Hello and welcome to your year-end reflection meditation.
My name is Kara and I will be guiding you along this journey for through the past 12 months.
Allow yourself to find a comfortable position either seated or lying down ensuring that your body is completely comfortable.
Allow your gaze to soften or your eyes to close completely if that feels safe to do so.
Your hands can be by your side or on your knees,
Palms facing up in a sign of receiving or palms facing down in a sign of grounding.
Taking a few moments to make any adjustments to create space for your body to find stillness,
To rest,
And to drop in.
When you found yourself fully comfortable,
Begin to witness your breath as you inhale and exhale without any need to change anything.
Simply notice your breath.
Is your breath fast or slow?
Is it deep or shallow?
Smooth or jagged?
Whatever you observe,
Simply allow it to be in this moment knowing you are exactly where you need to be.
Allow yourself to feel fully supported by the earth below you,
Allowing your shoulders to release,
Your chin to tuck gently towards the chest.
Now if it's comfortable to do so,
Begin to lengthen your breath slightly.
Breathing in for a count of four,
Inhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And exhaling for a count of four,
Exhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four.
Continuing this four count breath as long as it's comfortable throughout this practice.
You may also notice yourself be able to deepen the breath even further to a count of six or even eight.
Finding the rhythm that is most relaxing for you and your body in this moment.
As you deepen your breath,
Begin to notice and become aware of the body softening,
Becoming heavier on the support beneath you,
Becoming aware of any areas that may be holding on to tension and allowing your breath to be directed to those areas,
Giving them permission to release and relax.
We're going on a journey today in this meditation through the last 12 months.
We'll be taking time to witness,
Observe,
And celebrate the successes as well as acknowledge the challenges and how you were able to work through them.
Whenever you are ready,
Allow yourself to guide your mind back to the beginning of this year.
Twelve months ago,
Tap into the sensations that you had at the start of the year.
The person that you were,
Knowing that you have come so far this year,
You have grown so much,
You are a higher version of yourself now than you were then.
Acknowledging where you come from allows you to honor and celebrate your progress.
As your present day self and yourself from 12 months earlier meets,
Allow yourself to observe the version that you were and allow the version of who you were to observe you now.
Take note of the characteristics and the qualities of your past self.
How does that 12 months ago version of you look,
Feel?
What is that version of you doing or wearing?
And as you look into their eyes,
See into their soul with compassion and love for this younger version of yourself,
For all of the versions of you from the past.
As your current self meets yourself from the beginning of the year,
Begin to tell them all about the exciting things that have happened over this year.
Having a conversation with them,
Letting them know what you embraced this year,
Letting them know what you released this year and how it felt to release the weight of that existence and experience.
Reflect back on what has changed for you in this past year and what you discovered about yourself.
Share with this younger version of you what you are most grateful for from this year and let them know when fear held you back and how you responded to that fear.
Remembering to share all of these things with such loving,
Compassion,
Honoring the place you were in in each of those moments,
Honoring the growth that has occurred over the last 12 months as a result of each of those moments.
Share with this younger version of you where you practiced courage this year and how that practice of courage changed you and your experience.
Reflect on what surprised you this year,
What made you smile and what made you laugh so hard your belly ached.
And as your present-day self,
Reflect on the conclusions you reached this year.
As you're here having this conversation with yourself from 12 months ago,
Reflect back on and think about the wins you had from this year.
Maybe those wins were personal,
Professional or within your relationships.
Take a few moments here and now as you breathe,
Gazing deeply into the eyes of that younger version of you and share what you are most proud of from this year.
As these moments,
As these wins come into your awareness,
Begin to also think about what skills helped you during these times to make these wins possible and how your life has changed.
What you've learned about yourself through these moments,
These wins.
Take time right now with this younger version of you to celebrate all of these wins.
Perhaps that's with a hug,
Laughter or maybe it's a dance party with your younger self.
Celebrate these moments of success,
Of growth,
These wins.
And now that you've recognized the many,
Many wins that you've had from this past year,
Let's take a look at the challenges you had as well.
Challenges are merely opportunities for growth,
For awareness of where we still have growth to make.
As you and the younger version of you are here in conversation,
Share with them some of the challenges that have arisen for you this year.
Maybe your limits were tested,
You lost patience,
Maybe you considered these big or small,
It doesn't matter.
Whatever challenged you the most in the past 12 months,
Take time to reflect.
You may still be going through some of these challenges.
Share with this younger version of you what outcome would feel good for you to have for this circumstance.
Remember to share with this version of you how you responded to these challenges without any judgment.
Did you learn new skills or tools or supports to help you through?
Perhaps things that can also help you in the future when you encounter a challenge.
As you look past on all of the challenges you faced this year,
Recognize that you lived through them all.
You thrived through them.
Take a few moments to realize and recognize how your life has changed,
What you've learned about yourself through these challenges.
In this moment sitting and resting with this younger version of you,
Describe for them your favorite day,
Moment,
Or occasion from this year.
Visualizing it in your mind,
Using all of your senses to share with them what it looked like,
Felt like,
Sounded like,
Smelled or tasted like.
Share with them where you were,
If you were with someone else,
What were you doing,
What was amazing about this day or moment,
And most importantly let them know how it felt in your body.
And now take a few moments to acknowledge if anything happened this year that you need to forgive,
Either forgiving yourself or someone else.
Perhaps something someone did or said to you or something you did or said to another or even to yourself.
Maybe you feel you let yourself down in some way this year.
And as you look at this younger version of yourself,
Seeing this beautiful imperfect soul in front of you,
Acknowledging that everyone is imperfect and there is beauty within the imperfection.
And so as you share with your younger self with compassion and love this forgiveness,
Know you are doing your best with the tools you have and allow yourself to take this moment to give the gift of forgiveness to you or to someone else.
As you give this gift of forgiveness,
Feeling the lightness come over you,
Knowing that you no longer have to carry this situation or circumstance in your body,
That you can release it and be free of it.
Allow yourself to think back and visualize the last 12 months once more,
Considering the gifts that this year offered you on your journey in this life.
Taking note of what stands out the most to you,
What really mattered to you.
Allow yourself to use three words to describe this year.
What would those three words be?
Now think if the events of this year were made into a book or a movie,
What would the title of this year be for you in your life?
And before you move into the new year,
Take a few moments to think about anything else you'd like to say to this past year.
Perhaps there are some final goodbyes,
Thank yous,
Or I love yous.
Take some time with yourself to honor all that this year has brought into your life,
Releasing what needs to be released,
Having gratitude for what you are grateful for,
And shining the brightness of your love.
Taking these final moments with this younger version of yourself,
Showing them such love and gratitude for starting this journey for you.
Perhaps giving them a hug and a smile,
And when you are ready,
Allowing yourself to release this conversation,
Gently beginning to become aware of the here and the now,
Becoming aware of the physical space that you are in,
Feeling the support beneath your body,
Tuning in to the sounds as far away as you can hear them,
The sounds within the space that you are in,
The sounds within your body of your breath as you inhale and exhale,
The sound of your heart beating,
Letting you know that you are alive,
Deepening the breath as you allow the energy to begin to become aware even more of this present moment,
Calling your consciousness back into this moment,
Back into your body,
Perhaps wiggling the fingers and the toes,
Maybe rolling the neck side to side or lifting the shoulders up,
Back,
And dropping them down,
Maybe pressing your way back up into a seated posture if you are lying down,
And as you're ready,
Only when you are ready,
You gently and softly begin to blink your eyes open,
Gazing around the room and orienting yourself to this physical space,
Finding your journal and a pen and beginning to write about your experience through this meditation journey.
I hope that this practice has brought you clarity,
Has allowed you to celebrate your wins and successes,
As well as honor the lessons that came from your challenges.
I would love to hear what your three words to describe the past year were or the title of the movie or book that your year would have been.
It has been my great pleasure to guide you along this journey today.
Namaste.
