Body Appreciation Meditation (Live Recording)

Join Selena for this deeply loving body appreciation mediation. Allow yourself to be nourished as you meet your body with gratitude, acceptance, and compassion.
Sound quality is lower than normal, due to being a recording from a live session.
Music by Narek Mirzaei

Transcript

I invite you to find a comfortable position.

Start to deepen your breath.

Allow the exhalations to be a little longer than the inhalations.

And as you breathe,

Start to scan your body.

Move your awareness from the head all the way down to the feet.

Nice and slowly,

Just notice where you're holding,

Where things are tight,

Where things are relaxed.

Can you consciously release tension with this sense of loving awareness as you move your attention through the body?

Maybe you feel the shoulders relax,

The throat,

The belly soften,

The jaw gently hang,

Clenching release from the pelvis,

The hands,

The belly,

The glutes.

Feel the body breathing,

This breath of life that naturally flows in and out.

And if your body is holding a contracted posture,

I invite you to open yourself if you can move your body.

Maybe uncross the ankles and have the feet flat on the floor.

Uncross the arms,

The hands,

Roll the shoulders up and back,

Open the chest gently.

So many of the ways that we hold our body in contraction or even that we fall into judgment with the body is due to that need to feel safe.

Sometimes we treat our bodies poorly and we think it's because we don't like our body or there's something wrong,

Yet so often it's because of not feeling safe,

Feeling afraid of not being loved.

This body has a consciousness of its own.

Bring your awareness to your heart,

Your beautiful,

Beating,

Physical heart.

This amazing heart is working for you 24 hours a day.

It never rests.

This beautiful heart keeps you alive and asks for almost nothing in return.

Your amazing lungs and diaphragm allowing the body to breathe,

Nourishing the body with oxygen,

Releasing toxins.

This happens naturally.

You don't have to force it.

Your lungs and your diaphragm are working for you 24 hours a day.

They never cease.

All of these amazing organs inside doing their very best to keep you alive,

Healthy.

They process the toxins or the unhealthy things that we put in the body and they're all working for us all of the time.

They're doing their best.

Sometimes it might not be perfect or ideal,

But the inner workings of your amazing body are constantly doing their best so that you can live a good life.

And there's such an innocence to the way the body functions no matter what we eat or what we drink,

No matter how much caffeine we put in it or other poisons,

No matter how little sleep we get or how hard we push these bodies or how much we don't exercise.

They just keep giving.

They just keep doing what they can do.

In a way these bodies are these precious innocent friends of ours,

Really our most loyal friend.

I don't know if there's a single person in our lives that would still be so devoted to us if we treated it the way we treat these amazing precious bodies,

Even just with our thoughts.

Start to imagine your body as this innocence this most loyal friend in your life.

Think of how many times in your life your body you could say has shown up for you.

When you felt tired it kept functioning and when you didn't feel well it did its best to heal you.

Think about that.

This body has innate wisdom to heal.

And here we are beating it up for not being 10 pounds lighter or heavier when it has the power to heal itself.

This body is a sacred gift of life.

From this place within you maybe it feels like there's a sense of presence or kindness or tenderness for your body.

I invite you to just gently slowly open your eyes and look at your hands and be grateful for these hands.

Think of everything that these hands allow you to do in your life.

And of course we all have different bodies with different levels of mobility so just apply this to your body.

Do your hands let you touch the people or the furry friends that you love?

Do they let you play sports or touch fresh grass?

Feel the skin of your lover,

The warmth of the sun.

Allow you to work see these amazing hands and what a gift they are.

And now take your hands and begin to very gently if you can caress your arms and as you caress your arms slowly think of everything that these arms allow you to do and of course if you can't move your body you can just imagine this.

These arms that allow you to hold the people you love,

To dance,

To swim,

To do whatever they allow you to do in your life,

Tenderly touch your arms.

And now very slowly bring your hands to your chest,

One hand to the chest,

One hand to the belly and be so grateful.

Your chest and your belly are housing your organs,

These organs that keep you alive so that you can experience everything that you love about this life.

If you didn't have a body you wouldn't get to experience the things you love,

The people,

The pleasures,

The beauties.

And if you have a relationship with these areas especially the belly or any area of your body that we move through,

If you have a relationship where there's judgment or disgust I invite you to just practice right now holding this part of your body and saying thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

This body consciousness hears your thoughts.

When you judge the body,

When you express thoughts and feelings of hatred the body hears it.

So if you wish you may find yourself saying I'm sorry.

I'm so grateful for everything that you give to me.

I'm sorry.

I'm learning to love you.

I'm learning to accept you.

I'm learning to know your beauty and your power.

Please forgive me for my judgments.

And now continue to slowly move.

Maybe you move your hands to your face and just gently caress your face especially the areas that you judge the most.

Maybe there's acne or there's extra tissue under your chin or wrinkles.

Caress your face with love.

Maybe it's your nose.

Whatever it is hold your face with love.

These amazing eyes that allow you to see the beauty of the world.

This amazing nose that allows you to smell your favorite foods,

Flowers,

And flowers.

Fresh cut grass,

Ocean spray.

These ears that allow you to hear your favorite music.

The voices of the people you love.

Now for these next few moments move your hands around your body.

You can have your eyes open gently looking at your body with love and kindness and passion.

You can have your eyes open gently looking at your body with love and kindness and passion.

You can have your eyes open gently looking at your body with love and kindness and passion.

You can have your awareness turned inward with the eyes closed.

Take a moment maybe your hands on your thighs or your hips and if you can't reach the parts of your body just move your attention.

Spend some breaths honoring and acknowledging your body offering gratitude for this body.

And consciously speaking to your body in a way that you would want your best friend to hear you.

That you would want your child or your grandchild to hear you.

This body hears everything you say to it.

So how would you like to change your expression right now today?

And if you feel a little lost or like the judgments are strong you might just move from part of your body or area of your body to area and just say thank you.

Really think about everything that that part of your body allows you to do to experience in your life.

Dance,

Run,

Laugh,

Make love,

Enjoy the beauty of nature,

Hike.

Maybe it's just to sense the air across your skin or the water all around your body.

Take a few more moments to offer this appreciation and maybe loving kindness to your body.

In whatever way feels right hold your body in a loving way.

Maybe you place a hand on your heart,

A hand on your belly,

Or maybe you hold yourself,

Hug yourself,

Or just imagine this.

Close the eyes if they're open.

Let's take a deep full breath in and out together.

And now start to draw your awareness out from your physical body.

Moving out so that your perception shifts and you see your home or wherever you are,

Your whole town or city.

Feel your your awareness is moving further out until you can see the whole planet in your mind's eye or maybe just have an intention of thinking of the planet as if you are looking at the earth from space.

This magnificent earth,

All of the different organisms,

Human beings,

And all of the animal kingdom,

The trees,

The mountains,

The rivers,

And oceans,

All of the organisms,

Many of which know how to function harmoniously on this planet.

The natural cycles of life that occur from this interaction with the animals and the earth and the insects and even some of the humans that are helping the planet.

There is this harmony,

This cohesive experience,

And now recognize that the same magnificence that is the earth with so many organisms functioning together is in your body.

And now recognize that the same earth with so many organisms functioning together is in your body.

Your body is like the earth and within it trillions and trillions of cells doing their best to all work together in harmony so that your organs and glands function,

So that everything is functioning properly.

And the same way that there might be a god that many of us think of or pray to,

Your consciousness is god to all of these organisms within your body.

Your powerful mind,

Your presence is god.

Imagine it this way when you are speaking to your body,

It's as if you are god speaking to all of the beings on earth,

You are speaking to your body,

You are speaking to these trillions of cells.

So if you are this presence,

This consciousness that can serve this planet of your body and care for these trillions of life forms within you,

How would you like to start treating yourself differently today?

If you realize that you are the custodian of trillions of trillions and trillions of life forms,

How do you wish to care for your precious planet?

Be so thankful to this amazing body,

Offer your gratitude,

Your love.

Take a deep slow breath in,

Exhale through the mouth.

Let your body really relax here,

Slowly start to move the body and feel the beauty of this life within you as you move.

If you can,

Open your arms wide,

Open your chest and then cross your arms over your chest,

Wrap them around yourself and give yourself a big hug,

A loving warm embrace.

And whenever you're ready,

Open the eyes.

Reviews

What a beautiful prayer to my body. Thoroughly enjoyed it as my word for the year is HEALTH, and I've quit all types smoking and alcohol. This was such a beautiful way of giving thanks to my meat suit for not giving up on me even after years of abusing it. Thank you for this long meditation 🙏🏻🧘🏼‍♀️

Wonderful

Thank you so kindly Selena🌺🌼
🕉 Shanti Shanti Shanti 🕯🕊
Namaste 🙏🏼So Much Love💜🌹
👌🏽🤌🏼🌻❤️📿

My body hears me…my body knows. This is so beautiful to seeing and connecting to my greatest friend. A Beautiful truthful friend, Selena 🧡🪷💚

Soo Beautiful, I didn’t want it to end 💖💖, Thank you Selena