As we mark our 150th meditation,
I want to thank you for your continued support of Ukrainian independence and freedom.
This month we'll be revisiting some of our most popular episodes.
I'm Colleen Thomas.
Welcome to the best of Everyday Magic for Ukraine.
Today we wake up our bodies and hearts.
Welcome to the circle.
So today all you need is your favorite song.
Stick with me.
I will tell you how we're going to do this.
So as we arrive together in circle today,
I invite you to notice how is your body doing?
How is your body feeling?
Maybe wiggle your fingers and your toes just a little bit.
Maybe shrug your shoulders just a little bit.
Play around with whatever level of movement you have in your body today.
And just gently move just a little bit.
Maybe a little swaying or back and forth motion or a little shaking or a little bit of deep breathing.
Breathing into your whole body.
Nice and big.
Seeing if you can move your body with the breath.
Maybe reaching above you to stretch with the breath.
Finding a little bit of waking up and movement and gratitude and connection.
We're going to work with gently,
Gently waking up the body and the heart today.
And with waking up,
You know how it can be very upsetting to have to get out of bed very quickly because there's a problem or there's a weird noise or the cat knocks something over or something worse happened?
Those are not good moments.
And the moments of waking up with care and with intention and with gentleness and slowly,
We want to wake up carefully and gently.
We're going to wake up the body as we're already doing with breathing and a little motion,
Whatever motion your body wants to make today,
Right now.
And we're also going to wake up our hearts.
So you might place a hand on your heart,
Maybe a hand on your heart and a hand on your belly.
And notice,
Be very attentive to if you're having maybe harder feelings in your heart today,
Heavy feelings,
Sadness,
Grief,
Anger,
Frustration,
Anything that is there in addition to expansion and gentleness.
And create a bit of room for all of those feelings.
You want to welcome everything that there is today.
There's room for all of you.
There's room for all of me.
So honoring if there are any harder feelings and seeing what they need.
Do they need a hug?
Do they want to leave the body through a little shaking or movement?
Do they really want to be listened to?
Would it be helpful to write down how they're feeling?
Would it be helpful to move their feelings with your body,
To tell their story through your motions of your hands,
Your body?
How do they want to be expressed?
How do these feelings want to move?
So you can let these emotions move however they might want to as we wake up.
And what I'd love to invite you to do now is to think of your favorite song.
And you have a couple of choices.
You can sing your favorite song or you can listen to your favorite song.
Or you could listen to and sing your favorite song.
And since we don't know what your favorite song is,
This is something you're going to need to provide.
So what we're going to do in a moment is stop the podcast,
Everybody listen to their favorite song and then we'll come back together and we'll celebrate the openness that we found in that song.
So the first song that comes to mind,
The first song that comes to heart,
Or maybe the first thing that pops up when you open your phone,
Go with it and let it continue this process of waking up your body and your heart.
Just remember to go very,
Very gently.
So I'll see you back after your song.
So welcome back.
How do you feel?
If you took the time to listen to a song,
And it's totally fine if you didn't do that,
But if you did take the time to listen to a song,
How is your heart right now?
Does it feel any different?
And what about your body?
Does your body feel more awake and alert?
Do your senses feel a little heightened?
How is your face different?
Do you sense maybe there's a little more light in your eyes now?
We did this little exercise today just to remind ourselves that music is an incredible tool,
An incredible tool to help us connect with our hearts,
To help us connect with our bodies.
So thank you for waking up gently with us today,
Waking up your heart and your body.
May we always remember the healing and restorative power of music.
May it be so.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
Your presence,
Your energy,
And your heart make all the difference in healing our world.
Remember to breathe today.
Breathe and expand.
And I hope you join us again next time.
Please consider inviting a friend.
