Start Your Morning With Intention

This practice is designed to support you to come out of your sleep and be here as you arrive in your morning. With a practical approach using the ABC of Feelings First Aid which stands for Awareness - Breath & Body - Choice, Thor holds the space of moving through stress to a state of choice and helpful next steps. Thor’s First Aid for Feelings ABC (Awareness - Breath & Body - Choice) is informed by Professor Linden’s research of the brain and Thich Nhat Hanh's practice of looking deeply.

Transcript

Good morning.

Give yourself a moment to arrive in this meditation,

Taking your time to just shuffle your body and yourself into a posture and a state that feels most comfortable for you at this point.

Whether you're still in bed or whether you've got up,

This is your opportunity and your gift to yourself to arrive in your day before you set off into your day.

Give yourself a moment to just adjust or shuffle or tweak how you are sitting in your body and then taking a moment to just land here.

Giving yourself a breath to arrive from your sleep,

From your waking up experience and into this place here,

This space in between the night and the day.

You have given yourself this space and this time to be here and to invest in your own experience,

To invest in how you set off into your day.

It is likely that during this meditation your mind will wander as it is likely that your feelings will ebb and flow.

That's okay.

This is the intrinsic and inherent nature of your experience.

Go gently with yourself during this meditation and remember you can listen to it as often as is helpful to you.

So in your own time gently soften the focus of your eyes or close your eyes.

Whatever feels most helpful to you at this point as you open up to today's meditation.

My invitation to you is to get curious about how here feels.

How does it feel to come out of your sleep,

To come out of your night and arrive into your morning?

What are some of the physical sensations you're experiencing?

Some of the emotions,

Thoughts?

Bring your awareness to the quality of the sleep that you've had.

Did it feel deep and restorative?

Did it feel agitated or broken?

Did you feel like there was a lot of dreaming going on?

What are you bringing with you from your night into here?

Here's what it feels like to get curious about those different aspects of your experience.

And maybe check in with yourself whether it feels alright to get curious about what that tells you.

What's the information?

And as you prepare to put down your night's sleep,

Just notice if there's anything from here that you want to take with you into your day.

Giving yourself a moment to just absorb and observe the different feelings you're experiencing.

You might want to name them,

Rate them in terms of intensity,

Like 1 out of 10 or 10 out of 10,

So hardly registering at all to full intensity.

And also maybe noticing what the absence of this might feel like.

If you didn't have the feelings that you're experiencing at this point,

Apart from possibly the relief of not feeling it,

What information would you be missing out on?

With that awareness,

Bring your awareness or your focus to your breath.

Just noticing where your breath is landing,

Not necessarily bringing it in particularly deep.

Just allowing it to land where it feels comfortable.

Maybe shuffling your shoulders,

Just noticing how you can ease your posture,

Respond to the physical sickness you're getting from your body.

For those of you experiencing pain or heightened physical sensations that are uncomfortable,

Just stay with it as much as is okay and feel safe for you.

May want to experiment with just adjusting where you place your chin.

You might want to bring it down a little bit or bring it up a little bit or maybe even bring it level,

Which is often the best way for kind of easing the breath.

And then we'll just do a couple of five to seven breaths.

This means that we breathe in to the count of five and then we breathe out to the count of seven.

So in your own time,

When you're ready,

Breathing in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

And breathing out two,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven.

You may struggle with those last six and sevens,

That's completely understandable.

Just adjust the numbering and the counting to what feels most helpful to you.

So we'll do this a couple of more times,

Breathing in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Breathing out two,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

And then just softening your breath in between.

And then for the third and final time,

Breathing in,

Two,

Three,

Five,

Breathing out two,

Five,

Six,

And seven.

This type of breathing,

As many other breathing techniques,

Are geared towards shifting your body's chemistry,

And in that respect,

Just easing your body,

Giving you more access to the different aspects of your brain and your experience.

So any shuffles or tweaks that are helpful at this point.

And then bring your focus forward to the day ahead.

Notice any thoughts,

Emotions,

Physical sensations that you have or that arise as you imagine going into your day.

Notice any particular high intensity points that come to your attention.

And notice what might be helpful for you to bear in mind as you imagine arriving in those experiences or as you notice what needs you may have that need looking after at this point.

Give yourself a moment to observe and absorb what you are learning.

Notice the sensations you're experiencing and the emotions and thoughts that you're having.

As you live your breath,

Expand your awareness throughout your body,

Feeling the sensations from the top of your head all the way down through your entire body to the soles of your feet and the tips of your toes.

Noticing whatever details your awareness is bringing to your attention.

Give yourself thanks and thank the feelings that have come up during this meditation.

Without you investing your time and focus in getting curious,

You would not learn why these feelings are showing up and what valuable information they contain about what is helpful to you and important to you at this point.

It needs both you and your feelings to take your experience forward.

And in your own time,

Expand your awareness beyond yourself and your body,

The space around you and the sounds that you can hear.

And when you're ready,

Gently open your eyes,

Arriving in the rest of your day,

Giving yourself a moment to just jot down and make a note of helpful information,

Clues and tips about how you can move into the rest of your day in a way that is helpful and constructive to you.

And remember,

It is more helpful to be curious than critical.

Reviews

I found this looking for a morning meditation and am glad I did .Today I will try to be curious instead of critical . And breathe. Thank you Thor ! 🙏🏻

Thor’s guidance always helps me feel curious and aware, full of self-compassion and kindness.

A great way to start the day. Thor has a lovely soothing voice and their words are so helpful for grounding and setting oneself up to go forward into your experience.

Thank you so much for this meditation . Very effective!❤️🙏

A gentle transition with a beautiful reminder to conduct your day with curiosity rather than criticism. Thank you. ❤️

Thanks! What aovely way to start the day with awareness and curiosity.

Sets me up to start the day with calm and curiosity. Lovely meditation. 🙏🏻🌻

Gentle, thoughtful, and insightful - I feel like I'm starting my day from a calmer and more lovingly inquisitive place. Thank you for that. I am grateful for the gift of your kind wisdom.

I enjoyed this but I think I may still have been too sleepy! 😅 I think I will try it again on another day..
Thor has a lovely voice. I will try another of their practices soon..☺️🙏🏽💞🌈😳

Thank you for this Thor; the first time I have done one of your morning meditations, with yourlovely calming voice and pertinentwirds. I think the image, though, could be of yourself; of your own beautiful face, as it is YOU I relate to rather than the stranger in the current photo. ❤ x

I'm definitely bookmarking this one. What a grounding experience 🙏

Perfect way to wakeup.

Thank you🧘🏼‍♂️🌷💕

Peaceful and helpful meditation for starting the day. Lovely! 🙏

Great way to start my day with good breathing and positive ways of seeing my day. Thank you 🙏🏽

Nice way to wake & come into the day. 🌸

Calm, focused, positive.

Perfect start to the day. Thank you!

Great voice smooth very receptive slow that goes deep into my soul Nemaste

Thank you for reminding me of my open invitation to curiosity. I will take that awareness with me into my day 🙏