Hi,
And welcome to the Gratitude and Joy Practice.
As always with mindfulness practice,
To be sure to take care of yourself and making sure you're in a safe space,
Not operating any machinery or driving.
And as you're doing the practice,
Noticing if you feel anything uncomfortable or unpleasant that may bubble into your awareness and know that you're welcome to stop the practice at any time.
You may feel the need to move or itch and itch,
And that's okay.
There's no right or wrong with a mindfulness practice.
And during the practice,
Your mind may wander,
And this is okay too.
This is what our mind does.
And every time you notice your mind has wandered,
That really is the mindfulness of the mindful practice.
And if you can bring the focus back again to the practice,
Anytime you notice your mind has wandered and do this as many times as you need to,
Then this is what mindfulness is.
There may be some pauses to allow you to be curious in your experience and to notice any sensations or absence of any sensations.
It's really about noticing the all or the nothing and everything in between.
So now I invite you to take a moment to get yourself comfortable.
Maybe consider your posture for this practice of around about 15 minutes.
And a posture that signifies to yourself that you're getting ready to fall awake,
Not to fall asleep.
And it really allows you to feel intentional to this practice.
Maybe an upright and dignified posture.
But really the choice is yours.
Maybe you wish to stand.
Maybe you wish to lie down.
Or maybe you change your posture every time you listen to this audio.
And then when you're in your comfortable position,
Just coming to some stillness.
Maybe beginning to notice your breath.
Not trying to change your breath in any way,
But becoming aware of your natural breath.
Your natural breathing in its own natural rhythm.
Maybe sensing into where you feel your breath.
Maybe you notice your breath in your nose,
Tickling on your nostrils.
Maybe it's one particular nostril you notice.
Can you feel your chest rising and falling?
Maybe you notice you have to give permission to your belly to get involved in your breath.
Expanding as you breathe in and contracting as you breathe out.
Maybe you notice your whole body breathing itself.
Maybe sensations of an internal massage.
There is no right or wrong.
Whatever you notice with your breath is what you notice about your breath.
You don't have to force or strive to notice something.
Maybe you notice the larger movements.
Or maybe you're aware of those micro movements.
Those smaller movements.
Sensing into your breath with a sense of curiosity.
A sense of acceptance.
And now extending an invitation for you to notice how you feel right now in this moment.
Maybe how you are caring and keeping yourself safe and well.
A moment of sensing into what's here right now with no judgements.
Meeting yourself where you are and with what you feel in this moment.
In your body,
Heart and mind.
Can you consider what you're grateful for?
Or who you're grateful for?
Maybe there are many people or stories and memories that come to mind and that have happened to you at different periods of time.
Maybe the pleasant,
The unpleasant,
The neutral.
A reminder to practice to be kind to yourself as you focus in on what you're grateful for.
You do say in moments of gratitude that it's near impossible to be sad at the same time.
And allowing yourself some time and space as you sense in and feel gratitude.
And things may pop up that you need to forgive and let go and that's okay.
Maybe you need to extend words of gratitude to yourself.
Let's take a moment to sense in and settle in to the gratitude for elders.
For those that come before us.
The gratitude for those elders who maybe we never knew.
Maybe past traditions,
Information,
Skills,
Knowledge or even those things we're not even aware of within ourselves.
I know it's been said that you can look at different parts of your body and see your ancestors that have come before you.
So having that feeling of gratitude for what you know and what you don't know about your elders and ancestors.
Now moving from gratitude and shifting your attention to bring to mind times that you've experienced joy for yourself or sympathetic joy for another.
You may wish to place your hand on a part of the body that helps you connect with this joy.
Maybe your heart center or clasping your hands together.
And we never know what feelings may arise so always be sure to take care of yourself.
Sometimes as we draw on memories there may be a tendency to feel a little vulnerable.
And this is part of being human,
It's part of our common humanity.
Maybe you notice your heart trembling with joy.
Maybe it brings up emotions,
Remembering memories.
Sensing in to how it feels to feel joy or sympathetic joy for another.
Maybe you notice it in your body.
Maybe you're growing this feeling.
Again there's no right or wrong.
It's moments of curiosity and kindness and sensing in and wondering.
Noticing,
Becoming aware of what's present for you,
Moment by moment.
You may wish to consider all the ways that you could maybe cultivate gratitude and joy in your life.
Sometimes we do it with ease,
Sometimes it's a little bit more difficult.
But starting to have the intention of noticing and sensing in and spending a little longer with those moments of pleasure and joy.
Noticing those little things which really are not so little at all.
Maybe you notice you don't do this enough for yourself.
So having the intention to stop and to pause and sense in some more.
Maybe finding the playfulness of sensing in.
Noticing a flower,
Then going in and smelling the flower,
Touching the flower.
Hearing the leaves or the flowers fluttering.
Using all your senses.
An invitation now to move to noticing your breath once again.
The quality of your in and out breath.
Do you favour your out breath or in breath more than one another?
Are they equal?
Maybe you notice a smile coming to mind.
You notice yourself actually smiling as you're noticing your breath.
Noticing the joy and the pleasure of breathing.
Maybe noticing if it's difficult to breathe at a particular moment.
That's okay,
You can come away from the breath and maybe focus on your feet on the floor or how your clothes feel.
Or another something to be grateful for.
And then as we're coming to the end of this practice,
Just having a moment just to sense in again to your whole body,
Right here and right now.
Sense of gratitude for this moment.
Maybe a moment of joy in the practice,
The pleasure in the practice.
And maybe your eyes have been closed during the practice and gently and slowly starting to open your eyes.
Maybe bringing your chin to your chest if that feels comfortable for you.
A signal to your body,
Mind,
Heart that the practice is coming to an end.
You can take your time and stay in the practice as long as you want.
Thank you.
And I hope you enjoyed this gratitude and joy practice.
A practice that you can take with you anytime,
Anyplace,
Anywhere.
A reminder to bring some mindful moments into your day.
Another tool for your toolkit.
