Good morning.
I'm Natalie Duchel and this is a meditation to help start your day with mindfulness and gratitude.
Find a comfortable posture for your body and welcome the day by inhaling in through your nose and releasing it out the mouth.
Morning meditation is a grounding practice that brings us into the present moment where we can find peace and joy.
Beginning the day with intention we empower ourselves to connect with our highest self throughout the day.
Begin to deepen your breath counting to four as you inhale through your nose and extending the breath slowly out the nose counting to four as you exhale.
Inhale for four.
Exhale for four.
Inhale for four.
Exhale for four.
Exhale for four.
Exhale for four.
Exhale for four.
Exhale for four.
Now release the counting and call to mind one thing that you can be grateful for.
A person,
A pet,
Anything you appreciate.
Beginning our day with gratitude keeps us in a state of abundance deterring us from obsessing over the future or from concentrating on what we perceive as lacking in our lives.
Bring to mind another thing in your life you're grateful for.
Maybe it's a memory from time spent with friends or in nature.
Even if we're not content with our life right now we can still feel gratitude for the joy we've experienced in the past.
One last time imagine one thing for which you're grateful.
This time allow yourself to feel that memory.
Notice how gratitude can soothe your physical and mental bodies.
Return to your breath inhaling and exhaling slowly through the nose.
Now recall a success of yours from yesterday.
Maybe you finished a project,
Drank enough water,
Or smiled at a stranger.
It doesn't matter how big or small the success was to you.
It's healing to be mindful of our efforts to show up for ourselves and others.
Once again return to the steadiness of your breath.
Ask yourself what intention would you like to set for yourself today?
What word or message would serve you?
Feel that intention sink in.
Now blink open your eyes taking in the moment that fills the space around you.
I wish you a joyful and peaceful day.
Namaste.
