Welcome to day five of your meditation journey.
How are you feeling today?
Before we get into today's meditation,
Still working on the foundation of our meditation,
Focusing on our breath as our anchor,
I did want to acknowledge that we're five days into our journey.
I also want to acknowledge how fascinating it is that in the last five days we've been focusing on our breath.
And isn't it interesting how simple the idea of paying attention to your breath is,
But then how hard it actually is in practice?
Because I know that was definitely my experience when I first started meditating.
I thought,
Oh,
Next question.
In fact,
Even the well,
Well-renowned meditation teacher,
Sharon Salzberg,
Said it herself when she first started her meditation experience.
She said,
I thought,
Okay,
What will it be like?
800 breaths before my mind starts to wander?
And to my absolute amazement,
It was one breath and I'd be gone.
It's really fascinating how once we actually begin to observe the activity of our brain,
How crazy our thoughts jump from one topic to the next,
Whether it's a past memory,
A to-do in the future,
Something we need to add to the list,
A work email we forgot to send,
Realizing we're hungry and what we want to eat later.
And the list goes on and on and on.
So I did want to take a moment on day five to recognize and to commend you for committing to your practice thus far and for recognizing how big of an accomplishment this is.
It's kind of like setting a fitness goal and not expecting to go to the gym one time and transform.
I think we all can understand that we reap the benefits of our physical goals over time.
And much of the same way,
That's how our mental health works as well.
It's that consistent practice.
So with that,
Getting comfortable wherever you are,
Seated in your space,
Whether you're on the floor,
Maybe sitting in a chair,
Feeling your feet on the ground,
Your hands on your legs,
Just starting to get comfortable here.
And with your eyes still open,
Looking around your room,
Taking in your space,
And just notice how you're naturally breathing right now.
Maybe you notice you're taking short sips of air in your chest,
Or maybe you are taking naturally big,
Deep breaths,
Just noticing it right here,
Right now,
Not trying to change it,
Just recognizing your natural state of breathing right now.
And together,
Intentionally taking deep inhales through our nose,
Feeling our belly expand,
Holding it at the top,
Maybe taking one more sip of air,
And then releasing through your mouth.
And just like that,
Following the complete inhale,
Breathing in through your nose and releasing.
Maybe with your next inhale,
You notice how your shoulders might lift,
Your chest and belly expand,
And then when you release your exhale,
Notice how your body softens.
And if you haven't done so already,
Fluttering your eyes,
Gently closed,
As we continue to breathe in through our nose and release gently through our mouth.
As our eyes are closed,
Connecting more to the weight,
The sensations in our body,
Taking a bird's eye view,
Just zooming out,
Seeing how you're breathing.
And before we travel into our bodies and do a quick grounding scan,
Just checking in,
Asking yourself,
How are you feeling today?
Watching yourself as your body's breathing in and out,
Knowing that at any point that your mind wanders off,
Or you get distracted or lost in a thought,
Just gently bringing yourself,
Your attention back to this sensation of inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.
Now traveling into your body,
Feeling the weight pressing down.
And starting at the top of your head,
Just paying a little bit more attention to each piece of yourself,
Noticing how we're subconsciously holding on to different muscles,
Holding on to tension.
Throughout today's meditation,
Our breath will melt any sensation of tension.
As we breathe in to the crown of our head and begin to scan down,
Unfurrowing our brows,
Gently closing our eyes versus forcefully shutting them,
Bringing your attention to your cheeks,
Releasing,
Maybe taking a few jaw open and closing,
Releasing any sensation and tension you're holding on to in your face,
Releasing your tongue from the roof of its mouth,
And inhaling here,
Sending your entire breath to your face now,
Feeling the back of your skull into the front of your face,
And continuing to travel down to your neck,
Noticing if you're constricting your throat,
Maybe lifting your chin a centimeter higher to open,
Watching that breath travel through your throat,
And just remembering we're checking in,
We're not necessarily being asked to do anything right now,
We're just being with ourselves,
Continuing to follow along with my voice.
We're at your own pace,
But just checking in briefly with each piece of yourself,
Connecting your breath with your body as we inhale,
Sending our breath to our face,
Down through our throat and into our shoulders as it flows into each arm,
Each hand,
Each finger,
Continuing to take deep inhales as we notice our belly moving up and down as we scan down through our chest,
Into our ribs,
Down through our belly,
Noticing here that any point your mind has wandered,
Offering yourself grace,
Thinking as part of our human condition,
This is an experience we can all relate to,
We're building that muscle,
We're recognizing when the mind wanders,
And we're gently bringing it back to the sensation of breathing in and breathing out,
And continuing down through your hips,
Setting an intention to release any static energy we're holding here,
Breathing into our hips,
And then allowing that air to flow through each thigh,
Each knee,
Each calf,
Ankle,
And foot,
Your breath is just flowing with you,
Feeling complete mind-body connection from the crown of your head to the tips of your toes,
And now gently zooming out,
Just as we started today's practice,
Watching yourself breathing in this space,
Noticing any differences,
Maybe feeling a little bit more grounded,
A little bit more connected,
Maybe your awareness has moved from just in your mind and in your head to your entire body,
Being fully aware that you're so much more,
And just watching yourself breathing in this space,
Thanking yourself for taking the time to check in,
To commit to yourself and your practice,
Recognizing that over time,
We will begin to see these benefits,
Relating back to,
And gently noticing how your body might feel a little bit more grounded right now,
Connecting your breath with every inhale and exhale,
Focused attention here,
And continuing to breathe here,
Staying here as long as it feels right,
When you're ready to move on and continue with your day,
Just beginning to find gentle movement,
Moving as slowly as feels right,
Moving different body parts around,
Taking some feel-good stretches,
And then slowly fluttering your eyes back open into a state of open awareness.
Thank you so much.
