Day 2: Holding Your Life In Reverence

Welcome to Day 2 of the Mindful Mornings Challenge. Today's practice focuses on expressing gratitude for your life, no matter what you will encounter in the day ahead. Orienting yourself toward gratefulness from the moment you wake allows you to hold your life in reverence, every day.

*This meditation is blessing senses and parts of the body. If you have a disability please just rest in the heart center and bless the life living in you. Please forgive the ableist perspective.

Transcript

Hello and good morning.

Welcome to day two of the mindful mornings challenge here on Insight Timer.

My name is Sarah Blondin and it's an absolute pleasure to be here starting the day with you.

Today I'll be sharing a little bit about my morning routine before guiding you through a meditation I regularly use.

Mornings are the most sacred time of the day for me.

So the first thing I do when I open my eyes is I look out this big window that I have beside my bed and I express thanks.

No matter what will come to meet me,

No matter what I will confront or encounter,

I am grateful to have another day on this planet.

This gratefulness,

This orienting myself toward gratefulness,

Creates a loving set point for my day.

It helps my body and my psyche to register that I am happy to be alive,

That being alive is a gift.

And after I express this thanks,

I sit on the floor beside my bed and I take a few minutes to find my breath.

I really come into my body consciously.

These small acts are a way of creating reverence,

A deep love and respect.

When we hold our lives with reverence from the moment we first wake,

We are teaching ourselves that all life is sacred.

It's a way of acknowledging what is here in this moment before us and finding love,

Deep love for it.

I'm going to guide you now through a practice that I regularly use to hold my life as sacred,

To hold my life in reverence.

So on this beautiful morning here together,

Let's find a comfortable seat and bring our eyes gently to a close.

Breathing in,

I'm aware of my in-breath.

Breathing out,

I'm aware of my out-breath.

Breathing in,

I'm aware of my in-breath.

Breathing out,

I'm aware of my out-breath.

And when we turn inward this way,

It's as if we're settling the waters of our body.

We're not reaching outward,

We're not creating waves,

We're just settling the water of our body and we're becoming heavy with stillness.

And just notice how good it feels to do this,

How natural.

Almost as if you're coming home after being on a long dusty road.

And for this practice,

I want you to try to focus on your heart center,

The energy of the heart.

And all you have to do to do that is just focus your attention on the heart center across the chest,

Through the ribs.

And just notice the current is stronger here.

There's a warmth here.

There is a love here in you.

And let that love do as it wishes.

Sometimes when I pay attention on the heart center,

It will either flood me with a warmth or recognition or it will create a deep sense of comfort and homecoming.

Focus on this.

Find nourishment in this.

And I want you just to bring your hands now up to your eyes and place them gently on top of your eyes.

Noticing the pressure of your fingers on top of your eyelids.

And I want you to give thanks for these eyes.

Give thanks for the gift of seeing.

For the gift of being able to watch light dance across surfaces.

For the gift of seeing steam rise from a cup of tea.

For the gift of seeing a smile.

And I want you to put your hands lightly on the tips of your lips.

One on your lips and one on your throat.

And we're going to give thanks now for the gift of speech.

For the gift of sound that we create.

Really realizing the power we hold.

The power that our words hold.

That we can heal and uplift with our words.

I thank you.

And placing your hands now on your ears,

I want you to give thanks for the gift of hearing.

Of being able to hear the birds song.

Your baby's cry.

The crunch of snow under your feet.

The sound of wind passing through leaves.

Give thanks for the gift of sound.

For the gift of hearing.

And placing your hands back on top of your heart center,

I want you to bow your head slightly.

In deep reverence and respect for this great,

Wise orb at the center of you.

You are able to feel and know love because of this place in you.

You are able to know and feel love because you have a heart.

Give thanks now for the gift that is feeling.

For the gift of the wisdom of the heart.

The medicine of the heart.

And I want you to give thanks now for your body,

For your limbs,

For your feet,

For your toes.

I thank you life coursing through all of me.

Carrying me through my day.

Giving life to me.

I thank you for these arms that get to hold and love and comfort.

I thank you for these feet that carry me through my day.

I thank you all of you.

Breathing in,

I am aware of my in-breath.

Breathing out,

I am aware of my out-breath.

Notice how awake and alive your body feels,

Your senses feel.

You have shifted your consciousness to wake up the body,

To wake up gratitude.

You have filled your physical being with light.

You are holding yourself with sacred hands and reverence.

When we begin our days like this,

We learn how to hold other life in the same way it becomes natural,

Second nature.

We focus on what we are grateful to experience,

Grateful to have,

Grateful to live.

This is how we create that loving set point for our day.

And I sit here in my meditation like this until I can feel gratitude and love really coursing through me.

And some days it's easier than others,

And that's alright.

The real practice is in showing up regardless of what is living beside you at this moment to tend to what is true and good at the very core of you.

Feeling the stillness of the body of water that you are and coming to open your eyes to the light of this day.

No matter what you encounter,

No matter what confronts you,

You have this great,

Wise body and being living at the very core of you.

Thank you so much for practicing with me this morning.

And congratulations on showing up to this challenge and really making the commitment to prioritize your mental health in this new year.

Have a wonderful rest of your day and we'll see you here tomorrow for day three.

Reviews

Beautiful. Grateful for your wisdom and insight. Thank you for sharing it so bravely with the world.

Great way to start my day! Aligned perfectly with the scripture I read about calm amid the stormy waters. We are 60% water and there are storms within us that we can calm and attain Peace to be still with faith in ourselves and God. Amazing!

Sarah is my all time favourite meditation teacher, speaker, fellow human, on this platform!
Thank you, Sarah. Your intentional language, the candence of your speech, and the gift you share with the community, is irreplaceable. I first heard of you when I was working in Enderby and was even more connected knowing you were also out that way in BC! Appreciate you existing and sharing the goodness you hold with the rest of the world! Have a super day 🌻😊

Dear Sara, thank you so much for your voice spirit Namaste 🙏

Beautiful. One of my favorite meditations on here.

Thank you for bringing me back to my center, my heart. Namaste.

You touch my heart and soul deeply with all your magnificent poetic meditations, my darling soul sister, Sarah💓🥰✨✨✨ My gratitude for your gifts is greater than the universe itself 🪐 I have so much respect and admiration for the person that you are and all that you share with us all 🙌🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼☯️💖🪷☀️🕊️🌈
Warm & gentle embrace and much much L💝VE to you always, Sarah chérie🤗😘💞 Namaste🙏🏼😇
Merci beaucoup ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Great meditation. Simple but effective.
Thank you. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

This lady I tell ya, thank you once again Mrs. Blondin 🙏💐❤️

Inspiring and connective words to truly see yourself and apprciate all your being does in this lifetime.

What a wonderful way to start my work week, in gratitude for my life and senses

Sarah Blondin meditations always speak straight to my heart. I love her soft and deliberate voice as it guides me through journeys within my own consciousness. Her experiences and practices are relatable, and heartfelt. I hope she continues doing this amazing work because it really does get me to reflect on my own life and journey. If she ever reads this I want her to know that I appreciate her.

Great teacher with a joy in her voice. She adds insights I had not considered.
Thank you!

Sarah, you hold in that wonderful Voice of yours a true gift to guide and to calm. Loved this way to start my day. Thank you always.

Oh Sarah, this is such a beautiful reminder of what I have, just by being alive. What a gift.
I want to say, however, that the random, discordant tones throw me off. I’d love it if the tones were not there. Besides that, I love this meditation. Thank you from my heart.

Sarah, thank you, thank you! A reminder this morning to be grateful and reverent. Ah!

This was truely so so beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing your gift! I am not very well this morning and can barely breathe through my nose but finding gratitude and love for my body and knowing what it needs to rest and feeling that love and gratitude for all it does for me and all the gifts I have in this life was truely such a blessed way to start my day.
Namaste 🙏

This meditation was beautiful. Putting my hands on my eyes, mouth, throat, ears, and heart was powerful— especially being aware of the wisdom my heart holds. Thank you. 🙏 🕊️😌

Sarah's voice and tempo was calm and soothing in manner which assisted in the guided meditation. Thank you

I m grateful for every cell and organ of my body 💓