Hello,
And welcome to another single dose meditation from The Living Point.
I'm Connor Logan,
Doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine,
Accompanied by composer Trevor Wayne Howard.
Start to breathe a little easier.
Any of the fluster or hubbub of the last few minutes is behind us,
And now we can simply relax.
Breathe in nice and easily without raising your shoulders,
And in fact,
For the next few exhalations in your breathing,
Concentrate on letting your shoulders sit lower each time.
Let the sides of your neck that lead from your ears down to your shoulders to soften.
Let any tension around your collarbones fall down as you breathe in deep into your belly.
Each breath lets your lower rib cage expand more easily,
More calmly,
And each breath out lets your wrists and elbows fall away from your shoulders as your shoulders in turn fall away from your ears.
On the next breath out,
Think about your chest and your breathing,
That to this point you've done a great job of resetting,
But now even allow it to feel a bit more comfortable.
You're now fully away from any change of pace that was necessary.
And the next few breaths in,
Focus on letting your scalp relax.
Let your forehead do maybe for what's common for most of us,
The opposite of what it tends to do,
Which is furrow and move up towards our hairline.
On the next exhale,
Let your eyebrows soften and pull your forehead down with it.
Let the bridge of your nose relax,
The areas under your eyes,
Your cheeks,
Your chin.
And on your next breath in,
Concentrate on preparing to let your next breath out move down your chest,
Letting your rib cage sit low.
Let your lower back start to feel a little more soft as we start to get the idea of cascading our relaxation down our bodies.
Allow each breath you continue to take to relax you even more.
And allow each sound you hear to relax you even more.
And allow every moment of time that passes to relax you even more.
Breathe in deep down into your abdomen as you visualize a profound breath and breathe out visualizing it moving down past your hips.
A lot of times many of us will feel that our upper bodies and lower bodies feel like two different halves,
Especially those of us that spend a lot of time sitting.
And let's take a few breaths here to connect those two areas.
Some of these visualizations will seem a little odd but give them a shot.
Breathe in to your lower abdomen and breathe out thinking about the big muscles of your upper legs your quads and hamstrings.
Breathe into your rib cage and breathe out thinking of your knees.
Breathe into your forearms and hands and breathe out thinking of your shins and ankles.
Breathe into your hands and fingers and breathe out to your feet and toes.
And we're gonna do one more little visualization here.
This will take a few minutes and don't worry I'll have you back ready in time for the top of the hour.
So take a moment here and breathe in and let any last little thoughts out.
And on your next breath in I want you to think of standing in the middle of a pool.
Your feet firmly on the ground,
The water your favorite temperature and the water comes up to just above your shoulders comfortable.
Your whole body's covered you can breathe easy and the water is perfectly still.
You may have gotten into the water a few minutes ago,
Moved to the middle and then simply stood still.
And if you've ever done this before you may notice that in standing still and right now you're sitting very still.
You might notice that in time the water just next to your skin starts to feel like an extension of your body heat,
Like a little film of your influence to the water around you.
And you may start to notice that as you're sitting or standing or lying down now as the influence that you have on the air right next to your skin.
Breathe in and out as you specifically begin to focus on the hairs of your skin,
Your fingernails,
Your eyebrows,
The hair on your head,
The hairs on the back of your neck,
The tips of your elbows and your kneecaps.
If you're visualizing the water you really start to notice how you are evenly dispersing your heat into the water around you and complimentarily heating the air around you wherever you are right now.
In Chinese medicine there's an idea of Wei Qi which is one of the fundamental vital energies in the body.
It's our protective layer.
It can be translated to our immunity,
Our ability to stay strong,
To stay vibrant and healthy with our ability to ward off influence and our ability to influence the area around us.
Continue to allow every breath you take to make you feel refreshed and fulfilled.
Every sound you hear to deepen your focus on the thin layer around you.
Every moment of time to allow you to engage at this level and with this profoundly important layer of influence.
What color does this layer look like to you?
Whatever color you initially perceive this as allow it to be that color.
With each breath in and out I would like you to try to strengthen the saturation of this color.
Almost like taking sunglasses off in a bright day or going from inside to outside.
Instead of the glare and brightness being something to work against this is something you are fostering.
With each breath in bring in light and with each breath out push it into this layer.
If you're holding on to the water imagery allow the water to warm with the color.
If you're pushing into the air and skin and the hair imagery allow it to give you more focus and heat into it.
Let's take a couple more good clear deep breaths as we solidify what this feels like.
Appreciate how good it feels to focus on a specific part of your influence and how good it feels to know you have the ability to augment it,
Make it more profound and focused.
How might you take that skill into other parts of your day?
How might it allow you to focus in other areas now that you know that you can do this?
Now a really fun part.
How does it feel to wiggle your fingers and toes as you start to become more aware of the area around you?
Just move your elbows slightly.
Just move your head around on your neck slowly.
Become aware of the room around you.
Breathe more normally.
Start to bring back any thoughts you needed from the day and remember the color that you chose.
The color has significance.
Open your eyes and welcome to the rest of your day.
Smile and say hello to those that you meet.
Look forward when you are walking.
Remember to take time to experience life or the outdoors or your environment without sound or distraction even if just for a few moments.
Make sure you notice sounds of nature around you and enjoy the feelings of that this film of positive influence has on your day.
You
