Welcome to the Daily Insight.
My name is Jessica Amos.
I am founder of Stay With Yourself and teacher here on Insight Timer.
Today's meditation is on surrendering to change.
But first,
Let's start with a short relaxation and breathing practice.
If you are in a space where you can lie back and allow the entire back of your body to be supported by the floor or your bed or the couch,
I encourage you to lay back and feel how the back of your body is supported by the ground beneath you.
From this place,
Allow your body to soften and relax.
Feel your heart space softening and opening.
Release tension from your hips and thighs.
Allow your feet to fall outward.
If you need to pause this meditation to put blankets or pillows under your knees,
I encourage you to do so.
Lay with your arms slightly out from your side,
Palms facing up.
Feel the entire back of your body held and supported.
You do not need to carry anything right now.
And bring awareness into your breath.
We will take some deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth together.
As you breathe deeply in,
Breathe all the way into your tummy and imagine it's an empty balloon being filled with air.
And when you exhale,
Release tension from your tummy and relax farther into the floor.
Take a deep breath in through your nose,
Down into your tummy and exhale out through your mouth.
In through your nose,
Out through your mouth.
Exhale through your nose and out through your mouth.
You can breathe deeply into your neck and shoulders,
Feeling them expand and then exhale,
Release tension.
Breathe into your heart space,
Feeling it expand and exhale,
Release tension.
Breathe into your hips,
Exhale,
Release tension.
Breathe up into your face,
Releasing tension around your eyes,
Your jaw,
Your mouth,
Your forehead.
Feel yourself relaxed and supported.
Now I want you to imagine as you lay here that you are laying on the shore of a beautiful tropical beach.
As you lay here,
Feel the soft yet firm wet sand beneath your body.
Feel the sun shining down on the front of your body,
Warming you,
Softening you as you relax farther into the sand on this beautiful beach.
Breathe deeply the fresh air.
Take in the light and the sounds,
The breeze against your skin.
Feel how the gentle waves are lapping against your feet,
Warm,
Tender and soft.
Maybe like the wet kisses of a favorite pet.
Feel how gently the ocean kisses your heels.
And begin to feel how the ocean,
These waves lapping against the shore,
Against your heels,
Are beginning to lap more against the middle of your foot and the back of your body.
Feel these waves reaching under your legs,
Under your bottom,
These waves kissing your backside and the back of your arms.
Feel the waves lapping against your fingertips.
And as the shore comes in,
Feel it kissing the back of your body lovingly.
And as the shore,
The water recedes,
Feel yourself just being pulled just a little farther towards the water.
Feel the water come in,
Gently caressing the back of your body,
Your feet and hands.
And then gently pulling you a little farther,
Closer into the water.
Feel yourself being rocked gently as the ocean waves flow in and out upon the shore,
In and out,
Around your body and against the back of your body.
Feel yourself melting,
Becoming like the shore itself,
The edges of your body beginning to soften.
And you are now becoming like these gentle ocean waves lapping against the shore,
Flowing in,
Flowing out in this really safe and gentle space that is the shoreline in all of its beauty.
You carried in and out,
Soft and surrendered.
And be aware that as the shore,
The water,
The ocean which is now you,
As you are at the edge of it,
Is vast and grand and deep and wide.
It touches every shore.
It contains more life forms than you are ever going to be aware of.
And you are the ocean itself,
Flowing gently in and out upon the shoreline.
You are also the depth of the ocean itself,
The surface of the ocean and everything the ocean contains.
And you are safe because you are the ocean.
And whatever comes,
Whatever weather,
Whatever storms,
Whatever drought or heat,
Whatever beauty,
Whatever fears,
You are okay.
You are held,
Carried,
Contained.
There is nothing that can come your way,
That can harm your very beingness,
The calm center of your core.
Nothing you cannot handle or flow with or absorb into your vastness,
Into your expansiveness and your beingness.
Whatever you have going on in your life now,
Whether it be great joy,
Great sorrow,
Pain,
Anxiety,
Inspiration or enthusiasm or anything else,
Feel how you contain it all.
Feel how you are held and carried as the ocean itself,
As this vast being that breathes in and out upon the shore,
Full of mysteries and life unknown.
And allow yourself to just let go and to be held and carried by your very beingness in this moment,
To feel that warm sun on the tropical shore,
Knowing there might be other things going on within your depths or on other shores.
And yet,
Here you are,
Rising and falling,
Flowing in and out,
Allowing things to come into your life,
To even change you a bit,
But not to affect your beingness and your ability to just surrender and flow and be.
Know that all is well,
That you do not have to grasp or hold on tightly or control anything,
That you are okay just as you are in this moment,
That all is well,
That you are cared for and being taken care of,
That you are whole and complete and fully contained as yourself,
That you are on your own side and you can choose what you put your focus on,
What you hold onto and what you let go of.
Feel yourself breathing in and out,
Relaxing and being and letting go.
Allow what is to be what it is.
Accept where things are now and know that when you see things clearly and you allow things to be what they are,
You can respond accordingly from a place of centeredness,
Self-assurance and peace.
Use this ocean,
This body of water to release anything that you're holding onto.
Allow it to be carried away in the ocean waves,
To be broken down and dissolved so that it's not such a weight and such a burden.
You cannot control life.
You can only control yourself and your perceptions of reality and what you believe about what's happening and what you tell yourself about what's happening.
That is what you have control over.
In so many ways this is a great relief because you are free to just be,
Surrender as life shows up.
Respond accordingly to what feels best within your center and let go of the rest.
There you are,
Ocean waves lapping upon a beautiful shore,
The sun beating down,
Your body fully surrendered and relaxed,
Supported,
Calm,
At peace.
Begin to feel the edges of your body re-materializing and yourself laying upon the sandy beach,
The cool gentle waves lapping at your feet and hands.
This is enough.
Let go,
Surrender,
Trust that all is well because all is well.
I will leave you here with a couple minutes of soft music so you can continue this visualization and letting go as you see fit.
Thank you for sharing your meditation practice with me today.
May you stay with yourself today and always.
