Thank you for choosing to join me today.
I'll be guiding you through an overall relaxation meditation where we check in with our thoughts and body sensations and feeling tones from moment to moment.
So if you haven't already done so,
Find a comfortable position,
Ideally sitting upright so that you can lengthen your spine with a natural curve in your lower back.
Relax your shoulders so that your chest opens,
Your belly is soft,
And gently close your eyes.
Check in with your jaw to make sure that it's relaxed and ensure the back of your neck is in line with your spine.
Let your hands rest in your lap,
On your knees,
Or wherever feels most comfortable.
And try to embody an attitude of being alert,
But also relaxed and at ease.
Let's begin by taking three mindful breaths to allow our minds to settle in a little bit more.
Breathe in deeply,
And then exhale,
Letting everything go.
One more big deep breath in,
And exhale slowly.
And one final big deep breath in,
And exhale,
Feeling your body relax a little bit more.
Now let's take a few moments to reflect on what we intend to do during meditation today.
I find it helpful sometimes to set an intention for the practice.
It could be that you want to be more present,
To notice when your mind wanders,
And to gently bring yourself back to the present in a kind way.
If you feel sleepy,
The intention could be to try and stay alert,
Or if you often beat yourself up when you notice your mind has wandered,
Your intention could be to just be kind to yourself when you become distracted.
This is all part of the practice.
Now take a moment to reflect on your motivation for this meditation.
You can think of the intention as the why you are meditating today,
And the motivation as the how.
And you can ask yourself the question,
What do I need right now in this moment?
Or how can I care for myself in this moment?
Once you have set your intention and motivation,
Focus again on settling your mind.
Observe what is happening in your mind while it's happening with an attitude of acceptance for whatever arises.
And then connect with your intention and motivation,
Why you as an individual want to do this.
Begin to breathe slightly deeper than normal to connect with your breath.
And if it helps,
You can count as you breathe.
You could choose to breathe in and count to three,
And then breathe out and count to three.
If thoughts arise,
That is okay.
It's all part of the practice and perfectly normal.
Just notice the thought and then return to your breathing and counting without becoming entangled with the thought or the feeling or the emotion that keeps trying to get your attention.
Now focus a little more on the out breath and notice how your body relaxes as you breathe out and see if your mind can learn from your body.
The body releases breath and relaxes.
The mind releases involvement with thinking and begins to settle.
Your body is always in the present moment and can be a helpful guide during your meditation practice.
Now let your breathing fall back to its natural rhythm and bring your attention even more fully into your body.
Become aware of the contact and pressure where your body rests and notice how the ground supports your body.
Simply open up and tune into all the many sensations in your body,
Allowing them to slowly reveal themselves.
You may become aware of feeling warm or cold or the touch of your clothing against your skin or perhaps you're feeling a slight pain somewhere and can you bring some gentleness to it.
Instead of getting wrapped up into why it hurts,
Just sit with it and see if it comes and goes.
You might notice a contraction in your stomach related to an emotion you are feeling.
Just let the awareness of sensations in your body hold you in the present moment.
Now become aware of your body as a whole,
Mind resting in the body,
Body resting on the ground and notice the space around you,
All around you,
And how the body exists in space and is surrounded by it.
Allow yourself to experience whatever comes to you through your senses.
You are simply with your experiences as they present themselves.
Sensations,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
And all the sounds around you.
When you notice your mind drifting away and becoming involved with thoughts or feelings,
Gently bring yourself back to experience the sensations in and around you.
Now place your attention lightly on the rhythm of your breathing and really tune into it.
Where do you notice it most in your body?
This could be the breath coming and going through your nostrils,
Your abdomen rising and falling,
The sensation of breath leaving your body,
Or the feeling of your whole body breathing.
It doesn't matter where you rest your attention.
What is important is that you have a light touch and that you're gentle with yourself,
Not shutting out your thoughts and emotions,
But allowing them to come and go just as your breath comes and goes.
Breathing in,
Be aware that you are breathing.
Breathing out,
Know that you are breathing out.
Your breath is like an anchor holding your attention in the present moment.
When you find your attention has drifted off into thinking,
Simply notice this and return to the breath again and again.
There's no sense of succeeding or failing,
Just noticing and returning.
Your mind will wander and that's okay.
Just acknowledge what it has and gently come back to your breath.
Now let's take a closer look to when our minds have wandered.
When a particular thought or memory just continues to rise again and again,
You might find yourself in a familiar spot from your past or a memory that keeps pushing into the forefront of your awareness.
And usually this thought pattern or memory has an emotion or feeling tied to it.
If you find this happening,
Try and sit with it and see where you feel that emotion register in your body.
There's no need to do anything.
Just sit with any thoughts,
Feelings or memories that arise and see what happens.
Notice how the thoughts arise on their own.
You didn't force that first thought into existence.
It happened on an unconscious level and arose all on its own.
That first thought before we identify with it,
Before we write the story around it,
Is spacious and free.
And can you also notice a feeling tone that you attach to that first thought or feeling like,
I like this thought.
I want to keep going with it or I don't like this feeling.
I want to get rid of it right now.
As we engage and identify with those first thoughts,
We become entangled in the story we create and we often give life to even more thoughts.
We are not our thoughts and feelings.
They do not define us,
But sometimes they feel like they are in the driver's seat.
What would happen if we left that first thought,
Feeling or emotion alone,
Just sat with it and allowed it to reveal what we need to learn from it and then watched it disappear.
See how when we engage with that first thought,
We give life to even more thoughts.
And then often we start to throw judgment on top of all that as our mind wanders and add more layers of discomfort and suffering.
It's all okay.
It's all natural.
But becoming aware of what we are doing,
Where we are putting our attention is key to the practice.
The more we become aware of what is happening,
The more we can center and ground ourselves.
Try to stay in touch with how the engagement with a thought or emotion feels in a particular part of your body,
Just like the breath that can be an anchor for you.
You might notice a feeling of contraction or tightness in your chest or belly as an unsettling thought comes up.
Or maybe you notice a momentary feeling of spaciousness,
Of openness.
All of these experiences and thoughts and emotions register somewhere in your body.
Your mind may wander,
But your body is always in the present moment.
Much of our personal emotional history is held in our bodies.
The sensations we feel in our bodies can bring us back to the present moment,
But can also help teach us where we've been neglecting ourselves.
Trust that your body knows what to do.
So as we wrap up this meditation today,
I hope you can remember that whenever you are faced with a difficult situation,
An uncomfortable feeling,
Or just feeling overwhelmed,
Stressed,
Or anxious,
You can use the sensations in your body and your breath to ground yourself.
You can pause,
Take a few deep breaths,
Check in with your body,
And feel a little bit more centered.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
I hope to sit with you again soon.
Take care.
