Hello,
This is Lisa McCaskell and welcome to this sensory meditation practice.
You'll first want to find a comfortable position for your meditation.
For some that may be sitting on the floor,
Cross-legged,
Or your spine too,
Nice and tall,
And allow your hips to settle into the ground.
You could also choose to sit on a chair that gives you good support with your feet on the floor,
Still trying to keep the spine nice and tall.
Or if sitting is not a comfortable option for you,
You can also meditate while lying down.
Maybe with the knees bent,
Feet on the floor,
So the low back can be relaxed.
We'll start by just connecting with our physical body,
Noticing all the places in your body that are touching the floor or some other surface.
And then let's see if we can relax the muscles a little bit.
You can relax the forehead,
All the muscles around the eyes,
Muscles in the cheeks.
Try letting your teeth be slightly parted in your mouth so your jaw can relax.
And we can also try to let the tongue relax down if it's pressing up against the roof of the mouth.
Relaxing these facial muscles is one way to send a message to the brain to relax and trigger that parasympathetic nervous system.
See if you can allow your shoulders to soften,
The muscles in your chest to relax,
Your heart can be open.
Just imagining with each exhalation,
There's a wave of relaxation running down each arm,
Much like an ocean wave,
Relaxing all the muscles as it goes.
And now let's take the attention to the breath,
But just notice your next inhale and the following exhale.
Being aware of whether your breath is long or short,
Or it feels calm,
A little agitated,
And there's any restriction in the chest,
Maybe count the length of your inhale and the exhale.
And then with the next breath,
Your inhale wasn't somewhere between four and six,
See if you can lengthen a little bit,
Moving all the way down into the abdominal region on the inhale.
And then with the exhale,
See if you can exhale for a count of four to six,
Allowing the belly to gently pull in towards the spine without a lot of effort.
Just trying to maintain this nice,
Calm,
Even breathing,
Four count inhale,
Five or six count exhale,
Knowing that nothing has to be perfect.
If it feels like too much,
Then shorten a little bit.
You don't want to strain at all.
With each exhalation,
Imagine the body letting go of whatever tension or stress you might be holding today,
Just a gentle melting and sense of letting go.
It's quite common for the mind to want to wander away and entertain itself with other thoughts besides the breath.
And just try to notice when this happens for you.
Let go of whatever thought comes up and bring the attention back to the breath without any judgment or criticism of yourself or commentary about why your mind wanders.
Just know that wandering is what the mind wants to do.
And we just want to get in the habit of noticing the wandering and bringing the attention back to the breath.
Over time,
The mind will begin to slow down and you'll have a little more control and a stronger sense of concentration.
Now just focusing on that inhale and the exhale,
Let everything else go.
Notice if the body becomes calmer.
Noticing if you feel more at ease or at peace.
And when you feel ready,
Slowly bring your attention back to the surface.
And taking an even deeper inhale and exhale,
Perhaps a little more force.
And a little gentle movement to your fingers and your toes and even wiggle your nose and your face.
Now come here,
You can move into a gentle yoga practice or onto your day.
Namaste.
