My name is Gary B.
Find a place to get comfortable for today's practice.
Once you are sitting or lying down,
Move your focus to your breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Notice the air entering your mouth or your nose.
Going down your throat,
Into your chest and filling your lungs.
Noticing the air exit your lungs,
Back up through your throat and out your nose or mouth.
Just focus on breathing in and breathing out.
Now focus on your body.
Notice any areas where you feel tension.
Notice any areas where you are relaxed.
Not trying to change it,
Just notice.
Invite your higher power to your meditation practice today.
Whatever that looks like to you.
Mine is a bright white light surrounding me and making me feel safe,
Warm and loved.
Take a minute to picture this,
However that looks to you.
Just invite in a power greater than yourself.
Move your focus to your breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
We are going to do a breath exercise.
I like to call this belly breathing.
As you breathe in,
Purposely expand your abdomen or your belly.
You will notice as you breathe in that you can expand it out.
Then purposely contract your abdomen or your belly as you breathe out.
If it helps you,
You can place your hand on your stomach.
When you breathe in,
Your belly should expand.
You should feel that against your hand.
When you breathe out,
It should contract.
You should feel that with your hand.
Practice this technique.
Again,
Purposely expand your abdomen as you breathe in.
Then purposely contract your abdomen as you breathe out.
As you are practicing this technique,
You are actually engaging your diaphragm that is helping you breathe.
You will find that you will breathe a little bit deeper and a little bit slower.
Be aware that you can practice this technique to calm yourself at any time during the day.
Simply stop what you are doing and do some belly breathing.
We are going to practice spotlighting,
A meditation skill that you can use.
Imagine having a spotlight on a stage that can illuminate different areas depending on where you direct it.
In the same way,
We can direct our attention to different aspects of our experience.
As we guide this spotlight to focus in on something,
We do so without judgment.
We are only spotlighting our attention to something specific to focus on it,
To be curious about it,
And to be aware of it.
Try this now by directing your spotlight to an area of your body where you feel tension.
Maybe that is your neck,
Or your shoulders,
Or your back.
Do not try and change this tension.
Just use your spotlight to focus on the specific area and the tension you feel without judgment.
When you are ready,
Release your spotlight and return your focus back to your breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Now think of a fear you have.
Any fear at all,
No matter how big or small.
Just think of the fear and then use your spotlight to shine attention on that fear.
Do this without judgment.
As you shine the spotlight on this fear,
Notice where it lives in your body.
This may be a tight chest,
A shortness of breath,
A clenched jaw,
Or you may feel it in your stomach.
Just notice where that fear shows up for you.
Keep steadily shining the spotlight on the fear.
Be curious about it.
Fear is natural,
And some fears protect us.
While you continue to spotlight your fear,
Remember in recovery we learn we do not have to run from fear.
We can control how we react to it.
In our meditation practice,
We can give fear some space as we continue to shine our spotlight on it.
Picture keeping your spotlight on the fear,
But putting some space between yourself and that fear.
Now that we have practiced spotlighting fear,
We will deepen our practice by shifting the spotlight.
Not to deny that fear exists,
But to exercise our ability to choose where we place our attention.
Return your focus back to your breath,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathe in awareness.
Breathe out willingness to redirect our focus.
Breathe in awareness.
Breathe out redirecting our focus.
Breathe in awareness.
Breathe out willingness to redirect our focus.
Now think of something that inspires faith in you.
Recall a moment in time when you may have been carried through a difficulty based on faith.
Turn on your spotlight and shine it on faith,
Whatever that looks like for you.
For me,
It is a deep sense of intuition,
Which is in my heart and in my soul.
Use your spotlight to shine on where you feel faith in your body.
As you focus the spotlight on your faith,
You may notice it becoming more real,
More vivid,
And deeper.
Connect to this conscious contact with your higher power in this moment and see if you can keep your spotlight on that connection.
Now move your spotlight back to the fear from before.
Hold it there for a minute.
Notice what you feel.
Now move the spotlight back to your faith.
Hold it there for a minute.
Notice what you feel.
Move it back to your fear and hold.
Move it back to your faith and hold.
Notice that both exist,
But we have agency in where we place our attention.
We can acknowledge that fear exists while choosing to rest our focus on faith.
Continue to focus on faith for a minute and notice what comes up for you.
When you are ready,
Allow your spotlight to fade and turn it off.
Return your focus back to your breath,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Take some time to feel gratitude for showing up and practicing meditation and the spotlighting skill today.
Let's end our practice today with three deep breaths.
Inhale and exhale.
Inhale and exhale.
One more.
Inhale and exhale.
Thank you for sharing your meditation practice with me today.
I hope you have a wonderful day.
Namaste.
