Taking time to simply sit and be in the moment.
Sitting in an upright and comfortable position,
Gently settle into posture.
Inviting the eyes to be open and gently guiding the gaze forwards and downwards.
All allowing the eyes to be closed.
The intention of the practice is to pay gratitude to our friends and family.
How do you feel paying gratitude to your loved ones will benefit you?
Taking a moment to be with the breath.
Feeling the flow coming and going.
Breathing in through the nose and breathing out of the nose.
Using the moment by moment experience of breathing.
Deepening and lengthening the breath by counting into 4 or 5 on the in-breath or 4 or 5 on the out-breath.
Or saying the phrase,
I am breathing in gratitude.
I am breathing out gratitude.
And simply resting with the breath.
Allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm,
Letting go of counting or phrases and drawing attention to the body.
Feeling where the body meets with the environment.
So this may be the support of the cushion,
The chair.
Or maybe the support of the ground.
And feeling into the sensations of the body.
Gently drawing attention from the crown of the head.
All the way through the body and down to the feet.
Feeling the feet resting on the ground.
And resting with the breath.
Allowing a treasured friend,
Family member or pet to come to mind.
Imagine them sitting in front of you.
Breathing in a sense of love and warmth and gratitude.
And with each out-breath,
Expressing to your loved one the gratitudes you have for them.
You may say,
I am grateful for your presence.
Or I am grateful for your support.
I am grateful for your kindness.
Or maybe another expression of gratitude.
Taking time to feel into the sense of gratitude.
Really feeling it through the entire body.
So breathing in the gratitude.
Breathing out.
Feeling gratitude for this dear friend or family member.
Allowing the image or the felt sense of this friend,
Family member or pet to gently drift away.
And allowing another friend,
Family member or pet to come to mind.
Again imagining that they are sitting in front of you.
So breathing in love and warmth and gratitude.
Breathing out,
Expressing words of gratitude.
So it might be,
I am grateful for your strength.
I am grateful for your humour.
Maybe as simple as,
I am grateful for you being you.
Feeling into the sense of gratitude with the in-breath.
Feeling gratitude with the out-breath.
Then allowing this image or felt sense of your loved one to fade.
And bringing and inviting all the friends and family that you are grateful for in your life.
To this space.
To this moment and experience.
Breathing in love and warmth and gratitude.
Breathing out,
Allowing that love,
Warmth and gratitude to extend through the body and into the space around.
Surrounding and infusing all of your loved ones.
And noticing where in the body you may feel gratitude.
Maybe it's through the whole body or maybe a particular part.
Gently allowing the visualisation to fade.
Bringing attention back to the breath.
Feeling the air moving through the nose.
Into the body.
And flowing back out.
Drawing attention to the crown of the head.
All the way down to the feet.
Feeling into the soles of the feet where they rest on the ground.
And as the practice draws to a close.
Taking a moment to reflect on any lessons learnt during this meditation.
Taking a moment to express gratitude to yourself for taking time to cultivate gratitude for those in your life.
