Welcome back.
I'm so pleased you pressed play and are feeling committed to your meditation practice and the possibility of moving through your days with gratitude.
Today's practice is an invitation to feel grateful for your body.
Closing down your eyes if you like and allowing your awareness to land on your breath.
Rolling in and rolling out.
Just like the tides of our vast oceans.
Each in-breath an opportunity to invite in.
Each out-breath an opportunity to let go.
It's so easy to move through our days being critical of our bodies.
The aches and pains,
The things it can no longer do,
The wobbly and aging parts.
But the truth is your body is incredible.
Supporting you all day every day.
And when you shift your awareness from criticism to gratitude,
Your body responds with higher levels of functioning,
Ease and even regeneration.
So together let's scan our bodies with a sense of gratitude.
Beginning with your feet.
Feeling any sensations in your feet.
Offering your feet a few grateful breaths.
These feet that take you where you need to go each day.
These feet that hold up your entire body.
They squeeze into shoes,
They run for trains,
They help you walk the dog.
Sensing your legs,
Calf muscles,
Front of knees,
Back of knees,
Thighs.
Perhaps your legs don't look the way they used to.
But they are still supporting you each and every day.
Allowing you to walk,
Exercise and move in the direction of your goals,
Aspirations and the people you love.
These legs which are stable and strong.
Taking a deep and grateful breath.
Awareness landing on your hips and pelvis now.
This aspect of our body often feels stiff as we sit for hours at a time.
Offering your hips and pelvis a few deep cleansing breaths.
Moving your awareness to your stomach.
Digestive and reproductive systems.
Working around the clock to extract vital nutrients,
Create energy and balance hormones.
Offering these parts of you a deep and grateful breath.
Your heart,
Taking a moment to imagine your heart beating within your chest.
This heart that will beat 42 million times this year.
This heart that carries oxygen and nutrients all around your body.
Your energetic heart that allows you to experience love,
Connection,
Compassion and joy.
Deep grateful breaths into your heart.
Awareness moving to your lungs.
Inhaling oxygen.
Exhaling carbon dioxide every minute of every day.
Gratitude landing on your lungs.
Awareness landing on your spine.
To each vertebrae.
To the vagus nerve and all the smaller nerves that send messages from your heart and brain all through your body.
Here in this moment,
Just how grateful can you feel for your spine and your entire nervous system regulating you in every moment.
Awareness landing gently on your face,
Your mouth,
Allowing you to communicate,
Your eyes,
Allowing you to see the faces of those you love.
Your ears that offer the laughter of friends and family.
And finally,
Just how grateful can you feel for your miraculous brain.
Containing more synapses than there are stars in the night sky.
Enjoying a few deep and cleansing breaths into your brain.
Flooding it with fresh oxygen.
Here in this moment,
Feeling grateful for your brain's capacity for neuroplasticity.
For its ability to change and grow.
Noticing how your body feels after being flooded with gratitude.
Offering your body some gentle movement.
Opening your eyes when you're ready.
May you move through today with a renewed sense of appreciation for your body.
See you tomorrow for day three of this 10-day meditation challenge.
