heart into your hands.

If you'd like,

You can reach your hands out into space or up to the sky,

Bringing the hands back to your heart,

Perhaps letting them rest again on your lap.

Feeling the breath in your throat,

And the neck,

Relaxing,

Shoulders relaxing,

You're feeling just a little heavier down your body.

If you'd like,

You can lift your shoulders a little bit as you breathe in and then just let them release as you breathe out,

Maybe with a sigh.

If you'd like,

You can let the chin drop just a little bit feeling the back of the neck lengthening,

Feeling again the breath in your throat.

Take five breaths,

Focusing on the breath in your throat area.

If you'd like,

You can touch a hand gently to your throat,

Just feeling some of the vibration of the breath in your throat.

Feeling the jaw relax,

Noticing the breath in your sinuses,

Just taking five breaths again to notice your breath as it flows in and out of your nose.

Bring your attention to your forehead,

The area of intuition.

If you'd like,

You can place your fingertips,

One of your hands on your forehead,

Your index finger,

Middle finger and ring finger,

Just pressing gently into your forehead.

Or if you'd like,

You can take your hands back into prayer pose and place your thumbs on your forehead.

And just feeling that connection.

This is your area of intuition.

Feeling that you are wise,

Having trust in your intuition,

Having trust in your voice and your ability to speak your truth in love.

Feeling a connection between your heart,

Your throat and your forehead.

I'll take just five breaths,

Pausing here.

Bringing awareness to the crown of your head.

If you'd like,

You can place one or both hands on the top of your head,

Feeling a sense of lengthening from your ground up your spine to the top of your head.

Place one or both hands flat on top of your head.

Or again,

You can do prayer pose,

Place the base of your hand on the crown of your head,

Feeling as if your fingertips are an extension from the crown of your head.

Feeling a connection between yourself and something beyond yourself,

Whatever that might be for you.

That might be a spiritual connection for you.

A sense of connection to the divine,

The universe,

Maybe your higher self,

Or just the world in general,

Or maybe all those things.

Just taking a moment to feel that you are connected to something beyond,

Beyond yourself.

I'll take five breaths here.

If you have your hands on your head,

Raise your hands again up into the sky,

Opening them up.

If your hands are on your lap,

You can also raise your arms up towards the sky,

Opening them up,

Feeling that space above you.

I'm just taking a few breaths there.

Perhaps bringing the hands together over the head,

Touch the crown of your head,

Touch your forehead,

Touch your lips with your thumbs,

Touch your chest,

Touch your heart.

You'll put your hands down again and touch your upper belly,

Touching your lower belly,

And then resting the hands on your thighs,

Feeling a sense again of being grounded.

Perhaps feeling a sense of peace.

I'm just taking a moment to listen,

Listen to the world around you.

You may hear sounds of nature,

You may hear sounds of other people.

I hear birds,

The wind,

Cars driving by.

Notice what you hear.

It's draining too hard.

Notice the temperature around you.

Notice the smell of the air.

Slowly coming back to your body,

If your eyes are closed,

Just imagining,

Visualizing your body where it's sitting.

Slowly coming back,

If your eyes are closed,

Just slowly open the eyes.

Noticing the first thing that you see,

Looking around,

Seeing your surroundings.

Maybe there's an object you'd like to focus your gaze on,

Just focusing your gaze for a few breaths.

It's really engaging with whatever it is you've chosen.

Notice when your eyes wander,

Just gently noticing that your eyes have wandered and just bringing them back to your point of focus.

Just taking five more breaths.

And then preparing to carry this meditation with you throughout the day.

Taking a moment to integrate this practice that you've done,

Feeling your strength and your lower legs,

And your openness in your lower belly,

Your strength in your upper belly,

Your personal power,

Your ability to love and be loved in your heart,

Your ability to speak your truth and your love,

Your truth in love in your throat,

Your connection to your intuition and your connection to something beyond yourself.

And have a wonderful rest of the day.

I hope that you enjoyed this time,

Perhaps outside,

Hopefully outside.

Or maybe next time we take this with you outside.

Enjoy some of that nature,

Just one of those connections to something beyond yourself.

Namaste.