Hello,
My name is Brenda and I'll be guiding you today through an expansive meditation.
Begin to close your eyes and take this nice arriving presence,
Leaning back into your own body here.
Soften the shoulders,
The mouth,
Jaw and throat.
And just notice how your posture feels,
If it's a bit too rigid or upright,
Bring a softening to the front body.
And take a nice big breath in through the nose.
When you can't inhale anymore,
Just let the breath go out the mouth.
Again like that,
Breathing in through the nose and then let the breath go out the mouth.
One more just like that.
As you let the breath flow in,
Feel it move in your chest,
Expand the ribs,
Expand the belly and then let it go out the mouth.
And then allow your awareness to continue to stay with your breath a little.
Simply tracing the breath along as you breathe in through the nose and you breathe out the nose and you're finding a comfortable depth in both your inhale and your exhale.
Throughout the meditation,
There'll be moments when your mind starts to drift off and know that that's totally normal.
It's part of our mind's job is to think for this moment,
These moments,
We're asking ourselves to come back to the present.
And we do that by anchoring our breath,
Coming back to the sound of my voice or any other way that you can feel the present moment in yourself.
Raise the breath a little bit more,
Trying your best not to alter the breath,
Just observe the breath.
Move us now through a gentle body scan,
Getting us a little closer to our inner self.
As I move through various body parts,
Don't feel like you have to move them.
We're simply bringing that internal observation.
We'll start our awareness at the tips of our toes and then moving up to the soles of your feet,
Your heels,
Wrapping around your awareness through the ankles,
Moving up the shins,
The calves,
Knees,
Tops of the thighs,
Backs of the thighs,
Front of your hips,
Back of your hips.
Feel or notice the entire presence of your lower body.
And then moving up the spine,
Low back,
Mid back,
Upper back between the shoulder blades,
Upper shoulders,
Move to the upper arms,
The elbows,
Wrist,
Back of the palms,
Center of your palms and all 10 fingers.
And then moving to the back of your neck,
The back of your head,
The top of your head,
Your forehead softens and widens,
Space between the eyebrows,
Eyelids,
Both cheeks,
Dropping down towards the edges of your lips,
Your jawline,
Tip of your chin,
Front of your throat,
Front of your chest,
Your heart space,
And then down to your belly space.
Pausing there.
As you have your awareness there at your belly area,
Sometimes referred to as our solar plexus,
Our centered self,
A place of self empowerment and self worth.
Notice the movement that happens right now from breathing in and breathing out.
Imagine like there's this little point there.
Maybe three to five inches above your belly button.
And notice that point move inward as you're exhaling and expand out as you inhale.
Draw that point inward as you exhale and that belly moves outward as you inhale.
Keep doing that rhythm with your breath and with that point at your solar plexus point at your belly center.
Adding a bit of visual here.
As you breathe in,
Imagine expanding the breath out.
The belly is moving out a little.
The body is also expanding,
Just imagining.
And then as you exhale,
Draw it all back into that point.
Everything goes inward.
Inhaling you expand out and imagine that you are expanding outward,
Front body,
Back body,
Lower body,
Upper body.
And then it draws back in.
All of it comes back in towards that point.
We use these two visuals,
Inhaling expanding,
Exhaling drawing all that energy in because anything that expands also needs to contract.
So think of that energy that's drawing inward on that exhale into that point as you're receiving everything that you've expanded out into the world.
We're often expanding ourselves through giving,
Through work,
Through relationships and this moment is for you to expand and then receive it back in towards your center itself.
A few more moments here with this visualization.
Drawing all of that energy inward as you exhale into that point.
Take one more breath like that.
Finding your own here,
Your own presence,
Maybe not fully expanded out,
Not fully drawn all the way in and just this evenness to yourself.
Use this practice when you want to bring that energy back in towards yourself.
Bringing all of that energy back.
Take a big breath in through the nose this time,
Telling our body that it's going to be time to move and end our practice soon.
Open mouth,
Let the breath go.
Tipping your chin down towards yourself,
Towards that centered point and gratitude towards yourself for showing up to your practice,
Making the time here.
When you feel ready,
You can blink your eyes open a few times,
Welcoming yourself back into this physical space.
As you're feeling ready to integrate back into your day,
Move slow,
Come back to this practice when you need it or any other of these meditations.
My name is Brenda again and I hope you have a wonderful day.
