Welcome to Scented Meditation.
My name is Marlou and I will be guiding you today through our Senses Awakening Meditation.
Today we are resting our awareness on our senses.
Tuning into your sensations is a great way to be present in the moment.
It's a great tool that is always available to you to ground yourself and calm your mind.
So if you haven't done already I invite you to close down your eyes and arrive here and now in this moment.
Taking a deep breath in and sigh out and completely allow yourself to arrive here in this space on your chair.
Let's start this meditation with a few minutes of breath work.
Starting by finding your belly breath.
Feeling your belly rising on your inhale and falling on your exhale.
Continuing to observe your belly rising and falling in this way or you may wish to start alternate nostril breathing where you will be using your right hand to cover your right nostril with your thumb and your left nostril with your middle and ring fingers whilst alternating your breathing between each nostril.
Whenever you are ready completely closing off your right nostril with your thumb and inhaling through your left nostril.
Now closing your left nostril with your middle and ring fingers and exhaling through your right.
Keeping your left closed,
Inhaling on your left,
Right and closing your right and exhaling through your left.
Inhaling,
Then switching sides and exhaling.
In your own time continuing the alternating flow of your breath in this way.
Exhaling through one nostril,
Inhaling through that same nostril and then switching sides.
And alternating your breath in this way helps to reduce blood pressure,
Calms the nervous system and it strengthens the lungs.
Feeling the steady rhythm of the breath flowing smoothly in and out of the body.
Breathing like this can feel a bit unnatural so don't worry if it takes a while before this feels comfortable for you.
Keeping in mind that the aim of the meditation is not to think of nothing,
The goal is simply to allow your mind to debug itself in the way it knows best.
And we do this by engaging in this simple effortless process of meditation which involves very gently resting your awareness on some anchor,
Allowing your mind to naturally roam away.
And then when you spontaneously realise your mind has indeed droned away,
Very gently returning your awareness back to your anchor without any judgement.
So thoughts are a very natural part of the process and you're not trying to fight them or resist them in any way.
And on your next exhale you may release control of your breath and allow your breath to return to its natural rhythm.
And you may bring your hands back to its natural position on your lap or next to your side.
Notice that as your mind starts to settle and your nervous system calms down,
You start to shift into a more awake and aware state of being where your senses light up.
And oftentimes we can notice things that we don't notice when we're living from our busy mind.
Imagine your five senses like petals on a flower slowly opening and becoming more aware.
We will start by your sense of hearing.
Start by listening to the sounds that are close to you.
It can be the music,
My voice,
Some noises in the room.
And bring your awareness even closer now and notice the sounds of your body.
You may notice your body making sounds in your stomach or notice what sounds it makes when you take a deep breath in.
And now listen to the sounds further away from you.
Sounds more in the distance.
The rustle of leaves,
Chirping and singing of the birds or the hum of a distant car.
Take all the sounds as they are and don't judge them.
Simply acknowledging it and gently returning back to listening to them.
Let's move to our sense of sight and be aware what you can behind your closed eyelids.
Maybe you see shadows moving,
Bright colors,
Dark colors.
And maybe you see nothing at all.
Whatever you experience is perfectly okay.
And now I invite you to imagine a beautiful scenery in front of you and letting the colors and shapes fill your mind.
And now rest your awareness on your sense of taste and notice which taste is lingering in your mouth.
Maybe you've just eaten a snack,
You can enjoy the aftertaste of it.
And now imagine the flavor of a sweet fruit or a savory meal and letting the taste linger in your mouth.
The beauty of being one with your senses that they only ever exist in the present moment.
So a sense scan is an excellent way to ground yourself in the here and now.
Let's now move to the sense of smell.
What do you smell in your environment?
Maybe you have some plants or flowers close to you,
You can smell the scent.
Or you have a diffuser running.
Now I invite you to imagine the scent of fresh flowers or the scent of a fresh apple pie coming out of the oven and letting the aroma fill your nose.
And our last scent that is left is a sense of touch.
Feel your sit bones on your chair.
Feel how your hands are resting on your lap or hanging next to your body.
And how your feet are touching the ground.
And notice your body temperature.
If you're feeling warm or slightly cold.
Just accepting whatever you are experiencing right now.
And now feel your senses all at once.
Feeling your five senses fully awaken.
Notice what's happening for you right now.
Once you become aware of all the sensations at once.
And I invite you now to rest your awareness on an anchor by choosing one of the senses.
And that can be one of the senses that you feel the most at the moment.
Like the sound of my voice or the sound of the music.
Or you like to rest your awareness on the feeling how your belly rises and falls with your breath.
Any sense is the right choice for you in this moment.
And if a mantra is part of your practice,
Feel free to use that.
And when you realize your awareness has shifted away from your senses and onto some thoughts or some sounds.
Remembering that this is a normal part of the meditation process.
So not letting it concern you.
Perhaps labelling them as thoughts.
And then gently guiding your awareness back to your sense of choice without any concern about it.
Every thought,
Emotion,
Physical sensation that comes up for you during this meditation is meant to happen.
There's no need to control these.
Simply noticing when you happen to realize you're no longer resting your awareness on your anchor.
Now very gently and slowly giving preference back to your sense of choice.
You are not your thoughts.
Your thoughts are passing through you.
You are not your emotions.
Your emotions too are passing through you.
You simply are that beautiful person inside of you.
And I invite you now to release your anchor and allow the effects of the meditation to slowly sink in while you rest for a few minutes.
Allowing your mind to wander wherever it wants to go.
I will take the time.
And whenever you're ready to leave this peaceful place you've created for yourself,
Gradually starting to deepen your breath.
Deepening your breath.
Becoming aware of your body once more.
Becoming aware of your surroundings.
Feeling your body on the chair,
Your feet on the ground.
Remaining with your eyes closed,
I invite you to bring gentle movements in the tips of your fingers and toes.
And gradually expanding these movements to the rest of your body.
Stretching and twisting if needed.
And then from this place,
Notice how you feel.
A little bit calm,
A tad more centered.
I invite you to set the intention to carry these feelings with you throughout the rest of your day.
And you can open your eyes whenever you're ready to do so.
My name is Marlou and thank you for meditating with me today.
