Welcome to this Kids in Nature stretch and feel meditation.
My name is Jessica Amos.
I am founder of Stay with Yourself,
The practice of being who you are,
Where you are.
And that's so much of what it means to go outside and to be with nature,
Allowing it to teach us what it means to be present,
What it means to be ourselves as we are wherever we are.
So take some time to find a spot outside if you can,
A spot where you can lay on the ground and stretch out your arms and legs comfortably.
If you can't find a spot to lay down,
You can also sit down on your bottom and cross your legs and just stick your hands on the ground next to you.
And if you need more time,
You can pause this meditation and make yourself comfortable laying down on the earth stretching out and hit play again when you're ready to start.
Now that you are comfortable,
Let's start with a short breathing practice.
Bring awareness to your breath,
Your inhale,
Air coming in and exhale,
The air coming out.
And start to take some deeper breaths.
You can imagine that your tummy is an empty balloon that is filled with air on each inhale and on each exhale,
Imagine the balloon is emptying out its softening and releasing tension.
Breathe deeply in through your nose,
Fill your tummy with air and exhale out through your mouth.
Feel your tummy softening.
Inhale deep through the nose into your tummy,
Exhale through the mouth releasing tension.
Feel your body supported by the ground beneath you.
Allow yourself to just relax your body to feel your bones becoming heavy,
Sinking into the earth.
You don't have to carry the weight of your body at all.
The earth will hold you.
You're solid and safe here as you breathe and feel the back of your body against the ground.
Notice how does the ground feel underneath you?
Where does it feel really comfortable?
Is it soft?
Is it hard?
How can you relax into the ground more?
And with your arms and legs stretched out,
You can turn your hands downward and start feeling the ground around you with your eyes closed,
Just feeling with your hands and feeling the ground beneath you,
The back of your body.
And take note of what you feel with your hands.
Find one thing to touch as you stretch out and touch it on all sides.
See if you can recognize what it is you're touching with your eyes closed.
And then find something else.
Do you move your hand around,
See if there's something else on the ground that you can touch.
I will leave you to do this for about a minute.
Just keep touching the ground above your head and to your sides and down by your legs with your eyes closed,
Keeping your body just laying out on the ground.
See if you can find ten things to touch,
Different things on the ground with your eyes closed.
As you reach and stretch and touch and feel with your hands,
Don't open your eyes,
Just keep guessing at what you're feeling.
Guessing at what you're feeling.
And when you're ready,
You can open your eyes and look at the ground around you where your hands were touching.
And see if you were correct.
See what things you were able to guess that you found with your eyes closed by just touching the earth.
Maybe there's some things that you found that surprise you now that you have your eyes open.
This is a very fun exercise to do when you're by yourself and you can do this anywhere,
Not just outside but on the floor in your bedroom.
But outside is a very fun place to do it and you get the fresh air and you get to be close to the earth and pretend to be the part of the ground and discover new things.
This is a very calming practice if you just need a break.
Thank you for sharing your meditation practice with me today.
Until next time,
May you stay with yourself today and always.
You
