Welcome to this Kids in Nature look around meditation.
My name is Jessica Amis.
I am the founder of Stay With Yourself,
The practice of being who you are,
Where you are.
Find a spot outside to sit down.
If you need to clear some space for yourself outside to make yourself comfortable,
I encourage you to do so.
You can pause this meditation so you can find a comfortable spot and then hit play again when you are ready to start.
Now that you are comfortably seated outside,
Let's start with a short breathing practice.
Bring awareness into your breath,
The air coming in,
The air going out.
And begin taking deeper breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
You can imagine that with each inhale of air in through the nose that your tummy is an empty balloon being filled with air.
You can breathe deep into your tummy and fill that balloon with air until it becomes nice and big and then exhale very slowly through your mouth and feel your tummy softening and releasing any tension.
If you've ever seen a napping cat or a sleeping dog or maybe even a sleeping baby,
You might notice or remember noticing that when dogs and cats and babies and all animals sleep and rest,
Their tummies get really big.
They fill up like a balloon with air when they breathe in and then their tummies soften and get really flat when they exhale.
This is how you were meant to breathe as well.
So breathing deeply into your tummy like this is just like being a cat or a dog or like you were when you were a baby and like all of nature that you're surrounded by right now.
I want you to take a minute with your eyes open.
Actually maybe I'll give you several minutes to do this one.
With your eyes open,
I want you to slowly look all around you.
I want you to look at everything you see near and far straight in front of you to your left side to your right side.
You can turn around and see what's behind you and take in everything around you.
Look at everything.
Look up into the sky.
Look at the trees nearby the ground.
Anything in nature that you see even if there's buildings or cars.
Anything at all.
Look closely and try to take in as much as you can of what you're seeing.
Every little detail.
Don't forget to turn around and look behind you too.
Really take in everything that surrounds your entire body.
Top and bottom,
Front and back,
Side to side.
And after you've done this and you feel like you've taken in everything,
I want you to close your eyes.
Now with your eyes closed,
See how many things you can remember that you saw with your eyes open.
How many details do you remember about what you just saw when your eyes were open?
Here with your eyes closed,
Let your mind paint a picture of what it saw.
Above you.
Below you.
In front of you.
Behind you.
To your left.
And to your right.
And feel yourself here now.
Even with your eyes closed,
Your body is still surrounded by all the things you saw when your eyes were open.
It's all still there.
You just can't see it with your eyes closed.
But your memory and your mind does remember what it saw.
And you can see it now,
Even with your eyes closed.
Now that you've painted this picture inside of your mind of what you saw with your eyes open,
See if there's anything else you want to add to this picture with your eyes closed.
And then,
When you are ready,
You can open your eyes again and look around you and see if there's anything that you forgot to remember.
What was it like?
What's the difference between what you're seeing with your eyes closed and what you see with your eyes open?
And does it feel any different to be here in your body with your eyes closed or to be in this space outside with your eyes open?
If you are with other friends or classmates or with your family doing this meditation,
This is a really fun question to ask each other.
What did you remember?
What did you see when you closed your eyes that you remember seeing when your eyes were open?
And how did it feel in your body to be in this place with your eyes open and then to be in this place with your eyes closed?
Thank you so much for sharing your meditation practice with me today.
Until next time,
May you stay with yourself today and always.
