Heart Opening Meditation: Generate Gratitude & Hope

My name is Jenny and today I'm going to be guiding you through a heart opening meditation.

This is a perfect practice if you're feeling a little heavy,

You want to invite a little light in or if you just want to take a moment to give,

Receive and feel a little love.

I invite you to find a comfortable seated position and I thank you so much for being here,

Taking the time out and for sharing practice with me.

So let's begin just by arriving into your space,

Allow your seat bones to soften into the ground underneath you,

Let yourself be held.

Let your shoulders soften,

The face soften,

The skin get a little softer,

Allowing a little lift,

A little space in the spine and take a big full deep breath in,

Belly,

Ribs,

Chest and let it go with a sigh.

Same again,

Breathe in,

Fill the body with breath and sigh out,

Arrive,

Let go and earth.

Returning back to your regular pattern of breath,

Really being with your breath,

Start to tune into your chest space,

Maybe you place a hand on it,

Maybe you're just letting your mind focus in on the chest,

But really notice as we start,

How is the chest,

The heart,

That space in the body feeling,

Is there tension,

Is there openness,

Is it light,

Is it heavy,

If it were a colour,

What would that colour be,

Whatever resonates with you,

Feel into that space,

Not judging or trying to look for a specific answer,

But curiously feeling into exactly what's there,

Right here,

Right now and I invite you to begin to connect your breath to your heart space,

As you inhale,

Still keep the breath coming to the belly,

But allow it to fill the heart and allow it to expand the chest,

The heart and as you exhale,

Maybe it's a softness,

Maybe it's a letting go or coming home around the chest space and keep going,

Every single inhale,

Allow the heart,

The chest,

That space to expand,

To open and each exhale,

Anything that's held or hard or tense,

Allow it to soften,

Even if it's just a millimetre,

Perfect,

Fully,

As much as you can,

Connecting your inhale and your exhale to your heart and feeling into the possibilities of that connection,

Then I invite you to visualise or feel,

Whatever works for you,

A small light in the centre of your chest,

Your heart space,

Take a moment to really land that,

If it helps to touch the chest,

Go for that or lightly tap it,

Feel that small dot as deep as you can,

Deep as you can,

Could be colour green,

Could be colour gold,

Whatever works best for you and feel that light deep in the centre,

The core of the chest and begin to connect your breath and that light,

With each inhale,

Let the light expand a little and with your exhale,

Let it soften and again,

Melt any hardness and with each cycle of breath,

That light gets bigger,

Breathing in,

Feel it expand,

Feel it move into new spaces in the chest and as you breathe out,

Feel it melt to something new,

No matter how small,

No matter how big each inhale,

The light gets bigger each inhale,

The light gets bigger each exhale,

Softness now keep with that pattern if you lose it,

Don't stress,

Don't worry,

Take a moment and come back to it but my invitation is,

As you breathe,

Allowing the light to get bigger,

So it's expanding,

Not just to the heart but across the whole chest as you breathe in,

Opening and creating space and letting light coming into all the cracks and crevices and each exhale,

It's maybe a softening of the shoulders,

Or tension,

Or hardness,

Or fear and keep it expanding,

So from that tiny dot in the centre,

It's not just the chest,

It's not just the heart,

But it's through the limbs light emanating from the centre of your chest,

Through your arms,

Out your face,

Through your nose through your fingertips,

Through your legs,

Through your back,

Your neck and with each exhale,

Perhaps the whole body gives permission to let go a little further that little layer of resistance,

Of armour,

Of guard that we can carry round as that light shines through it,

As it makes space perhaps allow it to melt and as you breathe out,

Every exhale an invitation to let it go a little further into the floor and as you sit,

And you let that light shine as far out as you can,

Starting at the heart and expanding wider than your body and your space I invite you to bring into your mind someone that when you think of them,

Brings you light,

Brings you gratitude,

Brings a smile to your face,

Some joy to your heart,

Or just that feeling of thank you I am so grateful for you being in my life allow them to be there and take a moment,

Sitting with this person and as you breathe,

Feeling the feelings that come,

As you invite this person into your mind the feelings of love,

The feelings of gratitude,

The feelings of thank you for being in my life,

No matter how small or big a part they were thank them for the light that they gave you do you want to send them some light,

Send them a little,

Send them a lot and then over the next few breaths,

Keep with this process but don't let it just be one person,

Maybe bring in another,

Take a moment with them,

Feel the feelings,

Send the gratitude and another,

And another,

No matter how small a part they've played,

How big a part,

Take the moment to be with them,

To thank them and to feel the light that comes in from the beauty of human connection and then perhaps,

Take a little moment to invite a little gratitude in for other things that have brought you light today the sun outside,

The bed you woke up in,

The body that you're sitting here in allow yourself to bring in as many things as you can,

Small,

Big what do you have today to be grateful for?

And don't just think it,

Take the time to feel each thing in the body and it's okay if some days that feeling is harder to access than others,

Just keep trusting and keep sitting with the feeling,

No matter how small or no matter how big and bold and expansive and then finally,

I invite you to take a moment to turn your attention in on yourself,

And again you might place a hand on the body or just allow your focus to turn inwards and i invite you,

Over the next few breaths,

To send as much light and love into yourself now this can feel uncomfortable for some of us,

It's quite easy to send love to other people,

But to send it to ourself,

Sometimes that's not quite as easy it might just be through visualising,

Sending light into the body,

Into the heart and feeling it,

Giving yourself that light it might be through words or affirmation,

Thank you for showing up,

I love that you're kind,

I love that you care,

I love that you try even when you fail i forgive you,

Whatever aligns,

Send it,

Feel it,

You are loved,

I am sending you love,

I am sending you love from my living room here with my dog in london let yourself be loved notice if there's anyone you would like to send a little love out to today,

That could be in the form of a prayer,

If that works for you,

It could just be thinking of somebody and then before we get up and move on with our day,

I invite you to set intention,

When you stand up off this mat and you carry on how would you like to move into the world,

What intentions can you set that would allow you to be the most loving you can to yourself,

Others around you and the world around you perhaps allowing a moment to feel and to intentions from the mind but also from the heart how would your heart like to move into today believe that you can,

Believe that it's possible,

Plant that seed,

That little sankalpa,

I believe that you can and together,

Let's take a big deep breath in,

Sealing off practice,

And let it go with a sigh i thank you so much for taking the time out to be here with me today i always love hearing whereabouts in the world you're practicing with me from,

I love hearing how you find meditations and if you would like to explore a little more of what i offer,

You can find me on instagram at movementwithjenny or you can find me at breathbodysoul.

Co.

Uk it is an honour to get to share practice with you,

And i wish you a beautiful rest of your day,

Thank you