Hello everybody and welcome.
Today's meditation will be done seated.
So once you are ready,
You can find a comfortable seat,
Maybe cross-legged,
Sitting up nice and tall.
Allow the palms to rest on top of the knees,
Head and neck gently resting on top of the spine,
And we close our eyes,
Sinking into our bodies and connecting with our breath.
Start to notice how the breath slows down,
Start to notice how the heart rate settles,
How the buzz of the nervous system starts to regulate.
Noticing every inhale as the air enters the body,
As it expands and fills the body.
Noticing every exhale as the body releases all the air out,
As it lets go,
Surrenders and softens.
Breathing in all the way into the lower part of the belly,
Breathing out all the way out the mouth.
Let's take five more intentional breaths like this together.
So we inhale,
Holding the breath for a moment at the top,
And we exhale out.
We inhale,
Hold,
And we exhale.
Inhale through the nose,
Holding at the top,
And we exhale out.
Twice more,
Inhale,
Exhale.
Last one,
Inhale,
Exhale all the way out.
Beautiful.
Just gently letting go of that breath control,
Dropping back into your natural rhythmic breath.
Then we start to move towards our visualization for this morning,
Or this day.
Just a short visualization to settle the mind,
A peaceful quiet moment within our day.
So I'd like you to imagine,
Start to paint a picture of yourself walking on a path.
It's up to you how this path looks.
Maybe it's a road,
Maybe it's a cobblestone path,
Maybe it's a gravel path,
Maybe it's a small trail within the woods,
Or maybe walking on the beach along the shoreline of the ocean.
And as you walk with every step you take,
Wherever you are,
You allow yourself to release what you have passed.
Focus just on the step you are taking now.
You are not worrying too much about where you are going,
Completely okay if you do not know your destination.
And as you walk,
Maybe you turn a corner,
Maybe you divert your path onto another trail.
Just trusting that intuition and inner knowledge of knowing where you need to go.
This is your path,
This is your journey.
Then there comes a moment where you decide to stop.
To stop your wandering,
To stop your walking,
To take a seat,
Sit down.
Whether you sit on the sand of the beach or next to a river,
On a rock in the forest,
Maybe just simply on a bench in a park.
Whatever you find yourself in whichever setting,
You sit down and you notice your surroundings.
You notice all the sounds surrounding you,
Whether those are the sounds of the forest,
Sounds of nature,
Sounds of the birds and the trees,
The rustling of the leaves,
Maybe the lap of the waves of the ocean crashing into the shore.
Wherever you are,
Gently start to close your eyes.
You feel the sunlight filtering in,
Sunlight shining on your face.
You bask in the warmth of the sunlight,
Just taking in and absorbing this moment.
This moment of being with yourself within nature and you know you are exactly where you need to be right now,
Right here.
You know that every corner you turned,
Every intuitive feeling has brought you to this place,
To this moment and you are completely content with this being your destination.
Slowly and gently,
I'd like you to start to dissolve this image,
This visualization in your mind.
Just allow it to fade into the background of the mind,
Keeping this feeling of contentment,
Of ease,
Of tranquility,
This feeling of presence and complete inner stillness.
Holding this feeling in your reality,
In your moment where you find yourself in your space right here and then keeping your eyes closed in your comfortable cross-legged seat,
Start to visualize and notice your surroundings.
Visualizing the objects around your body,
The space you are seated in.
Noticing specific sounds,
Smells,
Feeling of you sitting down either on the mat or the pillow,
Your clothes touching your skin and then once again noticing that feeling of inner stillness that you have created and cultivated for yourself.
And now gently spreading a small smile across the face,
Welcoming in joy into your day,
Into your being.
Gently when you are ready,
We'll end our practice by taking three deep breaths together once again.
So we inhale through the nose as deep as you can,
Really filling up the chest and the belly and then exhale out.
Inhaling and exhale.
Inhale here and exhale.
Finally take the hands towards your heart center,
Pressing the palms together,
Thumbs at your sternum,
Ending off with gratitude.
Gratitude towards yourself,
Appreciation for your practice.
Thank yourself for taking this time and space and then from me to you,
Thank you so much for joining me and for practicing with me.
Have a beautiful day wherever you are in the world.
