Hello there.
I'm going to be guiding you through a meditation.
Called Expanding Your Container.
And the intention here is to allow our emotions to move throughout our body and give them space.
So first I'm going to invite you to allow your body to stay in a comfortable position.
If you're seated,
Really notice your bottom in the chair.
Perhaps your feet are planted on the ground.
Just really notice where your body is in space.
And gently bring your attention to the places where your body rests on the furniture.
And the other contact points.
And now I'm going to invite you to bring your attention to your breath.
Just really starting to notice where you feel movement.
So you might notice a rising and falling in your shoulders.
Your belly going in and out.
Or expansion,
Contraction of your lungs.
You might notice the passage of oxygen in and out of your nostrils,
Cool on the way in,
Warm on the way out.
And really just allow your attention to settle wherever you feel your breath most significantly.
We're just going to notice that natural movement,
The in and the out.
And allow all of your attention to be here.
And now I'm going to invite you.
To imagine a straw,
A small stressor.
Now maybe on the scale of 1 to 10,
10 being really intense,
Maybe just a 2 or a 3.
And seeing if you can allow that stressor to take a form.
So maybe it has a color or a shape.
And I'd like to invite you to notice where it would be in your body.
Some of us really carry stress and tension in our bellies or chest.
So just really start to notice.
Where that stressor would be.
And now I'm going to invite you to notice your skin quite literally as the container of your body.
It contains our muscles and our bones,
Our organs,
And our stress.
And so what we're going to do is try to invite some movement.
Into our bodies allowing that stressor to move throughout our body.
So you might encourage it with some words,
Giving it permission to move,
Or you might visualize it starting to move.
We're really trying to allow with each exhale a little bit of movement.
Of that stressor moving throughout the container of our bodies.
And as a friendly reminder,
You can't do this wrong.
So if there isn't a lot of movement yet,
That's okay.
We're just trying to notice.
And so now we're going to expand our container.
So perhaps it's just an inch or two beyond our skin,
Beyond the boundaries of our bodies.
So if we expand our container and give our stressor a little bit more moving space,
More space to move,
We're just going to notice what happens.
And just notice what changes as we progress in this practice.
The form might change.
The color might change.
The size might change.
It's also okay if you don't observe change.
Again,
With each exhale really allowing that stressor to move.
And if it feels comfortable for you.
Please allow your container to expand a little bit more.
Maybe it's a few inches bigger,
Maybe it's six inches,
Whatever feels comfortable and appropriate for your body.
Emotion comes from the Latin word motus meaning to move.
So our emotions are supposed to move through our systems and through our bodies,
But they often get stuck.
So we're really just trying to encourage some movement.
And again,
Giving it more space.
And once again,
If it feels appropriate and helpful and healthy for your body and your system.
Feel free to allow your container to be even bigger.
Again with each exhale,
Really encouraging movement of that stressor.
And checking in,
Generally speaking,
With your body,
Noticing what sensations may be present.
As we've given a little bit more space for our stressor to move throughout our system,
Notice if there's been any other shifts in your body.
See if there's any more heaviness or relaxation.
If you feel any tension or agitation,
I always see that as metabolizing our emotions,
We're processing.
So once again,
That's not a problem,
It's just information.
Notice if your breathing has shifted at all since the beginning of this practice.
And we'll have one more opportunity to expand.
Your container.
It could be as big as the room.
It could be bigger or smaller.
Really allow your system to feel the expansiveness.
As you've expanded your container.
Noticing that inhale and exhale.
When our minds wander off,
We're just going to notice that we're distracted and gently bring our attention back to your breath.
And just take a moment to notice what size of a container was most helpful for your body and your system.
Taking a mental note of this so that in the future when we need more space,
When we're feeling really tight and tense or our stressors feel stuck somewhere,
Reminding ourselves that we can always expand the container.
And hopefully we can move through our stressors when we do so.
So I'll invite you to take a few more breaths at whatever pace feels comfortable for you.
Once again,
Noticing a shift.
Noticing what it felt like to expand the container.
And giving yourself some credit for slowing down for these last 10 minutes.
And in a little while,
I'm going to ring the bell.
To end this practice.
I hope you have a wonderful day.
