Hello everyone,
My name is Nadine and I will be leading you through a brief meditation on breath and sound awareness today as a way to get grounded,
Centered and to connect with yourself.
This meditation can be practiced at any time during your day or at night.
Whenever you need a moment just to be with yourself,
To slow down,
To connect with your body.
So let's start finding a comfortable seat,
Having either your feet flat on the floor or if you're sitting cross-legged on the floor just find a way to sit that allows you to have an upright tall spine.
If you decide to lay down just make yourself comfortable on your back,
Laying down,
Let your legs relax and let your feet just roll out naturally.
You can have your knees bent,
Knees knocking together,
Whatever is a comfortable position for you.
And then allow your eyes to close or soften your gaze towards the floor in front of you.
Just start with bringing your awareness to your breath and start to take some long slow full and deep breath into your body,
Filling each part of your body from your toes all the way up to your head.
Imagining the oxygen traveling through your entire body in and around every cell,
Recharging and nourishing every part of your body with your breath.
Breathing in right down into the belly,
Up through the ribcage into the chest and then pause for a moment at the top of your inhale and then let out a long slow exhalation through the mouth,
Maybe even letting go a sigh.
And as you do feel yourself becoming more relaxed,
Letting go completely,
Take another deep full breath in,
Holding it for a moment or two at the top.
And as you exhale release any remaining tension,
Tightness in the body and in the mind.
Let the body soften,
Let the mind relax.
One more breath like that,
Breathing in a sense of calm and relaxation.
Breathing out your day,
Your thoughts,
Your worries,
Your to-dos.
Feeling the forehead and the eyebrows begin to smooth,
The eyes getting heavy in their sockets.
Let the skin around the corners of your eyes and your lips begin to soften.
Your jaw relaxes,
The tongue,
The lips,
The whole mouth.
Let your shoulders just relax down your back,
Shoulder blades just rest on your ribcage.
Fingers are relaxed,
All 10 fingers,
All 10 toes soften,
Releasing any gripping in the toes and in the fingers.
Now become aware of any sounds that you can hear in this moment.
Focus on nothing else but what you can hear without concentrating too hard and begin with the most distant sounds that you can hear.
Let your sense of hearing radiate outward,
Searching out these distant sounds far,
Far away from you and follow them for a few moments,
Moving your attention from sound to sound without trying to identify the source of the sound.
Try to remain the witness of the sounds you hear without labeling or judging them.
Staying with one sound for a moment and then move on to the next.
And then gradually bring your attention to closer sounds,
To sounds right outside the building you're in.
And then to sounds outside the room that you're in.
So just remaining the witness of the sounds,
Observing,
Hearing the sounds without judging or trying to labeling the sounds,
Moving your attention from sound to sound.
And then move to the sounds inside the room that you're in.
And to sounds very close to you.
Stay with one sound for a moment and then move on to a sound even closer to you.
Until you can hear the sounds in your own body.
Your own breath flowing in and out of your lungs.
And maybe even your own heart beating in your chest.
Now let go of any sounds you hear and return back to your breath,
To your natural easy breath.
Allowing your body to breathe in and out without any effort.
Seeing the movement of the breath in your body,
Maybe hearing the sound of your breath,
Feeling the air,
The temperature of the air as your breath flows in and out of your nostrils.
And without opening your eyes yet just start to visualize the room and the four walls around you.
The ceiling,
The floor.
Visualize your body lying or sitting in the room.
Imagining where you are in the room and all the other objects,
Furniture,
Maybe people around you.
Visualizing your body in the room,
The position of your body.
Feeling your clothes,
The floor touching your skin.
Seeing the container of your skin.
And then very slowly start to bring gentle,
Gentle movements into your toes and your fingers.
Maybe gradually let that movement grow a little bit,
Wrists and ankles circling.
Seeing any gentle movements,
Stretches,
Maybe a yawn or a sigh,
Whatever feels good to wake up again.
Go gentle and slow.
And then when you're ready you can allow your eyes to open or just lift your gaze.
Taking in more and more of your surroundings again.
Thank you very much for practicing with me today.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day or night and I'll see you next time.
Namaste.
