Hello and welcome to this meditation track.
My name is Lucy,
I'm a Mindfulness for Lost teacher and I'm going to be taking you through today a guided meditation which is a breath awareness meditation specifically for the baby loss community.
So I want to invite you to find somewhere to rest and relax comfortably.
Really making sure that your posture is a posture that's not going to make you feel sleepy so it's a good idea not to lie down for this practice but instead choose a comfortable seated posture.
Maybe choosing to pop a cushion behind your back.
And before any meditation practice it can be helpful to set an intention.
So maybe today's intention for you is to simply relax for this short amount of time to bring into your awareness into this space some kindness and compassion and an acceptance to however you find yourself today whatever physical state your body is in however your mind presents itself today.
Really just allowing yourself to be exactly as you are in this moment today.
So connecting with this present moment what can you hear?
Now you may be wearing headphones so maybe just tuning into any sounds in my background.
Tuning into any sounds all around you sounds that are closer more distance.
We're not really attaching any stories to the sounds that we hear we just notice in.
Notice in that sound in its raw form.
Noticing the quality.
Really tuning into this present moment awareness of sound.
What's a wonderful thing it is to be able to hear.
Something that so many of us take for granted.
So just listening to the sounds that you can hear for a few more moments longer.
And still having an awareness of those sounds now but taking your awareness now to the body.
Maybe beginning at the very top of your head and gently and lightly scanning down through your body relaxing all the little muscles in the face releasing into your jaw.
Really allowing your shoulders to relax to drop down to completely release.
Allowing the arms to become heavy.
Really relaxing into the surface beneath you or behind you.
Feeling held and supported in this moment and feeling safe.
Relaxing into the lower legs and the feet and into the whole of your body.
Using this wonderful opportunity today to stop and to pause.
Knowing that your mind will drift and dream and plan and think of maybe a thousand things if not more.
But that's okay.
This is what our minds do.
So moving on now I want to invite you just to notice the breath.
Really noticing that breath as the body breathes in and as the body breathes out.
Following that breath.
Notice how the body moves as you breathe.
How the body expands and subsides.
Movements in the chest,
In the shoulders,
The upper back and the lower back.
And even movements in the outer areas of your body.
Noticing how it feels to breathe.
Noticing the exchange of warm and cool air.
What sensations can you feel?
Where does your breath feel?
The strongest today?
It may be at the nose or in the chest.
If you feel your breath at the nose which nostril is more dominant?
Can you feel the hairs inside your nose move as you breathe?
Really being curious.
Bringing in that curiosity like you have never even experienced breathing before.
As though this is the first time that you have noticed your breath.
That you have noticed that you are breathing.
Follow the breath.
Notice the movements.
Notice how much your mind wants to pull you away from this experience of breathing.
It wants you to think about other things.
So many thoughts,
Thousands and thousands a day.
And actually not many of those thoughts are actually original thoughts.
When we recognise how much our mind begins to wonder.
It can be really interesting.
Because what we might start to notice and this is true for many people is how repetitive our thoughts can be.
And in fact not many of our thoughts are original thoughts.
It's almost like our mind is a record going round and round playing the same song.
When we choose to sit in a meditation practice and we choose to pay attention to a particular thing,
In this case the breath.
It's helping us to strengthen that awareness in our mind.
It's helping us to notice more.
To notice what our thoughts are doing.
So that when we experience the real world,
When we are out working and interacting and when we are learning how to be in this world that seems so uncertain following loss.
We notice more of what our thoughts are doing.
And we can create some space and we can make better choices.
Mindfulness really helps us to do this.
Helps us to be less critical on ourselves.
It helps us to notice more of the good things even amongst our suffering.
It helps to see that in this world that we live in there is still joy.
Small moments but there is still joy.
But this really is a practice so please don't feel that this is the goal,
This is not the aim.
It's more of an effect,
Something that seems to develop over time.
So choosing to focus on the breath and for a few moments longer as we sit here together connected in our suffering,
Connected in loss.
And so bringing this meditation practice to a close,
Moving the body in any way you need to or even just resting here for a little while longer in this space that you have created.
Taking your time however you choose to end this meditation,
Taking a sense of calm and relaxation into your day and sending all my love to you wherever you are in the world,
Whoever you are.
Take care.
