Hello,
Welcome to the Embodying Gratitude Guided Meditation.
Take a moment to find a comfortable seated position somewhere that is quiet and somewhere that you won't be interrupted for about five to ten minutes.
Do your best to get your body comfy but still awake and if it feels okay attempt to lengthen your spine so energy can flow more easily through your body.
Take a moment to allow your brain to orient to the space you are in.
Turn your head and look around your space.
Notice the different colors,
The light,
The areas that are in shadow.
Notice the shapes and the objects around you.
Notice the floor beneath you.
And how close or far away the walls are if you're inside.
Take in any sounds and the temperature of the space and take a moment to notice where the air is meeting your skin.
If it feels okay close down your eyes and bring your attention to your breath.
If it doesn't feel okay to close your eyes just soften your gaze and hold it two to three feet in front of you.
Once you focus your attention on your breath know that you don't have to control or change your breath in any way right now.
Just see if you can find your breath.
Feel your breath's natural quality and rhythm.
Take a few moments to be fully present with your breath following your inhales into your body and following your exhales out of your body.
If it feels okay begin to gently lengthen your inhales and your exhales and with each exhale let go of any tension or effort in the body that isn't needed right now to simply sit and be.
Now bring your attention to your core the place inside you where you feel most yourself and take a few moments to really feel your essence,
Your energy,
Your presence.
Maybe you feel sensations like spaciousness,
Calm,
Clarity,
Relaxed but awake,
Compassion.
Breathe into your presence and do your best just to feel it.
Next moving at your own pace let your mind go and let it bring you an experience or a person that you appreciate.
Take the time you need to really get in touch with that experience or that person and use your five senses to help you.
What do you see?
Colors,
Facial expressions,
Body language.
What do you hear?
Maybe the tone of their voice or sounds in the environment.
What might you smell?
Now change the channel to your body.
What do you feel in your body as you focus on this experience or this person?
What in your body tells you that you are grateful for this experience or this person?
Maybe you can feel a smile breaking across your lips or a gentle warmth beginning to radiate from your chest or maybe you feel your body ease back.
Take the time you need to receive the sensations from your body that tell you you are grateful for this experience or person and do your best to really let yourself feel those sensations in your body.
Now center yourself once again and ask the question,
What is it about this experience or person that I am grateful for?
Noticing the first thing that comes,
Little or big,
Something you can genuinely connect to and hold in your heart.
Now deepen your curiosity.
How did this experience happen?
How did this experience help me heal or grow or what are the qualities this person embodies that have helped me heal or grow?
Once again bring your attention back and solely focus it on your body.
Where does gratitude reside right now in your body?
Use your breath to help guide your awareness as you scan your body and when you gain a sense of home for gratitude in your body,
Gently guide your breath right there,
Softening this area of your body,
Opening and amplifying your awareness right there.
Does gratitude have a color?
Does it have a certain rhythm of movement?
Do your best to allow yourself to melt into the sensations of gratitude in your body.
And lastly,
As you're ready,
Try sending that gratitude out through your being,
Using your breath,
Inhaling,
Feeling the gratitude grow and expand in your body.
Exhaling,
Allow it to grow and expand outside of you and into the world around you as if it could encompass the entire world.
Inhale,
Feeling the gratitude grow and expand in your body.
Exhale,
Allow it to grow and expand outside of you.
And if it feels okay,
Bring your hands to your heart and pause here for as long as feels good or right to you.
And then whenever you get the signal from your body that this feels complete or that you'd like to wrap up,
Begin to invite some small movements back into your body.
Maybe wiggling your fingers or toes or gently rolling out your neck or your ankles,
Allowing your movements to get bigger and more expansive in whatever way feels good to you.
Eventually blinking your eyes open if they have been closed and allowing your brain and your nervous system to reorient back to the outside world.
