Greetings.
Thank you for joining me in this practice.
My name is Vanessa.
I'm a certified 200-hour mindfulness meditation teacher.
I completed my training with the lab of meditation,
Specializing in trauma-informed offerings and social justice.
In this practice,
We will be reminded of our humanity and how it is threaded together,
Inviting us to make our individual practice a collective one.
This practice will start by finding our meditation posture,
Inviting ourselves to arrive in the present moment.
We will then enter a relaxation state,
And then we will engage in our mindfulness meditation,
Concluding in a gratitude practice.
To begin,
I invite you to find your comfortable meditation posture.
Be welcome to join this practice lying down on your back,
Legs and arms extended,
Arms by the side,
Palms facing up towards the skies.
You may also join us on the edge of a chair or a bed with those feet flat on the floor,
Shoulders nice down and back and relaxed,
Offering a slight tilt in the chin,
And we'll keep those hands at the knees or in the lap,
Palms facing upwards.
Lastly,
Be welcome to join us on a meditation cushion or maybe a mat in lotus position or cross-legged.
Again,
Those shoulders relaxed,
A slight tilt in the chin,
And those hands at the lap or in the knees,
Palms facing up towards the skies and receiving position.
We'll begin by just arriving here in the present moment,
Becoming aware of the breath,
Noticing its patterns,
Noticing its movements,
No judgments or pressure or expectations,
But how the breath should look,
Sound,
Or feel.
We're just noticing,
Just allowing.
And as we allow the breath to simply be,
Maybe we'll invite the gaze to gently wander around our room here,
Around our surroundings,
Signaling to the brain that this is a safe space for us to let go.
And maybe allowing our eyes to rest on something that might inspire us,
Bring us a sense of joy or ease,
Even maybe that's a painting on the wall,
Maybe it's a plant or a decorative item on the table,
Maybe it's something out your window.
Just honor it,
Admire it.
And we'll inhale that inspiration,
That joy,
And a gentle exhale.
And we'll bring the gaze now to a point directly in front of us at eye level,
Maybe somewhere off in the distance.
We'll inhale that inspiration again,
And on that exhale,
Inviting the eyelids to close,
Tuning into our inner world.
Once again,
Coming a little closer with the breath here,
Taking an inhale into the heart space,
Pausing at the top,
Noticing maybe some expansion in the upper back,
And exhaling right till the end of that out breath.
And again,
Taking another deep inhale,
This time into the lungs,
Maybe feeling that expansion in the mid-back,
Pausing here at the top,
And exhaling.
And one more time,
This time,
Deep inhale into the belly,
Pausing at the top,
Feeling that expansion in the ribcage,
And exhaling.
Ah,
And that exhale to go right till the end,
Maybe a little longer than that inhale,
Maybe even noticing the heart rate,
And maybe even noticing that as one slows,
The other slows,
And the mind follows.
And inviting ourselves to really deepen that connection with the breath,
Maybe hearing it in the ears,
Maybe feeling it move through the body.
Inhale,
We'll bring our awareness to the top of the head,
To the crown,
Noticing any sensations,
Pulsations here,
And noticing if maybe there are none.
This is completely fine,
We're just being aware,
No judgments or expectations,
Simply being,
Simply noticing.
And we'll bring our awareness to the forehead,
Softening any wrinkles here,
Cheekbones,
Unlocking the jaw,
Softening the lips,
Even inviting the tongue to rest on the floor of the mouth.
Relaxing the chin,
Once again,
Offering that slight tilt to keep the neck and spine in alignment,
Relaxing the neck and shoulders,
Releasing any tension in that upper back,
Wrapping around into the chest,
Releasing any tension in the trunk,
The thighs and the hamstrings,
The knees and joints,
And the shins and calves,
And moving into the ankles and feet and toes.
I'm pausing here,
Noticing the spaciousness within,
Acknowledging that the spaciousness is always here,
Always inviting us back to the present moment,
Underneath all of the other things of the human experience,
The spaciousness is always here.
And again,
Breathing into that heart space,
Breathing into our humanity here,
And exhaling,
Noticing again on that next inhale,
How the breath connects us to our humanity,
And on that exhale,
Noticing that this breath,
That this humanity is connected to the world around us,
To the world at large.
Inhaling this love,
Exhaling our love,
Inhaling this humanity,
Exhaling our humanity.
We'll bring our hands together in heart center and prayer position,
If comfortable for you,
Or you can rest a palm on the heart space and a second palm on top.
We'll offer a slight bow here in gratitude for this space,
For this practice,
For our threaded humanity,
And invite ourselves to take this with us as we move through the rest of the day.
Wiggling the fingers,
Wiggling the toes,
And inviting the eyelids to open when we're ready,
Coming back into this physical space.
Please take your time.
There's no rush.
You're welcome to make any reflections,
Noticing what may be present,
Any waves of intuition that may arise,
And even taking a moment to journal any thoughts.
Thank you very much for joining me in this practice.
I'm grateful to hold this space with you.
Namaste.
