Hi and welcome to today's practice.
My name is Raquel and I will be guiding you.
Today's practice is all about sending ourselves massive amounts of love through acknowledging things that we like about ourselves.
So I invite you to find a comfortable position,
Either sitting or laying down.
One that will fully allow you to relax and let go.
Gently closing your eyes now and allowing your mind to drop from your head down to the center of your heart.
And from here we'll take three deep breaths together,
Releasing all of the air from your body,
Remaining completely empty.
And as we breathe in through our nose,
Breathing in through the back of your heart,
Releasing your past and exhaling through the front of your heart and releasing your future.
Breathing in to the back of your heart,
Releasing your past and breathing out through the front of your heart,
Releasing your future.
One last deepest breath in through the back of your heart,
Expanding your chest area,
Releasing anything from the past.
And on your next exhale let out a big nice sigh,
Releasing the future.
Beautiful.
Becoming aware of this present moment,
The only moment.
Scanning your body for any tension that may still be lingering from the day and consciously releasing that tension and allowing yourself to relax even deeper.
And as we practice today,
Just listen to my voice and if at any time your mind strays just gently bring it back,
Noticing your breath as you breathe in and noticing your breath as you breathe out.
The way you talk to yourself matters.
Most of the time we engage in negative self-talk.
We hold ourselves to unrealistic standards or we place our focus on always achieving something else,
Another goal,
Something bigger and something better.
So let's kindly acknowledge this voice and these thoughts and today we're going to learn how to tune into the things that we actually like about ourselves.
And if that isn't obvious in this exact moment,
Just acknowledge that there are many parts of you that you like.
So gently bringing your awareness to these aspects of yourself,
Bringing your awareness to the rise and fall of your belly as you breathe in and out.
Just allowing your mind to really calm down.
Good.
And once your mind has settled,
Just bring to mind gently something that you appreciate,
Something that you love about yourself.
And let's start with our vessel,
Our physical body.
And taking a moment,
Ask yourself,
What do I like about my body?
Just acknowledge that,
Bring a smile to your face and send appreciation to that part of your body.
It doesn't necessarily have to be a physical feature.
It might be a strength,
A certain quality.
Or maybe you like your nails,
Your hair,
Your eyelashes.
And as this one part of you comes to mind,
I want you to really stay with this and feel into this experience of liking this part of yourself.
And go ahead and breathe really deeply into that part.
Beautiful.
And now let's switch to our minds.
Observing the qualities of your brain and its functions.
Observing your feelings,
The experience of having feelings and emotions.
And gently ask yourself,
What do I appreciate about my brain?
What do I appreciate about me,
My personality?
Simply observing this feeling and feeling into that appreciation.
Breathing into that feeling,
Allowing a gentle smile to come into your face.
Slowly scanning your body again.
But this time I want you to really focus on your five senses.
Focus on how good it feels to touch things,
To feel things,
To hear things,
To see things.
Your sense of smell.
And last but not least,
My favorite,
The joy of tasting.
So just take these last few moments recognizing how amazing and pleasurable all of these rich experiences that your senses have brought you.
Especially tasting.
The sense of taste has allowed you to really enjoy food.
Go ahead and feel gratitude for that.
And massive amounts of appreciation.
Not only for how good it tastes,
But the nourishment that food has brought you.
How it has served your body.
How it has given you the energy to keep moving forward.
Just allowing yourself to breathe into that appreciation.
Beautiful.
Slowly bringing your awareness and moving your fingers and toes.
We'll take three really nice slow and deep breaths.
Emptying all the air out of your body and remaining completely empty.
Holding for a moment and inhaling appreciation and exhaling gratitude.
Inhale appreciation and exhale gratitude.
One last deepest breath in.
Appreciate and exhale with gratitude.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
Namaste.
