So yeah,
You can even be leaning back if it's too much for you to just be sitting up.
Me too,
Jennifer.
Or you can be laying in your bed.
Just be comfortable.
You don't have to focus too much about the position.
And you can let your eyes gently close if you're in a space where you feel safe to do that and you want to do that.
Let's start,
As always,
With a big cleansing breath.
Inhale and feeling all that air entering your nose and just reminding yourself what a miracle it is that you can breathe right now.
Maybe you need to do that a few times this morning,
Sighing out your exhale and just letting go of any thoughts or areas of tension within your body that just don't serve you in this moment.
There's no reason for your fists to be clenched.
There's no reason for your shoulders to be hunched up by the ears.
No reason for your eyebrow to furrow or your jaw to be tight.
Just take this moment to remind yourself you are completely safe right where you are.
You are allowed to relax into the space that you're in.
As you're feeling your body settle into this new space,
This new area of some stillness and observance.
Just observe all of the bodily processes that happen within you every single moment of every single day that we take for granted.
Just remind yourself of how truly wonderful it is that your heart beats for you every moment that your lungs take in air for you,
That your stomach digests food for you,
That all of your organs perform their functions in a way that keeps you alive.
Even if there are some areas of your body internally that maybe don't cooperate so well with you,
Maybe aren't totally in sync with what you'd like them to do,
Just be grateful that they're keeping you alive and that they're doing their best.
All of your organs are doing the best that they can to keep you alive.
And it's working because you are alive right now.
Even if you experience chronic pain in any way in your joints or stomach or even chronic pain of your mind.
Just remembering how powerful and how many lessons are learned from pain in general and from any specific pain that you have felt has been a blessing even when it doesn't feel like it.
Just remembering how wonderful it is that your eyes can see whatever it is that they can see even if your vision isn't the best.
The fact that your eyes can take in light.
The fact that your ears can hear these words right now,
That they can hear any sounds that they're hearing right now.
The fact that you can listen to music.
The fact that you can hear the chirping of birds.
You can hear the sound of water.
You can hear the sound of laughter.
Hearing the sound of someone or a group of people and their laughter.
Just how great of a sound that is.
Understanding how amazing and awesome it is that you can taste.
You can taste the different flavors of foods that you eat.
You can sense the freshness of clean water going down your body.
Just every little taste bud that's on your tongue.
Being so grateful for these little guys that allow you to feel so much joy and pleasure from different foods.
Maybe some warm tea.
Imagining some warm tea going down your throat.
And just that feeling,
It's almost like an internal hug,
Thinking of warm chamomile tea.
When you drink that,
Just that internal hug that comes.
Just consciously making the decision to bring your attention to the things that you have,
The things that you have to be so grateful for.
Even things that I haven't mentioned that are personal to you.
And just take the next few moments to rest fully in the awareness of the things that you have already to be grateful for.
Maybe even speak these things aloud if you're in a space where you can do that.
Just by saying out loud,
Listening to yourself,
I am grateful for whatever it is.
So that the universe can hear you.
That you're putting it out there,
That you already have everything that you need.
You already appreciate the things that are in your life.
The things that you're not necessarily responsible for having.
These gifts that you have to be grateful for.
There's nothing that you did in particular to deserve this gift of life,
These gifts of the senses.
And just remind yourself how special that is and how special you are for receiving these gifts.
You can also take some time to reflect on ways you can pay this back,
Pay this forward.
How you can share the gifts that you were given with the world around you.
Maybe you were given the gift of being able to listen to others and hear their problems and comfort them and be that compassionate and empathetic support that others need in times of trouble.
So maybe your way of paying that forward is to practice that,
Maybe daily.
Maybe you were given the gift of music.
Maybe you can sing and make music and it's beautiful and healing to you to do that.
So maybe your way of paying that forward would be to share,
To come out of your shell with that and share your music.
As if it makes you feel good,
Then it will make others feel good as well.
Maybe your gift is just being here,
The fact that you are here,
The fact that your body works and that you can breathe.
And maybe you have all of these gifts.
Maybe you have hundreds,
Thousands of gifts if you really took the time to sort through them and I'm willing to bet we can all say that.
So just choosing which gifts are the most important to you.
Which gifts make the most sense for you to focus on at this point in your life.
You can trust that you can spend time with certain skills and you can change your mind at any point,
You can shift your focus at any point.
The decisions that we make aren't always lifelong decisions.
They can just be decisions for a few years or a few months even.
If we want to change course,
We always have the power to change course.
You can take a moment to bring your awareness to your face and to the expression that's on your face as you are thinking about these things.
Just make note of what expression is there.
It might be a worried expression.
It might be a happy expression.
It doesn't really matter what it is.
But now remind yourself of the deep patience that the world,
The universe has for you.
And that deep patience that you ultimately have for yourself.
Feel your forehead relax a little bit more.
Feel your eyebrows soften.
Remind yourself that life is not a race.
You have all the time.
Relax your jaw.
And just feel the expression on your face melt into one of peace,
Of acceptance,
Of softness and stillness.
Feel your heart start to come forward in your body.
Feel your heart wherever it is in your body.
Whether it's in that cave of your shoulders,
Maybe if you're leaning or if it's coming forward in a proud posture.
Now just start to funnel all of your awareness to go into your heart.
And each time you notice energy thinking or noticing anything else,
Just gently guide that awareness into your heart center.
And as you're doing this,
Letting your shoulders soften,
The muscles in your arms and your hands become a little bit more soft.
Along with the stomach,
The hips,
The glutes and the legs.
And clenching the feet and the toes as well.
Just take this time to listen to that unique rhythm that your own heartbeat makes.
And with each gentle inhale that your body takes,
You can imagine light coming into your body with that air.
So you can let this appear however it appears to you.
Maybe this is a little dot of light that you see entering your nose.
Maybe just all of the air kind of glows with that light.
That's not a specific thing.
It's just the air in general that is light or anything else that maybe is hard to put words to.
But just imagine light entering your body in through your nose and traveling down into your heart space.
Maybe even feeling the warmth from this light as it's inside of your body and grows inside of your body.
And then just focusing on the light that is growing in your heart space.
In your mind's eye,
Just picturing your physical heart in your body.
And then imagining,
Seeing that space growing with a light inside of it.
Or maybe a light growing around it.
Whatever it looks like to you.
Whatever is at first,
The visualization that comes to mind.
You'll notice that this light is also pulsing along with your heartbeat.
You'll notice that since this light is within your heart center,
This light is inside of your bloodstream,
Inside of your heart.
And your heart begins to pump this light along with blood throughout your entire body.
So when something exists in your heart space,
It also exists in your entire body.
As all of the blood that is in your feet,
In your fingers,
In your head,
Every corner and edge of your body,
That blood is being pumped to that from your heart.
So naturally this light is now making its way through your entire body.
And you can trust that the light naturally goes where it's needed most.
You can trust the natural intelligence of your body and of light itself.
That it always goes where it's needed most.
And that there's no need for you to think about where you want this light to go or how you want this light to make you feel.
And just simply listen and watch.
This is an observing and a listening process rather than a thinking process.
But thinking is a natural part of all of our lives.
So just being kind and patient with yourself as you catch your mind thinking or judging or making assumptions.
Now bring all of your attention to whatever area on the body is asking for your attention.
Just taking a moment to listen,
To watch,
To really tune in with your body and not direct your awareness as much as we usually do.
And just allow your awareness to be drawn naturally to where it's needed.
When you release all thoughts,
When you release all expectations for this practice and how you're feeling,
What area in your body is kind of jumping up and asking for you to check in.
For me,
This is often my stomach.
I often hold a lot of my attention and my opinions,
My judgments,
My expectations are stored in my stomach personally.
So when I'm having these thoughts coming up a lot,
My stomach is in knots.
It's completely tight,
Completely resistant to being soft.
So a lot of times it is a bit more straightforward to soften areas in the body rather than telling your mind to stop acting a certain way.
Because if we tell our minds to stop thinking about something,
Then our mind is naturally going to want to focus more on that thing we want to stop thinking about.
But if we can find that area of our body where those thoughts are attached to,
Then it can be a lot more simple to release the body,
To soften the body.
And then we can often feel a relief from those troubling thoughts or opinions or emotions,
Even if just for a moment.
It can just be really interesting to see that mind-body connection in your own body.
It will be different for all of us.
Maybe yours is more stored in your hands,
Maybe in your joints in general.
Maybe it's in your neck,
Your shoulders.
I heard something that really resonated,
Which was that your current stress is stored in your shoulders and your past stress is stored in your hips.
That just makes a lot of sense to me.
Whenever there's a presently stressful situation,
My shoulders are up,
They're tight.
I find it hard to relax my shoulders often.
And while doing,
Stretching the hips and doing deeper hip openers in yoga practice,
I will often find myself crying for what feels like no reason,
But it is a release of deep emotional release of deep stresses.
So you can just take,
Do with that what you want to do with that and relate that to your own practice,
Your own body.
And then bring your attention back to that light that is now encompassing your body.
That light from your heart has been growing without your control and it's been,
It grew to encompass the entire body by spreading throughout your bloodstream,
By seeping out into your bones,
Seeping out into your muscles,
Out through the pores on your skin.
And it's now just resting on the outline of your entire body,
Resting on the largest organ in your body that is your skin.
Just feel this hug of light,
Feel that comfort as you remind yourself of all of the light and all of that love that is always around you,
Is always surrounding you,
Whether you feel it or not.
Allowing yourself to be loved.
Allowing yourself to be important.
Allowing yourself to be special.
Allowing yourself to be worthy of being here,
Of being on this earth at this time.
Remembering that you are special,
You are important,
You have something to share,
You positively impact others' lives,
You have love to spread,
And you have a perspective that is important to share,
Even if it's just with a few other people.
Your voice matters deeply.
And then also remind yourself that your voice isn't always your doing either,
And that the things that you might feel called to speak on or say might be bigger than you.
So it might be more of a responsibility to speak when you feel called to speak.
This doesn't have to be a selfish or a conceited act,
As I think a lot of people assume.
When you speak up and kind of put yourself out there,
You open yourself up to some criticism and just remind yourself that it's not always about you,
And that your words are more important to share than others' opinions on your words or on you.
Your words are messages.
They're messages from spirit to you,
To others.
They are messages that can unlock people from their own internal struggles and their own internal prisons.
Words are so powerful.
Just letting yourself remember that power of your own voice.
Feeling that light surrounding your body,
Feeling yourself being hugged from every spirit that has ever loved you and that you have ever loved on every side and every rung.
The spirit that created you,
The spirits that have watched you as you've grown into who you are,
Alive or past.
Even animals that you have loved,
Plants that you have loved.
Even just different environments,
Houses,
Buildings that have shown love.
Just let yourself feel all of that for the next few moments.
You can feel all of these tingly and loving sensations soak into your subconscious,
Soak into your deepest self so that you can trust that your actions will be guided to act in ways that support this everlasting love.
And having that compassion for yourself even in those moments where you don't.
If it feels natural for you to do so,
You can bring your hands to prayer at heart center.
Feeling the connection between your palms and your fingers,
That pulsing of your hands into each other.
And with the thumbs pressing toward your heart,
Your heart lifting back toward your thumbs and just feeling that circular energy you're creating around your heart center.
Feel that extra love and support to your heart,
That gratitude for your heart,
For yourself.
And you can gently bow your head to your highest self for guiding you to this practice today,
To the energy that created you and all the spirits that support you and to everyone else in this space who has completed this practice with you.
May this practice continue to heal and support you throughout the rest of your days and nights.
May this practice bring some love to everything that you do and to everyone that you see.
Namaste.
