Today's meditation is all about finding a balance.
And balance is our mantra or our theme for this meditation.
Go and find somewhere comfortable and we'll get started.
My name is Lucy Stone and this is Meditation Rocks.
Today's meditation is about recognising balance and seeking some balance within our life.
Take these first few moments to make sure that your posture enables you to feel balanced in a seated or lying down position.
So checking in with the body and making sure your left hand and right hand side has equal weight spread.
And that your posture is as symmetrical and as balanced as it can be.
With both feet flat on the floor if you're sitting in a chair.
And your hands palm down on your lap or knees.
If you're lying down you might want your arms down by your side with your palms facing up.
And just taking a few moments now just to get settled.
And beginning to turn the volume down on life.
Letting anything on your mind fade to the background if you can.
And instead have a sense of an awareness that your body is balanced from left to right.
And don't worry if you need to make little adjustments during your meditation to try and balance your posture a little more.
It's this focus,
Detention and awareness that is meditation.
Not stillness and the fact of not moving.
We are always moving in some way.
So start to connect with your breath now.
And in these first few moments all we're looking for is an awareness of your breath.
So just taking time to breathe deeply.
Nourishing your body and mind.
And let's take two deep breaths together.
So breathing in through your nose.
Feeling your lungs and then breathing out through your mouth feeling that sense of release and relief.
And we'll do that again.
Breathe in deeply.
Hold the breath.
Exhale fully through your mouth.
And now close your mouth if this is comfortable and start to breathe in and out through your nose.
Your Yuzhai breath.
And try over these next few moments to balance the length of your inhale and your exhale.
So I often suggest counting for around four.
You count at the speed that is comfortable for you.
So breathing in to account for a moment of pause and then breathing out to account for.
Take a few moments now just to find this lovely rhythm of breath.
And you might like to say as you breathe in,
I balance my body.
And as you breathe out,
You might like to say,
I balance my mind.
I balance my body.
I balance my mind.
And now I'd like you to check in with your left hand side of your body.
All the way from the crown of the head.
Left eye,
The left ear.
Left cheek.
Down into the left shoulder.
The arm.
The hand and fingers.
The left side of the chest.
The left hip.
The left glute and sit bone.
The left leg,
Thigh,
Knee,
Calf,
Ankle,
Foot and toes.
Breathe in and out to your left side of your body.
So breathing in from that left foot up.
That left side of the body.
To the crown of the head.
And then breathing out from the crown of the head.
All the way down.
That left side of the body.
To your feet and toes.
Just have a complete magnified awareness.
On this whole left side of your body.
Taking one more deep breath in here.
And release.
And we switch our focus now to the right hand side of your body.
So starting with the crown of the head.
The ear,
The eye,
Cheek.
The whole right side of the face down into the right shoulder.
The arm,
The wrist.
Hand,
Fingers,
Palms.
Right side of the chest,
The hip.
The glute and sit bone.
Your leg,
Your thigh.
Your calf,
Your knee.
Your ankle,
Your foot.
And your toes on your right side.
So having this magnified awareness of your right hand side of your body.
So breathe in from your toes up the right hand side to the crown of the head.
And breathe out down from head down through the body to the toes.
And we do that around three more times.
Completely focusing on your right side.
Breathing in and out.
And now seeing your body as a whole.
Just allowing this wave of breath to breathe in and out.
And we say again.
I am balanced in my body.
I am balanced in my mind.
So breathing in,
I am balanced in my body.
I am balanced in my mind.
And just say to yourself now the word balance.
Checking in with the body.
Making any minor adjustments.
Releasing any tension that you're feeling as you breathe out.
And just notice how you feel.
I am balanced.
I have balance.
Just taking a last few breaths here.
In our balanced practice of meditation.
And slowly allowing your breath to return to a comfortable rhythm and flow for you.
And slowly make any tiny movements in the body.
Wiggling fingers and toes.
Stretching.
Arms,
Legs.
And bring your hands together and give the hands a little bit of a rub.
Create some warmth and heat.
And then hovering your hands over your eyes.
And blink your eyes open inside your hands when you're ready.
Bringing your hands down away from your face.
And I hope that was a useful addition to your day.
It's nice to check in with both parts of the body to try and seek this sense of balance within our body and mind.
I hope you have a lovely rest of your day.
And I'll speak to you again very soon.
