Welcome to day six of this meditation journey.
If you are sitting up,
Lie down,
Preferably on a yoga mat or on the carpet.
If you are laying down on your bed,
Make sure that your pillow is to the side so you are flat on the floor or the surface that you're laying on.
Taking a deep breath in through the nose,
Pursing your lips slightly and breathing out through the mouth as if breathing out through a straw.
In through the nose,
Filling up the belly,
The chest,
Out through the mouth,
Softly,
Slowly,
Visualizing a feather in front of you.
You don't want to blow that feather away.
How slow can you exhale?
Last time together,
In through the nose and through the mouth,
Even slower,
Allowing your hands to be by your sides,
Palms facing the ceiling and feeling the surface beneath you.
Is it soft?
Is it hard?
How much of your body is touching the surface?
Now visualizing roots from the center of the earth,
From deep,
Deep in the ground,
Traveling up,
Up,
Up,
Higher and higher until it reaches your womb.
These roots are from our beloved Mama Gaya,
From Mother Earth.
Roots of love,
Of care,
Of security,
Of safety,
Of stability,
Of protection.
And as you breathe in,
Visualize these roots coming up through the ground and just hugging you,
Wrapping you up.
How much more can you surrender to the earth?
How much more can you let go right now?
The world we live in celebrates busyness,
Stress,
Hustle culture,
Being occupied all the time.
But we are nature,
Remember?
Just like nature has seasons,
So do we.
And part of honoring those cycles are knowing when to be active and when to rest.
Bringing your awareness now to your right leg,
The whole of your right leg.
And I invite you now to tense all the muscles only in your right leg.
Tense,
Tense,
Tense,
And let go.
Notice if there's any difference in your right leg and your left leg.
Breathe in here,
And let go.
Bringing your awareness and attention now to your left leg,
The whole of your left leg,
And begin to tense,
Tense all the muscles in your left leg,
Tense,
Tense,
Squeeze those toes in.
Lock that knee in,
Tense,
Tense,
And let go.
Notice the sensations.
Big breath in,
Big breath out.
Moving up to your genitals,
Your hips.
Squeeze your pelvic floor,
Your perineum,
Pulling it into the center.
Squeeze,
Tense,
And tense,
And let go.
Notice the sensations.
Bringing your awareness up to your navel.
Pull your navel in and tense,
Tense,
Feeling the sensation rising up to your chest.
Tense,
And let go.
Big breath in,
Big breath out.
Your right arm,
The whole of your right arm,
Bring your awareness and attention there.
And now tense,
Tense your shoulder,
Turning your open hand into a fist.
Tensing,
Tensing,
Tensing,
And notice the difference between your right arm and your left arm.
Good.
Now your left arm,
Shifting awareness to your left arm,
And begin to tense from the shoulders all the way down to your fingers.
Tense,
Tense,
Big breath in,
Big breath out.
Moving up to your face and your neck.
Ready?
Squeezing your eyes in,
Scrunching up your face,
Tensing all the muscles in your neck.
Tense,
Tense,
Tense even more.
Notice how you feel.
I read somewhere that a heart that's always listening and a mind that's always learning gets tired.
And when you're tired,
You need to rest.
We're not machines.
Yes,
Hard work brings about results and success,
But in order to maintain our equanimity,
Our flow,
Our peace of mind,
Our health,
We must give ourselves permission to let go,
To rest.
So now I invite you to bring to mind anything that maybe you're worried about,
Something in the future that has not happened yet,
Something that you're not letting go of from this day or this week,
Maybe something someone said or something you did.
Maybe there's a little guilt or shame or something didn't go your way,
So there's disappointment.
Can you bring up this scene,
This memory,
This feeling,
This person?
Squeeze your whole body now,
Feeling that tension,
Feeling that heaviness,
Perhaps even a burden for carrying this around,
Tensing,
Tensing from the bottom of your feet all the way up to your head,
Tense,
Tense,
Tense,
And let go.
How did it feel to let go of this thing you've been carrying around?
Even if it's just for a while,
Notice the difference.
You may bring the same event,
Circumstance,
Person back up or choose a different situation.
And now tense,
Tense,
Tapping into that feeling,
That frustration perhaps or confusion.
Tense,
Tense,
Tense your whole body.
And good.
Big deep breath in.
Slow exhale out.
Very slowly now,
Rolling to one side,
Either your right or your left,
Keeping your eyes closed and coming into a fetal position,
Hugging yourself.
Stay here.
Just feel.
Allow yourself to rest.
Know that the more you invest in yourself,
Your well-being,
And your rest,
In whatever way that may look like,
It ripples out into other areas of your life as well.
When you rest,
You give others permission to rest too.
You may stay here for as long as you like or take your time to slowly come back to this world around you by pushing yourself up into a seated position and know you can come back to this guided meditation whenever you like.
With love,
Rae.
