Hello and welcome to this gratitude for the body meditation.
You can go ahead and find a comfortable position.
Allowing your eyes to close if you'd like.
Consciously soften your face and forehead.
Relax the jaw,
The neck,
The shoulders.
Releasing any tension in the chest and abdomen.
Letting go of any tension in the shoulders,
Arms,
And hands.
Any tension in the back,
The legs,
All the way down to the feet.
Let it all fade away.
You won't need any tension here.
Now focus your awareness on the sensation of breathing.
The lungs pulling in air from the outside world.
Transferring oxygen from this air which is produced by trees and plants into your bloodstream.
In exchange carbon dioxide is removed from your body,
Given back to the earth.
This process began when you took your first breath at birth many years ago and will continue until your very last moment.
And while we can consciously control the breath,
The function of breathing happens effortlessly and naturally.
Requires no effort on our part.
We're just allowing the body to breathe itself here.
Considering that there are millions of people on earth at this very moment who would give nearly anything to breathe clean air without discomfort.
Let us be grateful for our lungs and the sensation of breathing which sustains our life from beginning to end.
Let us rest in this gratitude for a moment.
Bringing to mind now the sensation of touch.
Feel your hands resting on your legs or your lap or wherever they may be.
Perhaps feeling your buttocks on the seat,
Your feet on the floor.
Maybe feeling sensations in your face.
Is there a tingling,
A pressure,
A warmth or a coolness?
The nerve endings in these places and all over your body sending signals to your brain and spinal cord which produce the conscious experience of touch and sensation.
Another miracle of the human body.
These processes allowing us to feel the breeze on the air,
Sun on our skin.
To feel a hug from a friend,
A loved one or a child.
The kiss of a lover.
Resting now in our gratitude for the sense of touch.
Bringing to mind now our sense of hearing.
What can you hear in your immediate environment?
Perhaps it's the buzzing of an appliance,
The wind blowing through the trees or a bird singing outside.
Perhaps it's the sound of people or vehicle traffic.
Perhaps all you can hear is the sound of my voice.
All of this is made possible by invisible waves of sound entering the ear canal which then cause the eardrum to vibrate setting into motion small bones in the inner ear whose vibrations are received further in the ear by hair cells which turn the vibrations into electrical signals which are sent along nerve pathways to the brain.
This beautifully complex process allows us to hear the myriad sounds of the world.
Allows us to communicate with each other in thousands of human languages.
Not to mention the languages of all other creatures.
To hear our favorite songs.
To hear the voices of our friends,
Parents,
Children,
Lovers,
People we barely know,
People we haven't met yet.
Thinking of all the people on earth whose sense of hearing is damaged or absent.
Resting for a moment in gratitude for our ability to hear in this moment.
Now if your eyes have been closed please slowly open them.
Colours and shapes enter your visual field.
Light from the outside world enters your eye through the cornea.
The pupils adjust in response to the light.
The lens focusing the light onto the retinas.
The optic nerve transmitting this visual information to the brain which produces the images you see.
This complex network of processes happening all on its own.
The eye knows how to see all on its own.
Allowing us to see our favorite films.
See the faces of those most dear to us.
Beautiful works of art.
All the wonders of nature.
Our own reflection in a mirror.
All of this made possible by the miracle of sight.
Thinking of all the people whose ability to see has been compromised in some way.
Giving thanks for our ability to see to whatever extent that may be in this moment.
Resting in this gratitude for a while.
And with this gratitude in mind we thank the body for all that it has done for us and endured in the service of our lives.
Perhaps making a silent commitment to ourselves and our body to be a little kinder,
Gentler,
And more attentive to its needs.
To be more intimately aware of the things that it communicates to us in quiet ways and to heed and honor its messages.
Thank you body.
And thank you for taking time away from your day to take part in this meditation.
It is a great pleasure to be here with you and I am grateful for your presence and your body.
We'll see you next time.
Take care.
