Expanding Gratitude

This practice helps you to recognize the layers of support, love, and kinship we are all located within every single day. We are often disconnected from the wider web of life. This will walk you through a practice to expand your gratitude and remind you that we are nature and nature is also us. This meditation is taken from Marci's 12-month alchemy and intuition apprenticeship program.

Transcript

Welcome to your Expanding Gratitude Meditation.

This practice is designed to recognize the layers of support and love and kinship that we are all located in,

Reminding us that we are nature and nature is also us.

To begin,

Make sure that you're in a comfortable seated position.

You're in a place where you will not be disturbed and you can focus without disruption.

Start to draw your attention inside,

Whether that means closing the eyes or softening the gaze.

And as you start to draw your attention inside,

Become aware of the body breathing in and out.

Watching the breath moving in and out in the belly.

Noticing the expansion and release in the ribs.

Let's start by allowing yourself to arrive in the place that you are through the support of your breath.

And then ground yourself down further into the body by perhaps noticing the weight of the body on the chair or whatever surface you're sitting on.

And notice wherever the body has contact with where you are resting in this meditation.

See if you can become aware of the spine,

The back of the body.

Just taking a moment to ground here before we continue on to the fuller practice.

Now that you're more grounded in your body,

Let's continue on to this expanding gratitude practice where we will take some time to acknowledge the different layers of life that are present with us and supporting us at all times.

To begin,

Let's start with your body.

And in your own way,

Turn your awareness now to acknowledge and give gratitude to your body.

Taking time to acknowledge your organs,

Your skeletal system,

Your circulatory system,

This beautiful complex creation of your body that is constantly in motion and taking care of you,

Working hard to keep you healthy,

Support you without your intervention at all.

Turn your awareness now towards your mind,

Giving gratitude for all of the work that your mind does to support you and your body as well.

And now,

As you're feeling more and more relaxed,

You're going to feel more and more relaxed and more relaxed.

Letting all of the work that your mind does to support you through remembering to-do lists,

To keeping you on task,

To trying to care for you,

To keep you safe.

And then let's now start to expand your gratitude outside of your body.

So keeping yourself very grounded in the felt sensation of where you are sitting.

See if you can turn your awareness and in your own way,

Express gratitude,

A nod of acknowledgement to the spirit,

The essence,

The energy of your home,

Your apartment,

Where you live.

That is this constant presence and shelter and safety for you.

Turn your awareness to acknowledge the spirit of your home now.

Now continuing to expand your gratitude and your awareness,

See if you can allow your gratitude to stretch to outside the walls of your home,

To acknowledge the well-loving,

Bright spirits of the plants,

The animals,

The insects,

The fungi,

All of the things that you do that really share space with you right outside your home.

And extend an acknowledgement,

A nod to them,

Perhaps a gratitude for their presence,

Their inspiration,

And also their ability to be a part of the ecological system that is around your home.

If you feel that you reflect on those stories,

Your home.

Extend your awareness now to the well and bright spirit of the land,

The place where you live.

That in many ways is likely guiding you,

Supporting you,

Keeping you and your loved ones safe.

That you have extended your awareness to the specific location where you live,

Of your home and the land and the creatures around it.

Expand your awareness now to the animals broadly on this planet that give of themselves as food,

Beauty,

Inspiration,

Teaching,

Support to ecosystems and kinship.

It's as if you are coming with hands in prayer of acknowledgement or tipping your hat in a nod of hello and gratitude to the well and bright spirits of the animal kingdom now.

Now expand your awareness to the plants,

The generous,

Generous plants that we are completely dependent on and they are so giving.

Acknowledge and extend your gratitude for their support in our breathing.

How when they breathe out,

We breathe in.

And when we breathe out,

They breathe in this beautiful symbiotic relationship we have.

Acknowledge those plants that give of themselves as food and medicine,

Shelter as they likely have created some of the structure that you live within and clothing that keep your body safe,

Warm and protected.

Beauty,

Like the flowers that inspire you on a walk,

Greater inspiration,

Teaching and kinship.

Extending your gratitude in your own way now,

The very generous plant kingdom on this planet.

Extending your awareness now to acknowledge the waterways that bring you drinking water every day.

Knowing that water is life and we are completely dependent on water.

So give gratitude for the generous way that these waterways support you in your life.

Maybe extending that gratitude to the rain and the weather beings that bring rain that replenish those waterways throughout the year.

And as you started expanding your gratitude to really the element of water.

See if you can expand your acknowledgement to the element of air,

The sweet breezes that cool your face.

That spread and foster the pollination of plants that enable you to eat.

That create the beautiful rustling sound of leaves in a tree.

In your own way acknowledge the element of air,

Wind.

Extend your awareness now to the element of fire that creates warmth during cold days.

The fire that lives within your digestion,

That element the fire that lives in your digestion that supports your body to metabolize food.

The light that lights your way in a room or outdoors.

And as we've acknowledged these elements and these layers of existence on this planet,

Let's now turn our awareness to expand our gratitude and awareness to the earth,

The planet that we live on.

The well and bright spirit of this earth that we are completely dependent on,

That sustains us in life,

And that generously nurtures us.

Stretch your awareness and your gratitude to the sun.

That beautiful bright ball that lights your day.

Energy of which becomes a food for plants which then feed and sustain our body.

And which serves as a reflection on the moon to light the night.

And turn your awareness to acknowledge the moon.

That not only brings light during the night time,

But governs the tides of the ocean and the cycles of our very own bodies and plants and everything on the planet that is connected to the element of water.

That serves as beauty and inspiration in the sky.

See if you can now acknowledge the sky.

This expansive,

Vast canvas that's constantly changing throughout the day.

With beautiful colors and textures.

Sparking awe,

Inspiration,

Perspective,

Calm.

That hosts the weather and the seasons and the stars.

And stretching your awareness now beyond our planet and our moon and our sun.

Acknowledge the stars for their beautiful twinkle.

For the way they've taught us for millennia about seasons and even ourselves through the zodiac signs.

And expanding to the planets.

That keep us discovering and curious.

And help us to recognize that we are one point in a large web of life and existence.

And remind us that there is a greater cosmos.

And then from there,

Before closing,

Just resting in this giant web of support and beauty and inspiration and nurturance and interconnectedness that you as a single human being are a part of.

Recognizing how life is supporting us at all times.

Without even us asking.

And give gratitude for that.

You could stay here as long as you wish.

Pause on the recording to do so.

Or if you're ready,

Start to slowly bring your awareness back into the felt sense of your body where you're sitting now.

Acknowledging where you're sitting,

Your spine or your breathing.

And while you turn your awareness back to this present place and moment,

You bring with you the expansiveness that you fostered in your heart.