My earliest memory of learning the basics of meditation was in a therapist's office when I was a child.
My parents had recently divorced,
And due to the heartbreak and stress of that event,
I had begun to develop chronic stomach aches.
Sometimes the pain was so bad,
I convinced myself that I had some terrible disease and was probably going to die.
Talk about a vicious cycle of fear and stress.
Fortunately,
My therapist explained to me that it was the anxiety I was feeling which was causing my stomach to be upset all the time,
And he shared with me a meditation technique that ultimately brought me a lot of relief.
The meditation I'm going to share with you today takes the basic principles of that simple body scan meditation and adds a layer of visualization and breath work to expand the overall effectiveness of the session.
And I trust it will serve to bring a deep sense of calm,
Relaxation,
Connectedness,
And groundedness to your body.
So before we begin,
Take a moment to prepare your body and your space.
Shake out any wiggles that may need to be released.
Maybe take a few exaggerated inhales and exhales,
And then bring yourself to stillness in a position that allows you to relax fully and to feel your body fully.
Lying down is probably best,
But if you must sit,
Just make sure you're sitting comfortably in a position you can sustain for the duration of our time together,
Maybe in a comfortable chair or on a cushion.
When you're all settled,
Go ahead and allow your eyes to close gently.
So let's begin by taking four deep and gentle breaths together,
In through the nose and out through the mouth.
There's no need to force anything here.
Just allow your breath to guide your body into a progressively deeper state of relaxation.
Let's breathe in through the nose,
Allowing your belly to fill up,
Then your chest.
Pause for a moment at the top,
Then exhale through your mouth,
Allowing all the air to pass out of your body.
Pause for a moment at the bottom,
Then allow the breath to return through the nose,
Filling the belly,
Then the chest,
Pausing at the top,
Then exhale again through the mouth,
Allowing all the air to leave your body,
Feeling a deeper sense of relaxation with each exhale.
Now once more in through the nose,
Filling the belly first,
Then the chest,
Pausing for a moment at the top,
Then exhaling again through the mouth until all the air has left your lungs and your belly.
And pausing one more time at the bottom,
Then allowing the breath to gently return to the nose.
It slowly and intentionally fills up the belly.
It slowly and intentionally fills up the lungs,
All the way to capacity.
Invite a brief pause at the very top of the breath before releasing,
Gently out through the mouth,
Emptying the lungs,
Then the belly.
And when you find yourself completely empty,
Just allow yourself to pause for a moment and feel the emptiness,
The spaciousness in your body before welcoming the breath back in a natural and normal depth and rhythm.
Good.
Now in this relaxed state,
I invite you to envision in your mind's eye a beautiful beam of light extending from an opening in the crown of your head.
A beautiful beam of sparkling white light extending upwards and illuminating a golden bag of sand that glistens as the light from your crown hits it.
As you look up at this golden bag,
You notice that the bottom of it is tied with a single thread of red silk.
And now imagine yourself extending your hand up to this thread,
Taking it in your fingers and pulling on it until it unravels,
Falls away from the bag and releases a single stream of crystalline sand that cascades into the light from your crown and is channeled down into the central channel of your spine,
Down through your torso,
And begins to collect in your toes and in your feet.
Allow yourself to feel the warmth and the weight of the sand as it passes through your torso and begins to fill the empty space in your body.
Feel how the weight softly begins to anchor your body down towards the center of the earth.
Notice your breath and how each inhalation and gentle exhalation invites more of the sand down into your central channel and down into your body.
Now filling up your lower legs,
Your calves,
Your knees,
And into your upper legs and your thighs.
Allow yourself to notice and to really feel the warmth,
The weight,
The grounding energy of the sand in your body.
See if you can feel it settling into every nook of open space in your body.
And now feel the sand as it begins to fill up the root area of your body,
Past the perineum and the glutes,
Just activating a deep sense of security,
Safety,
A sense of depth and calm building at the root of your spine and down into your legs and into the earth.
Now the sand begins to fill up the sacral area of your body,
Your lower abdomen,
The center of sensuality,
Sexuality,
And pleasure.
Notice how it begins to bring your creativity online and notice how the warmth and the weight softens and regulates your emotions.
Breathe into that and allow yourself to relax even deeper.
As the sand continues to slowly fill up your body,
It reaches the area of your solar plexus,
Your upper abdomen,
Your stomach,
Your liver,
And into this area it brings energy and activation to your inner sense of self-esteem,
Of power,
Of agency,
Inviting you to explore your relationship to self-trust and how you can deepen that relationship.
What do you need to release and clear to allow a deep sense of self-trust to anchor into your body?
Don't think about it,
Feel it.
How does it feel to make space for deep self-trust to build in your body?
Feel how much you can hold.
The sand continues to bring its warmth and its weight into your body and now into the area of your heart,
Your chest,
And your lungs.
Just inviting you to offer yourself compassion,
Love,
And appreciation for taking time to care for yourself.
Inviting you,
If you feel open to this,
To radiate out kindness and peace and love to others in your family,
In your community,
And to the world.
As the crystalline sand reaches the top of your chest,
Just above your heart,
It begins to enter the throat area,
The neck,
Esophagus,
And here it invites you to reflect on your connection to your truth,
To your comfort with expressing that truth,
To the language of your heart and your soul.
Feel the warmth and the weight of the sand adding to the integrity and impeccability of your word.
As the sand slowly reaches the top of your throat,
It begins to enter into your head.
Feel the weight of it relaxing your jaw,
The muscles in your face,
And as it reaches your third eye,
That point right in the center of your forehead,
It begins to bring activation to your unique sense of intuition,
To the vision you hold for your life and your ability to bring that vision into reality.
As you have built a sense of security and safety,
You've settled your emotions and regulated your nervous system.
You've built a sense of self-trust and agency.
You've offered a deep sense of compassion and love and acceptance to yourself and to the world.
You've connected to your truth and the language of your heart's deepest desires.
Feel the alignment and ease with which you can bring your unique vision to life.
Now just notice,
As the sand begins to reach the crown of your head,
That there's an invitation here to just reflect on your connection to the divine,
To the divine within you,
And to the divine in others and the world,
Inviting you to feel the qualities of this connection and interdependence with all things,
And how that connectedness catalyzes and brings clarity to your soul's purpose in this life.
And as the final crystals of sand drop out of the bag and into the crown of your head,
Just feel the weight and warmth of the golden sand in your body,
And how deeply held you are by Mother Earth,
How safe you are,
How whole and how complete you are,
How perfect you are.
Allow yourself to take a deep breath into that feeling.
Allow the feeling to anchor into every part of your body,
Every bit of the space that the golden sand occupies.
In your mind's eye,
Just imagine the opening in your crown slowly closing,
Bringing that light back within and shining into every part of your body.
Now I invite you to take one more deep breath in through the nose,
Filling the belly,
Then in the chest,
And holding at the top for a count of 5,
4,
3,
2,
And 1,
Exhaling fully through the mouth,
Releasing all thoughts,
All expectations,
All agreements that do not align with your soul's purest and highest purpose in the world.
Feeling whole and completely held,
Begin to bring some subtle movements into your toes and into your fingers,
And finally,
Just allow your eyes to float open,
And from this place,
Just take one more moment to offer yourself gratitude and a deep appreciation for allowing yourself this special time.
And from me,
Thank you for allowing me to guide you through this meditation that has been so helpful and so supportive throughout my life.
Until next time,
Be good to yourselves and be good to others.
