Hello,
And welcome to today's meditation.
Before we get settled into stillness,
I'm just going to take a few moments to move our bodies gently.
So if you want to go ahead and get yourself into a seated position,
Maybe cross-legged on the floor with your hands resting on your knees,
Or sitting upright in a chair.
To get started,
You can go ahead by taking a deep breath in,
And then just exhaling it out.
And with the next deep breath in,
You're going to lift your hands high above your head.
Inhale to lift,
And then when you exhale,
Just soften your shoulders slightly,
Keeping your hands up above your head.
Inhale,
Reach a little further,
See if you can extend your fingertips up to reach for the sky.
Exhale,
Soften your shoulders away from your ears.
Another deep breath in,
Reach as high as you possibly can reach.
Feel your shoulders stretching,
And then exhale,
Let your hands come down and just rest gently beside you.
This time we're just going to take a little bit of flow from side to side.
Follow my cues with an inhale,
You reach your right hand high to the sky.
When you're ready to exhale,
Gently lean to the left.
Inhale that right hand comes back up high to the sky.
Exhale,
Drop it down beside you.
Inhale,
Lift your left hand high to the sky.
Exhale and gently lean to the right.
Inhale reaching that hand high above your head.
Exhale just let it come down and sit beside you.
We'll do that again.
Inhale reach that right hand up high.
Exhale to just bend to the left.
Inhale reach the right hand up.
Exhale,
Let it come down.
Inhale left hand goes up.
Exhale slight bend to the right.
Inhale left hand comes up.
Exhale let your left hand come down.
And then just go ahead and take a nice gentle twist to the side.
So bring your right hand to your left knee and just slowly at the base of your spine begin to slightly turn so that you're looking out towards your left hand side.
And maybe if it's available to you,
You can bring your chin to look out over your left shoulder.
Sitting up nice and tall,
Just taking a few breaths here.
Take a moment to notice how this feels,
Where you're holding on,
Where you notice tension.
And then when you're ready to exhale,
Let the twist go,
Come back to center.
Take a nice cleansing breath here.
Take a breath in.
And exhale,
Let it go.
Left hand to the right knee.
And this time gently starting at the base of your spine.
Nice and slow.
Just over to look to the right hand side.
Maybe bringing your chin over that shoulder.
And just noticing if the side feels any different than the other side.
No judgment on how far you can twist.
Just go to the point where you meet a little bit of resistance.
When you're ready to exhale,
Gently come back to center.
Then we'll go ahead and settle into stillness now.
Taking yourself in a nice comfortable seat here.
Sitting upright with a tall spine.
Just gently lifting with the crown of your head.
Nothing where you connect to the earth below you.
And then just begin to bring your focus in on your breath.
And see if you can just watch that breath coming in.
And watch the breath going out.
Inhale,
Pulling it through your nose.
Feeling it go down your throat.
Into your lungs.
Maybe into your belly.
And then with the same speed and control,
Releasing from your belly,
From your lungs,
Up the back of your throat.
And maybe tickling the nose hairs as it releases.
And staying with that breath.
Just noticing how it feels to be sitting here.
See if there's a lot of thoughts in your head.
A lot of commotion.
A lot of things going on right now.
You can visualize a box.
It can be sitting in front of you or beside you.
Made of any material you like.
Maybe it's a wooden box or a plastic box or a steel box or a little wicker basket.
You decide what your box looks like.
And this box is a holder,
A holding place for your thoughts.
So that just for now,
While you maintain your focus on your breath,
You have a place to set those thoughts down.
Knowing that you can pick them back up after your meditation or any time throughout the day.
But right now,
You don't need them.
So any time a thought creeps into your head,
Just place it in the box.
And then go back to focusing on your breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Just staying with that breath.
Same length in and same length out.
Slow and controlled.
Breathing in.
Slow and controlled.
Breathing out.
Nothing to do here except just observing your breath.
Watching it as it comes in and watching it as it goes out.
If it helps to keep you focused,
You can count your breaths.
Exhale for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Just repeating that process.
Taking deep breaths in and then letting them go.
Imagine that each deep breath is like sending a little love note to your body.
When we breathe in air,
It's our life force.
So a deeper breath means that you're bringing in more life,
More love.
And then exhaling all that energy which stagnant does not serve you,
Must release so that you can bring in more air,
More life.
Continue here on your own,
Just breathing in and breathing out.
And remembering to place your thoughts in the box as they approach,
As they will.
And then you can begin to bring yourself back to the space around you.
Just listening to any sounds.
Begin to make gentle movements with your fingers,
Maybe wiggling your toes.
You have the option to stay here for as long as you want,
Just watching your breath.
If you're ready to move on with your day,
Go ahead and inhale and extend your arms off nice and high.
Take that breath in and this time when you exhale,
Bring your hands in and wrap them around your body,
Giving yourself the biggest hug of gratitude.
Say thank you for being here to yourself,
For spending this time with your breath.
And I thank you for joining me.
Namaste.
May you have a wonderful day.
