Hey there everybody this is Kristen from Teaching Balance and I am here with you with this week's mindfulness meditation practice.
We are now in the month focusing on gratitude and we did a little five senses gratitude practice just to kick things off and I thought that it would be interesting for the second week of the month focusing on gratitude to go into something that I don't think we've actually done it in a while and the idea behind that is just gratitude for inner wisdom.
Now if you're one of the longtime members you know that we've done various inner wisdom meditations but if you're not the premise behind that is that it's typically a visualization that I will lead you through like I will today where the idea is for you to get in touch with I guess you could say or connect with a side of yourself that is typically most usually referred to as your inner wisdom.
You could call it your wisdom,
You could call it your higher self,
You could call it your subconscious,
You know if you wanted to take it even more spiritually you could say even it's more like your soul you know things of that nature and even though I was familiar and have been familiar with the inner wisdom practice for quite a long time in the past several months I've been doing a much deeper dive with it and have found it to be really deeply nourishing and supportive and something to go back to for a theme I feel like I have a great deal of gratitude for so it's something that I want to just circle back to and offer to you again.
Again for those of you who have been down this road before you're familiar with it and you know what to expect but in case you are like I said unfamiliar with it basically it's going to be a little more like a visualization than a meditation but the idea is as I mentioned for you to just kind of go inside and of course you'll find out in a moment what that's gonna be like so if this is appealing to you and you're intrigued please of course continue to watch if however you're like no I think I just want to do my regular 10-minute meditation and that of course as always is perfectly fine.
The one sort of I guess you could say selling point that I would offer is that I really do feel besides what I've already articulated how I feel like it's beneficial I really do feel like there's something to be said for the value of going within and having an internal dialogue that feels very constructive and productive and deeply deeply nourishing and compassionate so if you're intrigued let's go ahead and get started.
So I'm gonna set my timer for 10 minutes and I find that with visualizations the 10 minutes really goes fast so I'm gonna try to keep it as tight as possible.
Before I hit the timer go ahead and just find your meditation posture that feels good to you whether you are lying down or sitting upright and while you certainly could just focus your gaze downward like you always have the option to do because it's a visualization you might find it to be a little bit easier if you close your eyes but of course that is your choice.
Let's go ahead and start beginning by taking those long slow deep breaths not only does it activate our body's relaxation response it also helps us to just ground ourselves more fully in our bodies and in the present moment and as we begin to settle and prepare for this inner wisdom visualization just knowing that this isn't something you need to really try very hard to do sometimes it's very clear and feels very easy and sometimes there's a quality of it not quite happening the way you anticipate and so I'm gonna invite you to just let go of any expectations and allow yourself just to go with whatever happens and even if there's not a quality of dialogue with your inner wisdom be very observant of whatever images do come to mind as we do this particular sit and visualization together because the images that come to mind might also have some meaning for you from your inner wisdom.
So to begin as you continue to settle I'm gonna invite you to visualize yourself in a very pleasant meadow.
This might be a meadow that you've actually visited in reality in the past or it might be completely from your imagination not allowing yourself to put pressure on yourself for it to be a certain way or for it to be the best meadow ever but really just a place where you can picture yourself standing outside where there are grasses trees and all the beauty of nature and as you visualize yourself in this meadow space noticing whatever is noticeable like what can you see how far can you see even looking upward at the sky the nature of the weather in this meadow in this moment can you feel a breeze perhaps the Sun or even a dampness what can you smell what can you hear and in some cases that sensory input might be varied and rich and in some cases it might be not particularly strong and that is all fine either way just another opportunity for you to be present to where your awareness is in this moment as you see yourself in this meadow and as you continue to stand in this meadow you can allow yourself to begin to walk forward finding a path perhaps that you find yourself drawn to follow the landscape may say the same might change but just allowing yourself to feel the earth under your feet and moving forward to wherever you're drawn and as you continue to walk forward on this path down down the path coming toward you you see figure first it might be blurry you might see it coming for some time or it seems perhaps to arrive rather instantaneously it could be a human figure it could also be an animal or an inanimate object not judging whatever it is that you're seeing but knowing that whatever this image is that you're seeing that you're working and walking towards is symbolic of your inner wisdom so greeting it warmly expression expressing your gratitude for its presence and allowing yourself just to be there to be present with this inner wisdom this energy this part of yourself and as you're holding this space being present together I'd like you to bring to mind a question that you would like to ask your inner wisdom it could be completely mundane or it could actually have deeper and bigger value for you and letting go of any expectations about what the question should be or if it's the right one and just allowing yourself to ask that question of your inner wisdom in this moment right now you might say it very simply you might try to articulate it in a few different ways once you've expressed your question or your inquiry now what I'd like you to do is just pause and I'd like you to perhaps even lean in slightly and listen to the reply allow yourself to receive this reply even if you find yourself questioning it because it might not make sense the reply might have been verbal might also have been visual and you might not have even received a reply but reply may come at a later point in your day so just allow yourself to receive it however it may come to you and before we turn to go and before we offer our gratitude I'd like you to visualize that you put out your hands in front of you perhaps cupping them together and your inner wisdom this entity your figure is going to put something in your hands so allowing yourself to receive whatever it may be and as you look down acknowledging whatever it may be whatever it is and if it's very clear what this object means allowing yourself to receive it and if it's not clear allowing yourself to ask for clarification from your inner wisdom listening for whatever they may offer in these final moments and then when you're ready expressing your gratitude for whatever has been offered to you and in your mind allowing yourself to turn around walk back to the meadow where you began and when you're ready releasing the visualization opening your eyes and coming back into the room so as I mentioned sometimes the guided visualization for inner wisdom is really clear and potent and straightforward and many times it's a little bit more elusive and unclear and all of that is fine of course it's nice the idea behind it is that you're putting forth your inquiry and you're receiving an answer some wisdom some guidance but what I would say is if for some reason it just didn't kind of happen for you today just letting go of that and allowing yourself to give it a try at another time because that happens for me quite a bit sometimes I feel like I can really kind of just slip into the groove of that kind of visualization and sometimes it's just a little bit more elusive but I still find that it's worthwhile to come back and try it again later or in another time so thank you as always for taking this time for yourself and thank you for allowing me to accompany you on this journey and I will see you next week take care bye
