In this meditation,
I'll be guiding you to connect with your body and with your emotions.
Find yourself in a comfortable seated position or lying down.
Make yourself as comfortable as you can for this practice.
Begin to gently deepen into your breath.
Turning your awareness towards your breath.
Beginning to use this awareness of breath to anchor you a little bit more into the present moment.
Take a couple more deeper,
Longer breaths.
Allow your whole body to settle.
Allow your body to rest and to let go of any tension.
Letting go of any tension that might be present in your forehead.
Softening the space around your cheeks and behind your eyes.
Allow your jaw to relax.
Sensing tension through the neck.
Inviting your shoulders to soften.
Your arms and your hands to release any essence of gripping.
Feel your chest softening.
Your upper back relaxing.
Lower back releasing.
Notice if you're holding any tension tightening through your abdomen or hips.
Gently allow your legs,
Your ankles,
And your feet to relax and soften.
As you breathe,
With each breath out,
Feel your body letting go just a little bit more.
As you relax,
Allow your breath to become freer,
More easeful and abundant.
And as you relax here and stay connected to your breath,
You will go into the body and connect to a specific experience.
Bringing to mind an experience that felt a little uncomfortable or challenging.
Just bring something to mind and really connect to that experience.
Who was there?
What happened?
Where you were?
And as you connect to this experience,
If you notice sensations beginning to arise in your body,
It's okay.
Just stay connected to your breath and simply be aware of what begins to emerge.
And as you hold this awareness of the remembered experience in your mind,
Begin to notice the most obvious sensation that is present in your body.
Where is it in your body?
What are the qualities of the sensation?
Does it feel static?
What does it move?
Does the sensation have a color?
The smell?
Does it have a texture or a shape?
Something that you notice,
No matter how small,
How large,
How abstract,
Is totally normal and okay.
Resist the temptation to judge or to create meaning about what you're noticing.
Just simply allow yourself to observe and witness.
Simply notice it.
Does it shift and more?
What does it remain the same?
As you do this,
Allow yourself to continue with soft,
Gentle breathing.
As you sit with this memory of an experience that felt uncomfortable,
What emotions were present at the time or what emotions are arising in this present moment?
Allow whatever to arise to simply be there and if nothing is arising,
That's also okay.
Stay with your breath.
Allow your breath to be gentle and smooth.
Allow the emotions and sensations to be there,
To be present without trying to change them or push them away.
If you feel cold,
Allow your hands to rest somewhere on your body,
Allowing a nourishing,
Warm,
Gentle touch to offer yourself some additional presence and care.
Allowing your body to feel safe to feel,
To feel safe to experience,
To feel safe to explore and allow whatever needs to arise to arise.
And allow yourself to repeat these mantras in your own mind.
It is safe to feel.
It is safe to be here.
It is safe to be me.
Stay with your breath.
Simply allow yourself to be present to whatever is arising,
The sensations,
The emotions,
The thoughts,
Any images,
Your breath.
If tears want to flow,
Let them flow.
Stay connected to the earth,
To the ground that supports you.
If deeper breaths want to come,
Let them come.
And if sound wants to come,
Let it come.
Being present to whatever arises and allow yourself to follow the impulse of whatever is arising right now.
Is there a wisdom that is calling forth from this experience?
It's asking you to move,
To emote,
To perhaps use your hands in a different way on your body,
Perhaps to caress,
To self-hold,
To hug,
To touch.
As you do this,
Just feeling the ground under you,
Feeling that sense of safety and stability that the earth provides.
It's safe to feel.
It is safe to feel.
It is safe to be me.
It is safe to be here.
Starting to deepen into your breath a little more as we come to the close of this practice,
Taking three final deep breaths.
Sending appreciation to yourself for being here,
For feeling,
For allowing what you previously haven't allowed yourself to feel.
