Hope to Rise Above

This is a guided body scan visualization that begins with a unique focus on breathing and setting an intention, releasing any tension held in the body, mind, and spirit, and uniting us in hope, light, and love.

Transcript

My name is Valerie and I would like to welcome you to this body scan guided visualization.

Beginning in a comfortable position,

Lying down on our backs,

Let's focus on breathing and setting an intention.

A couple of options for an intention are I am strong.

I am calm and I am enough.

And if I choose the intention of I am strong,

I may say to myself,

I am strong enough to be here and I live my life with courage.

Therefore I am strong.

And if I choose the intention of I am calm,

I may say to myself,

My mind,

Body and spirit are one and I am calm.

And if I choose the intention of I am enough,

I may say to myself,

Now more than ever,

I realize that everything I need to overcome this and any other challenge I face in my life,

I have within me and I am enough.

Now let's focus on our breathing by beginning in breath awareness.

Before we begin,

I have an anonymous quote for you and it goes a little something like this,

You're becoming the student of your own breath and you will learn how resilient and accommodating your breath really is.

Moving together into breath awareness,

Let us begin by noticing where we are with our breath.

It is unnecessary to change anything with our breath in this breathing style.

So I invite you to simply notice where your breath is as you breathe in and simply notice where your breath is as you breathe out.

I like to call this style of breathing a zero judgment breathing style.

So I invite you to recognize the pace of your breath as you breathe in and recognize the speed of your breath as you breathe out.

Realizing that everyone has a different breathing pace,

I am now opening up the space for third breath and breath awareness,

Simply allowing our breath to be where it is as we breathe in and allowing our breath to be where it is as we breathe out.

The second style of breathing is called Ujjayi,

Victorious ocean or warrior breath and we are going to explore this kind of breathing style in two parts.

In the first stage,

We will be breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth to experience the sensation of the throat being open as we breathe.

We are also going to allow for ourselves to fully release anything that is not serving us as we exhale.

Beginning by breathing in through the nose deep and wide from the low belly to the ribs to the chest and all the way up through the neck to the crown of the head and then we will audibly sigh it on the exhale making a ha sound as we release the breath.

On our second time together,

Let's breathe in deep and wide from the low belly to the ribs to the chest all the way to the crown of the head and this time I invite you to create your own lion or lioness form of the breath on the exhale,

Releasing and relaxing as you let it all go.

A third time,

Let's open up a space for breathing together as a community,

Connecting through our collective energy as we breathe in deep and wide from the low belly to the ribs to the chest all the way to the crown or the top of the head and then I invite you to feel the openness in your throat as you exhale,

Releasing and relaxing as you surrender to your own breath.

Now we can move together to the second stage of this breathing style,

The more traditional way of breathing in Ujjayi breath as we breathe together in through the nose and out through the nose,

Feeling the sensation of the breath in the body as we do so.

So let's take a deep and calming breath together,

Breathing in through the nose still using our lateral or side breathing as we breathe in deep and wide from the low belly to the ribs to the chest all the way to the crown of the head and then breathing out through the nose,

Sensing a similar opening in the back of the throat as we move through this progressive style of breathing together as warriors.

Let's take a second breath together as we breathe in deep and wide from the low belly to the ribs to the chest all the way to the top of the head and then feel the Darth Vader sound in the back of the throat as you surrender to the breath,

Letting it all go.

The third time,

Let us breathe in together deep and wide from the low belly to the ribs to the chest all the way to the crown of the head and then releasing and relaxing on the exhale,

Letting go of any remaining tension in our internal environment.

We're going to move on to a style of breathing called breath retention,

Which we can use as a self-reset anytime we need to come back to our breath in this journey called life.

We can begin by starting together in the same way we did in our victorious breathing style,

Breathing in deep and wide from the low belly to the ribs to the chest all the way to the crown of the head,

Pausing anywhere from three to 10 seconds at the top of the breath,

Sipping in a little more air and then exhaling fully as we release and relax,

Letting it all go.

Let's take a second breath together,

Breathing in deep and wide from the low belly to the ribs to the chest to the crown of the head,

Pausing to your own natural breathing count,

Sipping in even more air at the top of the inhale,

Then releasing and relaxing as you let it all go on the exhale breath.

A third time,

Let us open our space in our bodies even more as we breathe in deep and wide from the low belly to the ribs to the chest all the way to the crown of the head,

Pausing at the top to your innate breathing pace,

Sipping in as much air as you can before releasing and relaxing,

Letting it all go on the exhale.

Now that we are nice and relaxed,

Let's move through a guided visualization together of a full body scan.

This type of guided visualization is also known in yoga as a yoga nidra,

So you can recognize it anytime you hear the style of body scan mentioned in any type of meditation technique you explore in the future.

Let's direct our attention to the back of the head and feel our head starting to get heavier as it sinks further into the firm foundation of the floor,

Bed,

Or yoga mat beneath us.

From here,

Let's move our attention to the back of our neck,

Feeling the neck muscles release any stored tension here as our necks get heavier and sink further into the firm foundation of the earth below.

Now let's move our attention to our shoulders,

Feeling our shoulders getting heavier as our shoulder blades soften and slide gently down our backs.

Now let's move our attention to our upper arms,

Feeling our upper arms getting heavier as they sink further in the firm foundation below us.

Now let's feel the sensation of our forearms or lower parts of our arms getting heavier as they sink further into the earth beneath us.

Now let's sense our palms opening as the backs of our hands get heavier and the backs of our hands sink further into the firm foundation of the earth beneath us.

Moving our attention once again to our shoulders,

Let's feel our shoulders getting even heavier as they sink closer into the firm foundation below us and allow ourselves to feel the sensation of our upper back,

Mid back,

And lower back getting heavier as our entire back sinks further into the firm foundation beneath us.

Now let's feel our hips getting heavier as our hips sink further into the firm foundation below us.

Now let's direct our attention to our upper legs as our upper legs get heavier,

And sink further into the firm foundation beneath us.

Now let's move our attention to our lower legs as our lower legs get heavier,

And sink further into the firm foundation below us.

Now let's direct our attention to our feet as our feet get heavier and sink further into the floor,

Allowing our feet to rest in a natural and comfortable position.

Now let's come to the center of our beings,

Our hearts,

And picture a bright light glowing intensely in the core of your being,

Enlightening and filling you up with light,

Love,

And goodness,

Creating a warm and protective sheath of clarity and intuition,

Soothing you as it wraps around your inner sanctum,

And giving yourself the reminder that your heart is pure and kind,

And since the love that you give yourself is the love that you receive,

You can know that you are loved.

Sending this light out to your circle of influence,

Your close loved ones,

Whoever fits the definition of family to you,

Whoever fills the role of close friends to you in your life.

Now see if you can take that light and send it out to your neighborhood.

Picture it lighting up a glow of warmth and love,

Seeing it light up each porch in unison,

And feeling your whole neighborhood coming into protection in a warm glow of light,

Love,

And all goodness.

Now see if you can send that light a little bit further and see the light going out to your community,

Everyone you know from a brief encounter to those soul-to-soul meetings,

And sending the warmth of this light from your soul to theirs,

From your heart to theirs,

And lighting up smiles on every face by simply sending out some of the purity that exists inside each and every one of us,

And then seeing if you can move this light and love from your community to your planet,

Sharing the light you have from the inside out,

Sending a warm and protective sheath around the entirety of the earth,

And then from the earth to the entire world.

Seeing this light extending now as it is,

Not only from your heart,

Soul,

And spirit,

But from your entire body as well,

Lit up from the light,

Love,

And goodness that each of us carries from our birthright,

And that we have the honor to pass on to our entire world,

Protecting and healing it and ourselves in the process.

Now I invite you to shower yourself with the light,

Love,

And goodness that you have just produced in your body scan visualization,

And I invite you to revisit this meditation again and again,

Anytime you would like to bring light upon yourself and upon your world.

Coming out of this meditation when you feel comfortable in doing so,

Listening to your deep knowing,

And trusting yourself to do what is in your best interest on an hour by hour,

Minute by minute,

And second by second basis,

You are always welcome to meditate with me,

And you are always welcome to create your own meditation in your daily life,

Trusting in the truth that comes from your own personal vision when you become still enough to listen to your inner and natural navigation system.

Thank you for practicing your meditation with me,

And with everyone else who is listening now,

And may the light within me see,

Honor,

And always love the light within each of you.

Namaste.