Hello and welcome,
I'm Rhodes Perry and I'm delighted to share this gratitude meditation with you.
Before we begin,
Let's orient ourselves to why we're here.
Often we treat gratitude as a reaction,
Something that happens to us when things go well.
But today,
We approach gratitude as a practice.
Moods can be practiced.
Just as we practice a sport or a musical instrument,
Practicing gratitude on purpose allows us to access this state of being with more ease and regularity.
It's not about bypassing difficulty,
Absolutely not.
It's about widening our capacity to perceive life and really appreciate all that comes with this life that we get to live.
When we practice gratitude,
It becomes the generative state from which we build our resilience.
Today,
I invite you to journey with me.
I'll be drawing on the energy of a recent pilgrimage to India,
A place of profound sensory aliveness and spiritual depth.
But you don't need to have traveled to India to do this practice.
As I describe these sacred spaces,
I invite you to build your own sanctuary,
A place real or imagined,
Where you feel safe,
Whole,
And free.
Alright,
Let's begin.
Please find a comfortable position.
You can either be seated with dignity or lying down with support.
Let your body settle into the surface beneath you and just notice what's here.
Notice any pressure,
Temperature,
Sensation.
What's coming online for you in the body?
What are you noticing?
And just feel into that.
No stories,
No dramas,
Right?
Just feel what's here.
And as you notice,
I invite you to take a nice breath in through the nose,
Filling up the belly,
And exhale deeply through the mouth.
Again,
Inhaling in,
And a nice audible exhale out.
And one more time,
Just a nice breath in to settle into your seat or lying down.
And on your exhale,
Just go ahead and let those shoulders melt away from the ears.
Invite some of that exhale to any holding that's in your body and really settling in.
Now bring your attention to the sensation of gravity.
Feel the weight of your body.
Maybe notice the longest bones of your body and just imagine your muscles just hanging off of them as clothing would hang off of a hanger.
And really just let your skeleton hold you.
And I want you to visualize the ground of a sacred place.
For me,
It's the red,
Dusty earth of India,
Warm,
Ancient,
And holding the footprints of thousands of seekers.
Now for you,
It might be the mossy floor of a forest.
It could be the sand of a beach,
Or the solid floor of your own home.
Notice what's coming alive for you here.
Now I want you to feel for this earth,
For the material world that holds you up.
Notice the colors in your mind's eye.
Take note of the vibrancy.
Notice the physical comfort.
A comfortable bed,
A warm cup of chai or coffee.
The simple miracle of a roof over your head.
And in this moment,
As you're appreciating the material,
Felt sense of what's around you,
Go ahead and say to yourself,
I'm grateful for the ground that holds me.
Feel what comes alive in your body as you hear these words.
I'm grateful for the ground that holds me.
If you're tracking any kind of tension in the body,
Notice what these words do.
Maybe that tension starts to move or shift.
Maybe it's still there.
I'm grateful for the ground that holds me.
Feel that gratitude,
Not as a thought,
But as a heaviness in the hips and the legs.
A sense of being supported without having to ask for it.
The earth does not require you to be perfect,
To hold you.
She just holds you.
So feel that,
Feel that embrace.
Let yourself rest in the safety of the material world.
The food that nourishes you.
The water that cleanses you.
The physical container that makes your life possible.
And in that container,
Feel the edges of your body.
Almost imagining your heart unfurling out to your left and to your right.
Notice the edges of your body,
Where your body ends and where the space around you begins.
And send gratitude,
Send gratitude for all that you are and the space around you that's holding you.
Now,
Shift your awareness to the space around you in this sanctuary.
I invite you to bring to your mind the people who have made your journey safe.
Maybe also the pets that are surrounding you.
On my pilgrimage,
There were guides,
Teachers,
And fellow seekers who created a container of trust.
So really feel for this.
Who might be the people or the pets in your life who create that kind of safety for you?
Visualize their faces.
These are the people who don't ask you to shrink.
These are the people who stand guard so you can rest.
These are the people who lift you up so you can expand and take up as much space as you want to.
So really feel for them and go ahead and send an expression of gratitude through your breath and your presence.
Feel a wave of appreciation for this community of trust.
Gratitude for the mentors who pointed the way.
Gratitude for the friends who listened without judgment.
Gratitude for the strangers who offered a smile when you needed it most.
Gratitude for that unconditional love that only your pets can provide.
And imagine.
Imagine their support as a warm blanket wrapped around your shoulders.
Because of them,
You didn't have to be hypervigilant.
You didn't have to look over your shoulder.
You didn't have to worry if you were being too much.
You could just be.
Now locate this feeling in your body.
This feeling of just being.
This feeling of being enough.
This feeling of support.
Of love.
Of friendship.
Does it feel like a softening in the belly?
Maybe a relaxation of the jaw.
Maybe an expansion in your heart space.
Really breathe into that trust.
What's coming alive for you here?
Just take note.
Feel for the sensations arising in your body.
And as you do,
Cast your eyes upward in your imagination.
You can keep your eyes closed.
Just imagine looking up with your mind's eye.
And if it feels better,
You certainly can open your eyes as well.
And imagine the sky above you.
Imagine the sun or the stars.
It could be day,
Night,
Twilight,
Dawn.
In India,
The sky feels vast.
An endless canopy that invites you to look beyond the immediate.
Beyond the material.
To feel into the spiritual.
So I invite you,
In your sanctuary,
To connect with that sense of spirit.
Whatever that word means to you.
Really connecting to something that's just greater than yourself.
The mystery.
The intuition.
That inner knowing.
The energy that is bigger than you,
Your to-do list,
Me,
Our communities.
Really feel for that.
Feel for that bigness and that presence.
What do you notice?
Offer gratitude for the moments of awe.
For the sunrise that happens whether you're watching for it or not.
For the spiritual blessings.
The moments of clarity where you feel connected to everything.
Allow yourself in this moment to feel small.
In the best possible way.
Held by something so much bigger than just yourself.
Held by something infinite.
Breathe in the quality of that sky.
That light.
That expansiveness.
That openness.
Feel for what's here.
And track.
Track in your body any kind of pressure.
A temperature contrast.
Any kind of softening or holding.
What's here?
Not trying to change anything.
Just noticing.
Now feel this gratitude as maybe a lightness in your chest.
Whatever sensations are showing up for you.
There could be a sense of opening up to possibility.
And say to yourself,
I'm grateful for the spirit that guides me.
And again,
I'm grateful for the spirit that guides me.
Now,
Perhaps most importantly,
I invite you to bring your attention back to your own center.
Bring your attention back to your heart space.
I want you to notice what's here.
What you can track.
Or what you can't track.
It's all just information.
It's wisdom in your tissues.
And in this moment,
Maybe placing one or both hands over your heart,
I want you to offer gratitude to yourself.
Now in my pilgrimage,
The greatest gift was the freedom to heal and express myself without apology.
To not worry about making others comfortable,
But to simply exist in my own truth.
And when it made sense to share that truth with others for the purpose of connection.
So I invite you,
Again,
To express that inner gratitude.
To yourself for showing up.
For being here in this moment.
And for connecting to something so much deeper than just yourself in this moment.
And maybe in this moment,
You can extend some gratitude to yourself by saying,
I am so grateful for showing up.
I am so grateful for putting myself first.
I am so grateful for being here,
Alive,
On purpose,
And present.
And thank you.
Thank you for being here.
I extend my gratitude to you for showing up.
And thank yourself for leaning into the experience.
Even if it was intense or hard to track some of the felt sensations of the body,
You made this time for yourself.
So thank yourself for the times you choose authenticity over people-pleasing.
And thank yourself for your resilience.
For your ability to transform.
Or at least dare to try.
Visualize yourself being in your power.
Really feeling that inner sense of of agency and choice.
You're not shrinking in this moment.
You're not apologizing for your space that you're taking up.
You are radiant.
You are worthy.
You have power.
You have agency.
And in this moment,
If your hands aren't over your heart still,
Go ahead and place them there.
And feel the warmth of your own palm.
This is you.
You are the vessel of this journey.
So say to yourself,
I am grateful for my courage.
I'm grateful for my healing.
I'm grateful for showing up.
Now let all of these layers merge.
The grounding of the earth.
The safety of the people.
The vastness of the spirit.
The power of you.
Feel them swirling together in a golden light at the center of your chest.
This is your generative state.
This is the well you can drink from whenever you're thirsty.
Now as we close,
I invite you to repeat these affirmations silently after me.
I am grateful for the abundance that surrounds me.
I appreciate the joy and the depth of my life.
I open myself to resilience and grace.
Good job.
Take a deep breath.
Go ahead and clear out anything that needs to move through you.
Fill the body with that fresh energy.
And a long slow exhale.
Just release any remaining tension.
Maybe try that again.
So a nice deep breath.
Feel that energy filling you up and just a nice slow exhale releasing all that you might still be holding on to.
And when you're ready,
Wiggle your fingers,
Your toes.
Feel the chair or the floor beneath you.
And gently blink your eyes open if you've had them closed.
And I invite you to carry this mood of gratitude,
This practice with you into your next interaction and into the rest of your day.
Thank you for showing up.
Thank you for building belonging from the inside out.
