This is Michelle from Me Time Meditations and Binaural Beats and today we are going to be focusing on growing our gratitude practice.
Delta waves are embedded into the music of the session to help combat anxiety,
Evoke relaxation and induce a meditative state.
When comfortable lying down or in a seated upright position,
Begin by taking three deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
When you've finished your third breath,
Return to normal breathing in and out through the nose and be sure to relax the jaw,
Neck,
Shoulders and anywhere else you're holding tension in the body.
Breathe deeply as you sink deeper into relaxation.
Today we are going to be focusing on growing our gratitude and feelings of appreciation for life so that we can help ourselves reduce stress and anxiety while feeling calmer and more at peace with our lives.
I want you to take one deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Return to normal breathing in and out through the nose.
Now begin to imagine that you are in a beautiful space outdoors that is close to trees.
As you see the sun shining,
Beaming down to warm your face,
Notice a bunch of leaves moving gently together in the wind.
These leaves all have different colors,
Textures and shapes as they move slowly in the air together.
As you inhale deeply,
I want you to visualize those leaves swirling and twirling around each other more playfully and as you exhale,
Visualize those leaves slowing down in their movement to settle to the ground in stillness.
Continue to inhale picturing those swirling leaves in the air and then exhale as you see them slow and settle to the ground.
Continue inhaling,
Mentally swirling those leaves in the air and exhaling having them all fall to the ground.
As you continue with this visualization,
I want you to picture the amount of leaves growing bigger and bigger with each full breath.
Do this for a few moments on your own,
Again inhaling and moving those leaves and exhaling having them all settle to the ground.
Now take one final deep inhale again picturing the leaves swirling around gently and playfully in the air and then exhale letting them all fall to the ground.
Now take a moment to notice how big and beautiful this bounty of leaves looks seated on the ground.
Notice how appealing each leaf is individually and how all of those leaves look together in their abundance.
Now continue to breathe in and out normally through the nose as I speak about the practice of gratitude.
Make the mind wanders,
Know that that is normal but when you notice it begin to wander,
Gently bring your attention back to what I'm saying and back to the breath.
Giving thanks for what is in our life can actually relieve our stress and anxiety,
Improve our sleep,
Boost our mood,
Ease emotional distress and foster feelings of comfort and hope for the future.
When we are grateful,
We have appreciation not only for what may be in the future but what already is in the present.
The people,
Places,
Products and personality traits that we already possess or have access to.
The more we practice gratitude,
The more we open ourselves up to noticing and receiving more things to be grateful for.
We have the power to grow our bounty of leaves with the gratefulness that we feel and express.
Take one deep inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
Return to normal breathing in and out through the nose.
We can grow our gratitude by focusing on what's good in our lives.
Let's take some time now together to list some things that we are grateful for.
You can do this in your head,
On a piece of paper or aloud,
Whatever makes you feel most comfortable.
For the first gratitude category,
I want you to think of something material that you love and are grateful for such as your house,
Your bed,
Your comfiest pair of pants,
Your favorite food and so on.
Continue to breathe in and out through the nose while you think about that material thing that you are grateful for.
Feel free to think of or list more material things you are grateful for as you breathe.
You can also pause this meditation to take more time to reflect on this category.
Now take a deep breath in and a deep breath out.
For the second gratitude category,
Think of someone you are grateful for such as a friend,
A family member,
A role model or even a pet or living creature that brings you peace,
Joy or inspiration.
Keep breathing deeply in and out through the nose as you think of this someone.
Feel free to list more people or creatures you are grateful for and maybe even why you are grateful for them.
Take one deep breath in and one deep breath out.
For the third gratitude category,
Think of something you are grateful for that relates to your personality.
For example,
You can say something like,
I am grateful for my big heart,
My sense of humor,
My intelligence,
My curiosity and so on.
Feel free to list more than one trait if you can.
Take one deep breath in and one deep breath out.
For the last gratitude category,
Think of anything else you are grateful for that didn't fall into any of the previous categories.
This can be anything that you missed including things like a hobby,
A book,
An idea,
A song,
A discovery,
A memory,
An opportunity and so on.
Take a few moments now to think of anything else that you are grateful for.
Now take one deep breath in and one deep breath out.
Now place your hands on the center of your chest or bring your attention to the center of the chest and thank yourself for taking time today to think about what you are grateful for and to help yourself relax.
Take another moment to thank the universe for providing you with all of these blessings.
Let's end by taking one final deep breath in and deep breath out.
Now release the hands down by your sides and relax your attention away from the chest center and shift that attention towards the rest of your body.
You can begin to move gently or stretch the body slowly and then when you're ready,
Slowly flutter open the eyes.
Once again,
This is Ben Michelle with Me Time Meditations and Binaural Beats.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Sat Naam.
