Planning For A New Year - An Exercise & Meditation

Join Nurse Coach, Patricia Daiker, RN for an interactive session that can help you set your intention for the New Year, followed by a guided meditation to bless your physical body. This track is beneficial to people who live with diabetes or other chronic conditions. Patricia lives with Type 1 diabetes and offers a holistic approach to health issues that empowers individuals to live fully and happily despite any medical challenges they face.

Transcript

So we're gonna do something fun tonight.

So as we're joining,

We're gonna do a little sort of planning for the new year and recap of the holidays.

So if you don't have pen and paper nearby,

Why don't you grab one?

And we're gonna talk a little bit about the holidays and planning for the new year.

That's kind of what I wanted to dig in tonight.

So I wanna give everybody a minute to gather and jump on.

I'm 30 plus years in living with diabetes,

And it certainly is a challenge during the holidays.

So I wanna address that and then help us maybe sort of get our footing for next year.

That's what we're gonna do tonight.

So let's gather.

I like that idea when we first get together,

We'll take a big deep breath together.

And then that breathing,

We actually start to shift.

When we take those big deep breaths,

We shift from the outer world to our inner world.

When we breathe collectively as a group,

Holds our energy together,

We're focused.

Even if we can't see each other physically,

You can see me and I can see your names and your faces.

We are still connected and we're in community and that's very important.

It's one of the reasons that we do this is to be together.

Just a mental picture in your mind of being in a place that's safe and being in a place that's welcoming,

A place that's free from judgment among people who understand what it's like to live with something that is a hardship.

Again,

Diabetes is my particular burden.

We talk a lot about diabetes,

But certainly any sort of hardship you live with requires a lot of extra energy and attention.

As we gather together,

As we come together tonight,

Feel that presence among us,

Right?

So we're all together here for a common good.

We're all together to support each other.

It's a friendly and safe place.

So as we start again,

We're gonna be planning for the new year and we're gonna do an exercise here in a little bit,

But we'll start with our intention for tonight.

One more deep breath.

And relax.

And our intention tonight is may we be hopeful.

May we be encouraged.

May we be inspired.

May we be present.

I think being present is very important because that's when everything happens now.

You know,

If everything you've ever lived happened in the past,

Everything that ever will be will be in the future and everything that is is right now,

Right?

And so when we're present,

That's when we really have opportunities and choices.

We don't have choices in the past,

It's gone,

And the future hasn't shown up.

So changing our life or making our life better or different always happens now.

I think that's really important to gather,

To be here together and support each other energetically,

Prayerfully,

However you feel like connecting,

But know that you're in a safe and comfortable space.

So I thought I would talk a little bit,

Just holiday talk tonight,

And we're gonna do a little New Year's resolution activity if you're paying for it.

I do want to acknowledge the hardship.

After the holidays,

If you've been through the holidays,

There's a lot of expectation,

Right?

There's a lot of often things having to be a certain way,

You want to be your best,

You're seeing people you haven't seen for a while,

And there's a lot of food.

Whenever people get together,

There's a ton of food.

And if you live with diabetes,

You know we have to deal with food.

It's a challenge and it's something that we have to navigate and we have to be very mindful of.

But it's not unusual to feel left out or to feel sad that you can't eat the way we used to or that it requires so much effort.

Or if you do choose to indulge,

You're gonna have to take insulin or you know your blood sugar's gonna be high and you're gonna be tired later.

There's just a lot of choices.

And it seems,

And I've had this happen,

People trying to be helpful or inquisitive or connecting with you can say things that feel off-putting.

You may feel judged.

If you choose to eat something and someone has an opinion about it,

It seems like over the holidays they're very free flowing.

But there's definitely feelings of maybe being left out,

Not included,

You know,

Wishing it were different,

Really wanting to partake so everybody else gets to do it.

There's this feeling of somehow things aren't okay,

Right?

That everybody else is getting to,

You're not.

And it may be a time of great support too,

Right?

You could be the opposite.

You could have family and friends that are really supportive and they help bring about food choices that are gonna be easy for you to navigate.

But I think it's not uncommon that the holidays are hard.

I think even without diabetes,

The holidays can be hard.

Again,

Expectations,

Lost loved ones,

Remembering things from your childhood that aren't the way,

They're just hard to navigate.

And you layer on diabetes and it just takes it to a whole new level.

So I think on some level there can be a sense of bad.

I wasn't good enough,

I didn't do it right,

I'm worried I'm gonna be judged.

I didn't stick to my diet,

I ate something I shouldn't have,

My blood sugars were not where I wanted,

Right?

There can be this feeling of sort of failure.

And I think that's when you tie the holidays into New Year's,

They kind of play off of each other,

Right?

So we have this sense of not being enough,

Feeling judged,

Right?

And then it's like,

Okay,

Next year I'm gonna change it.

I'm gonna start this new year and I'm gonna do better.

So that usually,

This idea of being or doing better tends to land on these New Year's resolutions.

So I wanna talk a little bit about resolutions.

And these tend to be things that you want to change,

Right?

Some goals,

Some activities,

Something you're gonna do,

I'm gonna eat better,

My diet's gonna get better,

I'm gonna exercise,

I'm going to the gym,

I'm gonna get some new technology,

I'm gonna get my A1c down,

I'm gonna start carb counting,

I'm gonna lose some weight,

Like all these different ideas of things that you want to do.

And as you do them,

There's some level of achievement or not.

And that's where it gets tricky,

Right?

So when we have a thing that we want to do,

And it's far good,

Right?

We want to,

It's something we want,

But there tends to have this level of judgment about it.

Like you did it or you didn't.

I mean,

So many people,

How many people really follow through on their New Year's resolutions and actually achieve them?

Very few,

Because it's usually something big and go full blast,

And then as time goes on,

It kind of wanes and you don't do it as much and it doesn't stick,

And then we failed.

Then it didn't work,

Right?

So then that feels bad,

And that can really become a cycle,

A very downward spiral.

So when you think about that,

These goals that we try,

These New Year's resolutions,

There's some attempt at perfection.

We're gonna make ourselves better,

Right?

We're gonna do these things better,

Therefore we will be better.

But this right or wrong idea,

And you hear me talk about this all the time.

When we're trying to do something,

It's an outward sort of action,

And we've talked a lot about our nervous system.

So again,

We're gonna get a little clinical here,

But when your nervous system has two different aspects,

So you have your somatic nervous system,

Which is your conscious,

I choose to move my finger,

I choose to speak,

I choose to scratch my head.

That's the part that you mentally take control over.

That's a very small part of your prefrontal cortex.

But most of your brain is your autonomic nervous system,

And your autonomic nervous system is the part you really have no control over.

It does its thing in the background.

It's making your heartbeat.

It's taking care of all the chemical reactions and all the little digestion and division and all the little things that are happening at a cellular level.

So this autonomic nervous system is divided into two parts,

And you have your sympathetic nervous system,

Which is your response to threat.

It's outward,

It's actionable,

It's fight,

Flight,

Or freeze and it's very necessary.

It's your safety mechanism,

Right?

But when you have fight,

Fight,

Or freeze going on,

You actually are releasing endorphins,

I'm not endorphins,

Adrenaline,

And it physiologically changes your body,

Your chemical structures.

Things are released,

Hormones are released,

Your systems engage in different ways.

So blood flow is shunted away from digestion and more towards your muscles in case you need to fight or run.

The internal states of you are kind of put on a back burner.

What else?

So your focus gets very narrow when you're kind of feeling threatened or like you're in a defensive posture.

You're looking for the threat,

Right?

We're very outward looking.

All of those things are not good for blood sugar control.

They're great if you're having an acute event,

But it's not really great for healing and restoration.

So think of your sympathetic nervous system like 911,

Rescue,

Restore,

Protection.

The opposite of that is your parasympathetic nervous system and that is the part of your body,

Your nervous system,

That is rest,

Restore,

Renew,

Regenerate.

If the fight or flight is kind of the protective mechanism,

The rest and restore is your creative,

Your proactive,

Not reactive,

Right?

It's something you do with intention.

So when we come back to these resolutions,

These actions we want to take,

They tend to be more in the sympathetic side.

I'm going to do this thing,

I'm going to get it done.

And it's very acute,

A lot of energy put towards it.

And if you fail,

You can get that sort of,

That's where that spiral starts to happen.

So when you're doing these New Year's resolutions too,

You can elicit this response in several different ways.

So if we do the fight,

Like I'm going to fight really hard,

I'm going to overcome all the obstacles,

I'm going to do the stuff,

I'm going to work really hard.

Like that's a lot of energy to get something done.

And eventually you kind of burn out,

You tire out,

Right?

You may have the flight response where you bail,

Go totally up the opposite way.

Whatever that thing is that you thought you wanted to do,

It's too big,

Too much.

And I'm like,

You're doing the opposite,

Right?

It's actually sabotage,

You're counterintuitive.

And you're going to have the freeze where it's like,

You just get stuck and you do nothing,

Right?

So these external sort of hardcore goals and missions often fail because they're not tapping into the part of you that's really problem solving.

If you're tapping into the part that's sort of defensive and all out for a short while,

But not for the long haul.

Make sense?

So a lot of outward energy,

Not a lot of growth,

Right?

You can't grow when you're fighting,

Right?

And so when we're doing these resolutions where this right or wrong,

This judgment,

I'm going to fail.

Can I get there?

Did I do it?

It takes a lot of effort.

I can't focus on anything else.

I've got other things have to sacrifice so I can do this new thing.

Makes me anxious just thinking about it,

Right?

Huh,

That's a lot.

And so it's no wonder that New Year's resolutions fail,

Right?

We set up these huge expectations and activities and then they really just don't pan out because we're using all of our short-term energy for a long-term process,

If that makes sense.

So sympathetic,

It's good for short-term and emergencies,

But not for long-term.

So if we look to our parasympathetic,

Right?

That's where the regal growth happens.

And that is in that rest,

Restore,

Renew.

Like I said,

It's proactive,

It's very creative.

So what if our New Year's resolution was more of a parasympathetic effort that was creative,

Restorative,

Not so much a thing to do,

Right?

So we really want to,

If we engage our parasympathetic side,

There's really no failure.

Again,

If it's action-based,

The action can have a bad result.

If it's growth,

Restoration,

Renewal,

Sleeping,

All those things that happen,

Digestive,

Digestion happens in your parasympathetic state.

All of those things really can't fail out,

Right?

So the bar's different,

It's a lot less energy expenditure,

And you actually have a much,

Much higher chance of getting the result you want,

Right?

So that sounds good,

Right?

So how do we have a New Year's resolution that's not about some goal,

Something you have to do?

So we're gonna do that.

So first,

I'm gonna invite you,

If you don't have one,

Grab a pencil and a paper,

And we're gonna work on this thing.

All right,

Everybody has their pen and paper,

So what we're gonna do is we want to get into a parasympathetic state.

We want to get into this parasympathetic state,

And it's actually very easy to do.

We do this every Monday night,

And we use breathing techniques.

So our breath,

We use a breathing technique called polyvagal breathing,

And our breath can actually shift our nervous system from outward,

Fight or flight,

That frenzy,

You know,

On alert state.

We can use our breath to shift into parasympathetic state,

Which is calm and peaceful and creative,

And it's such a good balance,

And our body has both sides because we need both sides.

We certainly need to be vigilant and understand threats,

But in our busy,

Busy,

Busy world,

Almost everything's a threat.

Information can be a threat because we can't keep up with it all.

When you live with diabetes,

Everything's a threat,

Right?

Is your blood sugar high?

Is it low?

Is the food right?

What's somebody gonna say?

That there's this sense of always being on and having to be mindful and having to pay attention to others,

Listen to what others say about you,

Right?

There's a lot of comments that can be very antagonistic,

That can make you defensive,

That throw you into that sympathetic fight or flight because people's words can really evoke a lot of emotion,

And so we spend a ton of time in this stressed out state.

So we're gonna use breath to move over into this parasympathetic state,

And I wanna be in that state when we do this exercise that we're gonna do,

Which is gonna help us prepare for a new year,

A new year,

I'm not gonna say resolution.

This is gonna help us prepare for a new year and we're gonna do a couple of things to get out of our head,

That thinking part of our mind.

The ego,

Right,

Often is very judgmental,

Very harsh,

That negative voice in our head that is telling us we should be somehow different,

Do something different.

If we did something,

We'd be better,

We've done wrong,

Right?

We have a very negative soundtrack by default,

Right?

And that is,

Again,

Your sympathetic nervous system,

And the purpose of that is to keep you safe.

So the voice in your head thinks it's keeping you safe by telling you,

Don't do that,

You should have done that.

Why did you do that?

I know all the talk we have,

But it can be exhausting,

Right?

It can be exhausting.

All right,

So we're gonna do our exercise.

So we're gonna do this polyvagal breathing technique to shift,

And it's very simple.

We breathe in and out through our nose with our mouths closed,

And we wanna,

I'll count like in for four,

Out for eight.

The in breath is full and deep.

The in breath is full and deep.

And the out breath is,

Again,

Through your nose,

It's like a topple,

I'm doing it,

But twice as long on the out breath.

So this exaggerated exhale stimulates your vagus nerve,

Which brings down your blood pressure.

It slows down your heart rate.

It shifts your body into a parasympathetic or restful state.

You cannot breathe this slow and be really,

Really anxious,

Right?

So just panting,

You think about breathing fast,

That can make you anxious,

Or you do it when you're scared.

Breathing slow is the technique,

And it's free and easy,

And you can do it anytime you want.

Do it early and often.

So we'll do that.

So I'm gonna count in for four,

Out for eight.

And go ahead and just breathe to your rhythm.

If that's too long,

You can do it longer,

Shorter.

You know,

You may wanna do a three and a six.

The point is that your exhales are much longer than the inhales.

And as you breathe in,

Really expand,

And as you breathe out,

Just melt,

Let it go,

And I'll kind of cue you to help.

Okay,

So if everybody's relaxed and comfy,

We'll get started.

And we will begin now.

So breathe in fully,

Two,

Three,

Four,

And exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Breathe in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

And exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Full breath in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Release,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Breathe in and receive,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Let go,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Deep breath in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Breathe in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

And exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Big breath in,

And exhale.

One more breath in,

Out through your nose.

Breathe in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Breathe in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Let go and melt,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Breathe in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

And exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Last time,

Big breath in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

And exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Okay,

Let your breathing return,

Back to your normal pattern,

Comfortable,

Easy.

Notice how you feel.

Pay attention to your inner state,

What your skin feels like.

Maybe you notice your heart rate down a little bit,

Perhaps a little calmer,

Just a little more relaxed.

So I want you to linger here as I talk,

Close your eyes if you feel comfortable.

And as we think about things that we would like to be different,

A future that is better,

I want you to close your eyes.

I want you to ask yourself this question,

What do you want?

I want you to imagine it.

Picture yourself in the future,

The way that you would like it to be.

Notice where you're at,

Maybe what you're wearing,

The temperature of your future self.

Are you with anyone?

What does it smell like?

What does it smell like?

Are you on a beach,

In a house,

In nature,

In the gym?

Are you in a comfortable place in your home?

I want you just to imagine this better place,

What it's like,

How you feel,

What you're wearing.

Let's picture that in your mind.

You have an image of your better future.

And imagine yourself in that place,

And I want you to notice how you feel.

How do you feel in this place,

Wearing these clothes,

Smelling the smells,

Seeing the sights?

How do you feel?

I want you to notice how your body feels,

How your heart feels,

How do you feel?

And without any thought,

I want you to give a word to that feeling.

I want you to open your eyes and write down that word.

And again,

Not a lot of thought,

What everyone came up with when you were feeling the way that you wanted to feel in this future state.

I want you to write down that word and keep that word.

I want to offer that perhaps in 2022,

This word is the way you want to be and not what you want to do.

So you have that word and I want you to keep it with you.

Maybe write a sticky note and put it on your bathroom.

I have lots of sticky notes in my office,

These little words,

Put it in your devotional,

Put it in your car,

Put it someplace that you'll see it a lot.

So I want you to think about that word and imagine using that word when you talk to family or friends or providers,

If you were that way.

Talking to your doctor,

If you were that way.

Making choices and doing choices that way.

What if when you faced a challenge,

You were that way?

Because what happens is when we ask for help,

We act in a certain way,

When we choose to be a certain way,

We change the game and you can't fail at it.

So you may not do it perfectly all the time,

But I've done this for several years and it will guide how you see the world.

So that word that you chose,

I'm gonna share some of mine for my word for 2022 is unapologetic,

Right?

So I want to choose to live my life in a way that is unapologetic.

Unapologetic about whether I use a pump or not.

Unapologetic about which doctors I see.

Unapologetic about what I want.

Unapologetic about how I spend my time.

Unapologetic about who I spend my time with.

Unapologetic about my truth,

Right?

So I'd be curious to see if the words that you came up with offer,

If that works for you.

Because when I feel unapologetic and I choose to show up that way,

Guess what happens?

My life changes and I find I'm less reactive and it's a choice of how I feel and that is that parasympathetic state.

I'm creating a world where I'm unapologetic.

That's my focus for the year.

I'll share with you the ones I've done in the past.

I started doing this,

I guess,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

This is my fifth year.

So my first word was authentic and I chose,

I wanted to be authentic.

I wanted to be me.

And it's kind of like when I left corporate America and I started really doing my coaching.

This was stuff that was really important to me.

I've got a hair somewhere.

And then the next year it was intentional.

I wanted to be very specific about,

This is when I was going to school and doing some things.

The next year was receptive,

Which is something I'm not good at.

I'm a good giver and I'm a good caretaker,

But being receptive,

Receiving things that people give me,

Receiving what the world gives,

Right?

And last year it was diligent,

Which it was a very mindful approach to doing things to their fullest.

And this year it's unapologetic and I don't know where that word came.

It just kind of came to me and it's lightning bolt and I'm like,

That's what it is.

So instead of losing five pounds,

Gaining five pounds,

You know,

Changing my A1C,

Any of that stuff,

I'm gonna choose to be unapologetic and that puts me in a position of power.

That gives me power so that can last a long,

Long,

Long time versus I'm gonna go to the gym,

I'm gonna do this three days a week,

And you know,

All this effort.

There's a lot of effort involved.

So unapologetic,

I could still go to the gym and I could say,

You know what?

I'm not gonna feel,

Not gonna apologize for taking this time to take care of myself.

But as we do this,

You know,

Write the word down,

Put it places and it's a good reminder and you can come back to it throughout the whole entire year.

You can't fail it,

You just do more or less of it,

Right?

So some days you're better at it than others.

It's not a perfect way to be,

But it's something that you can be mindful when you're trying to make a decision,

When you're feeling sort of threatened or maybe disheartened.

You can come back to this word,

This is the way I want to be.

And if I show up in my life that way,

Right,

It brings a different energy,

It brings a different intensity to the choices that you make.

Okay,

So we're gonna choose a way to be instead of a thing to do.

And literally that can change your internal chemistry because when you're being,

You are present,

You are now,

You are in that parasympathetic state of creativity and you're not in that reactionary mode.

So when we choose to be a way,

Then our life changes based on how we're choosing.

Anyway,

I thought that was a great little exercise and so thank you for doing it with me.

And I hope that gave you a little perspective,

Maybe something to chew on,

Think about.

And if you didn't get a word,

That's okay.

Sometimes they come to you later when you're not thinking about it.

So it didn't happen right now.

But the idea is really to get into actually feeling how you wanna feel and then creating that feeling because that will change your world.

All right,

So let's move on into our meditation part.

So we're gonna talk as we talk about our body and this guided meditation is a journey throughout our body,

Our organs,

Our parts,

The physical structures that make us who we are.

And so we're gonna focus on how we want to be,

Right?

And how we want to be in our bodies.

And so I'll take you through that.

We'll repeat our intention for tonight,

Which is may we be hopeful,

May we be encouraged,

May we be inspired,

And maybe be present.

Settle in and close your eyes.

Take a deep breath.

Feel the support beneath you.

Feel the earth holding you down,

Pulling you towards.

Let the support and your weight be there.

Give yourself permission to turn your mind off of the things and the to-do's and the worries.

Allow yourself to indulge in this experience of healing that's necessary and good.

Everything can wait.

So during this time,

Make sure you're warm and comfortable.

I always like to start with some affirmations.

And since we're talking about how we want to be,

We're going to repeat how we are,

Which is our truth.

So I will give you these affirmations and you can speak them aloud or in your mind,

Whatever feels better.

So take a deep breath and clench your jaw.

Relax your shoulders again.

Melt a little deeper.

On the couch or the bed or the sofa.

And we'll fade together.

I am here.

I am breathing.

I am present.

I am hopeful.

I am confident.

I am worthy.

I am here.

I am worthy.

I am healing.

I am growing.

I am changing.

I am encouraged.

I am capable.

I am okay.

I am at peace.

Relax and feel your body.

There'll be a liveness within inside of you.

Notice your breath entering and leaving.

Coming in through your nose or your mouth.

Into your lungs.

Your lungs,

Which are a part of you.

So I am my lungs.

I am exchanging.

I am breathing.

I am oxygenating.

I am life giving.

Imagine your lungs filling perfectly with air,

Exchanging gases,

Breathing easily.

Offer gratitude for their work.

And bathe them in love.

Move your focus to your heart.

I am my heart.

I am strong.

I am steady.

I am beating.

I am pumping.

I am loving.

I am healthy.

Offer gratitude for your work.

Offer gratitude to your heart.

And once again,

Bathe your heart in love,

Thanking it for its tireless,

Tireless work.

Move your attention to your liver.

It's in the right upper quadrant of your abdomen,

Nestled beneath your ribs.

I am my liver.

I am cleansing.

I am protecting.

I am energizing.

Imagine your liver restored,

Full,

Perfect.

Offer gratitude for its work and diligence.

Bathe your liver in this area with light and fullness and love.

Move your awareness to your kidneys,

Just above your waistline,

Towards your back,

Beneath your ribs.

I am my kidneys.

I am filtering.

I am cleaning.

I am flowing.

I am breathing.

I am breathing.

I am flowing.

Imagine blood flowing easily and effortlessly through these organs,

Fully functional,

Receiving any repairs they need.

Offer gratitude to your kidneys for their work and their effort.

I am and shower them with light and love.

Move your awareness to your abdomen and your digestive organs.

And I am my digestion.

I am becoming.

I am transforming.

I am nourishing.

I am sensing.

I am emotional.

I am protecting.

Imagine ease and peace and rhythmic waves of your digestion.

Offer gratitude for its work together as a system,

Nourishing,

Providing immune protection and creating your emotional balance.

Let love and light flow through these organs.

Move your attention to your pancreas behind your belly button.

I am my pancreas.

I am your gently neural congressional body,

Waved and hanging over your palm.

Enjoy your practicing iPhone and Mac and Mac taken to the free Asian clinic for the delay.

Come home with some prayer hearts I am my pancreas.

I am balancing.

I am creating.

I am affecting.

Imagining your organ.

Pink.

Full of blood flow.

Healthy and vibrant.

Performing at its optimal performance.

Receiving all the healing and care that your body can offer.

Offer gratitude for the work that your pancreas does.

Producing insulin and other hormones.

Digestive enzymes.

Offer light and love to your pancreas.

Move your attention to your hips and lower extremities.

I am my legs and my feet.

I am moving.

I am supporting.

I am holding.

I am bearing weight.

I am strong.

I am strong.

Imagine blood flowing easily and effortlessly through your thighs,

Knees,

Lower calves,

Ankles,

And your feet.

Flowing easily and effortlessly.

Offer gratitude to your legs and your feet for the work they do.

And shower them with love and light.

Feeling the aliveness from the inside out.

The most remote parts of your body.

Move your arms to your shoulders,

Your arms and your hands,

Your upper extremities.

I am my arms and my hands.

I am caring.

I am capable.

I am talented.

I am feeling.

I am strong.

Offer gratitude and care for your arms and your hands and your shoulders that do so much work to make you safe and healthy.

But offer love and kindness.

Shower your arms and your hands and your feet for the rest of your day.

Shower your arms and your hands and light and love.

Move your attention to your neck.

Where your voice lives.

Say,

I am my throat.

I am speaking.

I am communicating.

I am connecting.

I am moving.

I am turning.

Flallow,

Relax your throat.

Offer gratitude for the organs that live in your throat.

The voice that is produced in your throat and the neck that turns your head so you may see.

Thank this part of your body.

Bathe it in love and light.

Next,

Move your awareness to your brain inside your skull.

I am my brain.

I am imagining.

I am creating.

I am orchestrating.

I am electrifying.

I am storing.

I am choosing.

Imagine blood flowing easily and effortlessly to every cell in your brain.

Through blood vessels that are strong and supple.

To rhythmic and coordinated electrical activity that is allowing you to process the world.

And that runs your body without much thought or care.

We thank our brain.

We offer gratitude for its function and effort and work.

And we send loving light throughout our brain and our skull and our head.

Move your awareness now to your eyes.

I am my eyes.

I am seeing.

I am aware.

I am tracking.

I am noticing.

I am resting.

Imagine your eyes.

Comfortable and loose in the sockets.

Suspended effortlessly.

Fed by millions of tiny blood vessels that are healing,

That are correcting,

That are restoring.

I offer gratitude for your vision and your eyes.

And bathe in love and light.

And finally move your awareness to your skin.

The part of you that separates you from the rest of the world.

I am my skin.

I am protecting.

I am guarding.

I am containing.

I am seeing.

Thank your skin for performing its function.

Imagine it whole,

Perfect,

Complete,

And intact.

Restored and renewed every day.

Imagine your skin glowing from head to toe.

And from this glow we wrap ourselves in love.

I want you to move to the center of yourself.

The part of you that is not your body,

That is not your mind.

The part of you that is your purpose and your truth.

That is a witness to all that you do and your mind and your body.

Say I am myself.

I am me.

I am purpose.

I am truth.

I am here.

I am breathing.

I am present.

I am hopeful.

I am confident.

I am worthy.

I am healing.

I am growing.

I am changing.

I am encouraged.

I am capable.

I am okay.

And I am loved.

That concludes our meditation.

If it's late and you're drifting off to sleep,

Know that you are in a place of healing and wholeness.

That you have gifted yourself tremendously with this attention and care and concern for your physical body by using your mind and your spirit to soothe you.

Your body needs this.

It's good for you.

And it balances out the stress of the world.

So if you're drifting off to sleep,

Good night and sweet dreams.

And if you're starting your day or not ready to be done,

I invite you to come back to present.

Take a breath.

Breathe in.

Feel your body.

Notice how it feels to be this way.

Notice how it feels good.

Bring this feeling back with you into your moment,

Into now.

Going to your eyes open.