Hello and welcome to this meditation.
A meditation of personal time and space for you to connect to your beautiful smile and cultivate a sense of calm and connection to yourself.
My name is Natalie and I am a teacher here on Insight Timer,
A passionate yoga and meditation teacher and an advocate for finding mindful moments throughout your day.
This practice is a combination of mindful meditation and journaling and I'll invite you to take up a comfortable position whilst also grabbing a pen and piece of paper where you'll be able to express your thoughts and feelings through the guided questions.
This practice will begin with me guiding you through the mindful meditation and then in closing I will prompt you with questions that you can journal,
Immersing your mind and body as one through the words you put on paper.
If you do not have pen and paper handy you can just simply answer the questions within your mind and take a moment of self-reflection and self-connection.
After all this is your practice and this is your time and I want to ensure that you get the absolute most from this space and this time that you have given yourself.
The practice will focus on cultivating a sense of calm and relaxation through a gentle half smile.
If you're not familiar with the half smile meditation you can think of a picture of the Buddha and you will see him holding a gentle upward and easy smile.
There is great research demonstrating that the half smile meditation contributes to subtle changes in cognitive and emotional perceptions and interpretations.
Through this half smile we can instantly relax the face,
The jaw,
The head,
The neck and shoulder muscles,
Allowing us to bring about a beautiful connection from the brain to the body,
Signaling that everything is okay and that you are feeling good.
And even if you do not feel like smiling,
Studies have proven that feelings in your body actually mimic your facial expressions.
So with that perfect idea let's get smiling.
Allow yourself to relax in your meditation position,
Whether that's lying down or sitting,
Feeling your feet on the floor,
Feeling your body in your seat or lying flat on your mat.
As you start to arrive here you might just start to bring some gentle movement to your body,
Allowing any final movements before settling into your practice.
A wiggle in your shoulders,
Just starting to bring your attention to your body here at one with yourself.
Allow your breathing to settle in its natural rhythm as you find your stillness.
Start to feel into the rise and fall of your chest on each inhalation and exhalation,
Allowing that life force,
That energy force to move up and down your center,
Letting go of everything that led you to this moment,
Giving yourself full permission to simply be with your body.
It's important to recognize that if your mind wanders,
That that is completely normal and natural.
But just simply bring your mind back to your breath.
Use your breath that becomes your anchor,
Grounding you into this moment.
Through your oneness with yourself now I'll invite you to take a few rounds of deepening breath from your center.
As you take a beautiful in-breath,
Drawing your breath down to your belly and feeling your belly expand.
And as you breathe out,
Breathing out through your nose,
Letting your belly fall,
Breathing in,
Drawing your breath down to your belly,
Feeling its beautiful expansion.
And then on your out-breath,
Letting your belly fall,
The breath rise up through your nose.
Whilst you continue with this pattern of breathing,
I'll invite you to gently turn the corners of your mouth upwards.
As you breathe in now,
Really feeling into the corners of your mouth turned upwards.
And then as you breathe out,
Feeling into the sensation of your half smile,
Letting that beautiful feeling of smiling wash over your entire being.
Breathing in,
I connect to that half smile.
As I breathe out,
I let that feeling wash over my entire body.
Relaxing your face,
Your neck,
Your shoulders and gently drawing your attention over your entire body.
You might start to even connect to moments within your life that have naturally brought that beautiful smile to your face.
How lucky and thankful we are to experience such a sensation across our entire being.
Rest in here for a few more rounds of breath.
Being at one with your beautiful smile,
You can start to allow your breath to come back to its natural flow.
You might still find that the corners of your mouth are turned up,
But your body is awash with that beautiful sensation of your beautiful smile.
Simply through that mindful connection,
You have attracted peacefulness,
A sense of calm,
All through the power of a gentle,
Easy half smile.
I invite you now to start to bring your attention back to your body.
Wiggling your toes,
Wiggling your fingers,
Bringing your attention back to the room by opening your eyes.
Maintaining that sense of peace and calm and that beautiful smile will move into extending your practice further through the power of writing.
Keeping that mindful connection even in our conscious awake state.
And with that same half smile,
I want you to start to write things in your personal life that make you smile.
It could be a person in your life,
A pet,
Your hobbies,
Your passions.
Just connecting to all of those things that make you smile.
They can be big,
They can be small.
And then moving along,
What things in your work make you smile?
What activities,
People,
Jobs,
Projects,
Give you that sense of urgency,
Give you that sense of passion and connectedness and ultimately bring a smile to not just your face but to your entire being.
What things in your health make you smile?
What activities contribute to your health that give you energy,
That make you happy?
Who are the people that contribute to your whole health that bring a radiant smile to your face,
That fills your body up with those beautiful,
Happy,
Nurturing hormones?
Remember that you can bring your mind back to your breath,
Particularly if you're finding any of these questions challenging.
There's no right or wrong answer.
We're simply connecting to the things around us that make us smile,
That contribute to our entire being,
To our health,
To our well-being.
And then finally,
Where can you smile more?
Who can you smile to?
How are you spending your days that you could bring a gentle half smile to those moments?
You don't even have to know how.
All you're doing here is setting yourself that intention of smiling.
I've finished writing.
You can take a glance back over all that you have written.
Once more,
Bringing that beautiful half smile to your face,
Letting those experiences,
Those activities,
Those people in your life,
Cultivate those beautiful,
Happy,
Happy feelings and letting them wash over your entire body.
And when you are finished,
I'll invite you to take a beautiful in-breath in through the nose,
Releasing out through the mouth,
Letting everything you have connected to through this practice,
Letting it all go,
Knowing that you have consciously brought whole mind-body connection to these powerful moments that make you smile,
That give you energy,
That fill your cup,
Lift your soul,
And you can take it into the rest of your day.
Thank you for sharing your time with me.
Thank you to yourself for giving you this time as well.
Namaste.
