Morning Ritual: Grounding, Gratitude & Goals

Good morning and thank you for joining me for this morning practice.

This morning we're going to ground ourselves and our bodies in present moment awareness.

Check in with our hearts,

Cultivate feelings of gratitude and appreciation and visualize the life we wish to wake up into,

The reality we wish to build.

So begin just by finding a comfortable meditation posture.

Ideally either sat upright in a cushion,

Cross legged or if you're more comfortable sat upright in a chair.

Feet firmly on the ground,

Shoulder width apart.

We're going to begin by swaying the body either side to side or in a circular motion.

Finding alignment and feeling into the body until you find a centre point and come to rest and stillness.

The head reaching up towards the sky,

Chin tilted slightly,

Shoulders dropping as if the weight of the world had been lifted from your shoulders.

Softening the belly.

Just consciously now dropping down your weight to the ground,

To the earth.

Letting go of tension in the body of any places where you are holding on.

Relaxing the body around the straight spine.

Dropping even your awareness,

Your focus from the thinking mind down to what the Japanese call the Hara.

The Hara is the point just below the belly button deep inside the body.

The body's central point of gravity.

In some traditions believed to be the storehouse of our chi or ki,

Personal energy and power.

Dropping our awareness down to this point.

We shift our focus out of the thinking mind,

The stories,

The commentary,

The analysis,

Judgement,

Evaluation and bring it instead back into our bodies.

Our living,

Breathing,

Experiential reality.

Just form a heartfelt intention for this practice.

If you want to you can bring your hands into the prayer position.

Just check in with what you most need from this practice this morning,

What you most wish to cultivate.

Your true motivation for sitting in meditation this morning.

Perhaps you want to start your day in a positive conscious way.

To honour yourself and care for and love yourself.

Perhaps you need peace and stillness.

Honouring whatever that intention is.

Bowing your head to that place within you.

To that heartfelt intention.

Returning your hands to a comfortable place.

And we focus for the first couple of minutes on deep conscious triangle breathing.

If you're new to this practice it simply means breathing in for the count of four or five.

Holding for the count of four or five.

And then slowly releasing the breath for the count of four or five.

Continue breathing in this pattern.

You can begin the count from four to five to five to six,

Whatever feels comfortable.

And on those out breaths really experiencing the sensation of letting go.

Of release.

You might want to visualise or feel into a sense of the breath coming all the way in from the nostrils down to the heart.

And then on the out breath expanding from the heart throughout the body and beyond.

Don't worry about thoughts coming and going.

It's completely normal and natural.

We're not trying to stop ourselves from thinking or empty the mind.

But see if you can allow these thoughts to do their own thing in the background without getting caught up in them or following them.

Perhaps treating them like the chatter of a distant radio.

Or somebody talking on the phone at the back of the bus.

You can be aware of the chatter without giving it attention,

Without tuning into it.

In the same way just let your thoughts come and go in the background of your awareness as we bring your breathing to the foreground.

If you haven't already you can allow your breathing to return to a natural normal rhythm.

No longer breathing in any particular way.

Just allowing the breath to do its thing.

We focus our attention for the next few minutes on a sense of the physical sensation of breathing.

Noticing the cool feeling of air at the tip of your nose.

The rise and fall of your chest and your body.

If the mind wanders off that's okay don't worry.

It's just what the mind does.

But whenever we notice we've drifted we can take a big reset breath and begin again.

Allow each in breath to be a new beginning and each out breath a complete letting go.

Expanding our awareness now to a sense of the whole body breathing.

A sense of the whole body is a living breathing organism.

Pulsing,

Tingling,

Beating,

Breathing.

Resting your attention at the heart.

Feeling into the heart space.

And if it feels safe inviting the heart to soften,

To open.

Just checking in with how it is you really feel this moment.

Holding space for whatever comes up.

Whether there is sadness,

Anger,

Joy,

Love or fear.

Allowing all of it to be there with an open sense of acceptance and warmth.

Understanding and compassion.

And now if it feels okay to do so.

We're going to start to consciously cultivate feelings of gratitude and appreciation in the heart.

Bringing to mind what you feel most deeply grateful for.

Whatever that is for you.

See if you can really feel into that.

To feel the warmth of that gratitude.

And just say to yourself silently in your own mind or out loud if you feel able and comfortable to do so.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It doesn't matter who or what you're thanking.

Whether you're thanking a person,

Thanking yourself,

Thanking life or the universe or some sense of higher power or the divine if you believe in that.

It doesn't matter it's just that sense,

That feeling of thank you.

Generating a sense of the people in your life,

Past or present,

Who make your life easier.

Who enhance your life in some way.

Acts of kindness,

Care and consideration.

Grateful for your health,

For your body.

Even if your health isn't perfect.

Often there is more right with our body than there is wrong with it.

And our health,

Our body supports us in countless ways.

And just this opportunity to be alive,

To live,

To love,

To experience,

To learn,

To grow,

To smell,

To taste,

To touch,

To hear,

The taste of our favourite foods,

The sounds of our favourite music or the voice of the people that we love,

The beauty of nature.

Feel into a sense of being grateful to be alive this morning.

Waking up this morning I smile.

Twenty-four brand new hours lie ahead of me.

Feel into that sense of the opportunity today presents.

Breathing now into a sense of the life it is that you wish to build.

The vision you have for your life.

You might want to imagine that as if by some miracle you went to bed one night and woke up the following morning and everything was exactly how you hope,

Wish,

Dream it could be.

Any existing problems or struggles in your life had dissolved and your life was exactly where you want it to be.

Get a sense now of how it would feel to wake up into that life.

How it would feel to open your eyes in the morning.

What you would see when you looked in the mirror.

Perhaps seeing the contentment,

The confidence in your eyes.

The great physical shape you're in.

The way you hold yourself and stand.

The feelings of respect and self-esteem you have.

The relationships and connections you have in this life.

The sense of meaning and purpose,

Fulfilment.

Picture how this you goes through the day.

Perhaps they start the day with meditation,

They drink water.

What else do they do?

Maybe they exercise.

How does this version of you eat?

How do they honour themselves with food and movement?

What kind of people do they surround themselves with?

What kind of boundaries do they put in place?

How do they feel as they go about the day?

How do they feel as they go about the day?

How do they feel as they go about the day?

Your sense of self-respect and self-esteem.

Picture any other specific things that you want in this ideal future.

And then make this picture brighter,

Make it bolder,

Clearer,

In higher definition.

Breathe deeply into the heart and intensify the feelings.

The feelings of confidence,

Of gratitude,

Of joy,

Of self-respect,

Of fulfillment.

And once you've made this image and the accompanying feelings as powerful,

As strong as possible,

Step in,

Step into this you.

Literally visualize yourself stepping into their body,

Taking on this life as your own and feel it now.

Feel in your own body that confidence.

Hold yourself as they hold themselves.

Feel that self-respect and self-esteem.

Feel into the ways you want to honor yourself.

And then ask yourself a simple question.

What can I do today to move closer to this reality?

Because we can't simply click our fingers and wake up into this life.

But we can in each day,

In each moment,

Make powerful,

Positive,

Life-changing choices that take us in this direction.

So form the heartfelt motivation to move through this day,

Honoring what it is that you're building,

The life that you want to wake up into.

A life that you wouldn't have to escape from into the ways that we numb ourselves,

Our addictions.

A life that gives you a feeling of joy,

Confidence,

Fulfillment,

And connection.

And with that frame in mind,

Dropping the imagery,

Holding on to those feelings as we breathe deeply together,

Connecting again with the horror and with that triangle breathing practice.

And you might want to bring your hands back up into prayer position to honor yourself for showing up today for this practice,

To honor your body,

Your heart,

To honor the life that you're building.

And bow your head again with respect and appreciation for yourself and for this day,

This day to live fully,

To appreciate.

You can start to move the body,

To stretch,

To wiggle your fingers and toes,

To sway,

Whatever it is you need to do.

And after hearing the three bells,

Slowly in your own time,

You can open your eyes if you haven't already to end the practice and begin the rest of your day.

Thank you for joining me and have a great day.