10 Minute Morning Meditation

This is a 10 minute morning meditation to start your day with some mindfulness. We start with a brief body scan before opening our awareness to the experience of the breath in the body. The meditation ends with an encouragement to connect with an intention for the day.

Transcript

This is going to be a 10 minute morning meditation to start the day with some mindfulness and with some presence. So you can begin by finding your comfortable meditation posture and allowing the eyes to close. When I look for the right posture, I like to think of finding a way to energize the skeleton, Sitting up straight, Or as straight as possible, While relaxing the muscles around it. And you can use the breath to aid in this process. As you breathe in, Breathing some energy into the bones or skeleton, Reaching the spine up and the head up. And as you exhale, Allowing the muscles to soften, Allowing the shoulders to fall away from the ears, Allowing the belly and abs to soften. Breathing in a sense of alertness, And breathing out, Finding some ease in your posture. And we'll start with just a brief body scan, Starting up at the head and face, Just noticing anything that's present here. You can feel the jaw clenched, The eyes blinking, Even with eyes closed, How the tongue is resting in the mouth. Dropping your awareness down into the neck and shoulders, The upper back, Recognizing any tension that's there. Maybe you can feel the sensation of the clothes on your body. Down into the arms and hands. Just feeling the actual sensation of your body, Reconnecting or collecting our attention onto these sensations in the body. Can move back up to the torso, The chest and back, Abdomen and lower back. You might notice the movement of the body with the breath. Any spots of tension that you can breathe into. Down into the hips, The groin, Your butt sitting on the chair or cushion, Bringing awareness to the points of contact where you can feel yourself sitting there. Any points of tension. And down the legs, Into the knees, The calves, And finally into the ankles and feet. You might give the toes a little wiggle and then allow them to relax. And bringing the intention now to the sensation of the body breathing, Not just in one point in the body, But seeing if we can breathe in a sense with our whole bodies. Feeling the breath enter the nostrils, Move down the back of the throat, The rising and falling of the chest and abdomen, This expansion and contraction. When we're still, We might also feel a rising and falling of the shoulders or even some movement at the hips. And to encourage this collected attention, You can use a simple noting of in and out or inhale and exhale. Sitting with the breath like this, Feeling the whole body breathing itself. When you do notice the mind wandering off, Just recollecting, Gathering your attention and bringing it back to the sensation of the body breathing. Doesn't matter if the mind's been off for one inhale or 20 full breaths. Just coming back as many times as we need to. We don't need to breathe in any certain way. Allowing the body to breathe itself as it does all day long. Just coming back. For this last minute or so, I want to encourage you to bring to mind an intention you have for the day. Preferably something not superficial, Something a little deeper like the intention to have some patience today or to respond with kindness or to appreciate a loved one. You don't need to shop around and find the perfect intention. But seeing if you can go with what comes to your mind and heart. Letting go of any thoughts about how you're going to achieve this or what needs to be done. And just connecting with this intention that already lies within you. You don't need to manufacture it. It's already there. Feeling it with your mind, Your body, And your heart. Recognizing this intention's presence already within you.