Hello and welcome to your guided meditation practice.
Find yourself a comfortable spot and begin to just move however feels good in your body.
That might be stretching,
Yawning,
Wiggling your toes and your fingers,
Rolling your neck,
Whatever feels restorative.
And when you feel ready in your own time,
Take a seat or lie down and begin to use your eyes and your head to scan the space that you're in,
Softly moving your neck and just look at what's around you in this space.
See if you can notice any colors or textures that you like.
Notice the sensations in your neck and your face and your head as you move and explore your space.
Notice any sounds.
Maybe there's noises coming from within your space or from further away.
Take a moment to become aware of all these different noises.
Let's take a deep breath in together and out.
Again,
In and out.
Let out a sigh.
One more time.
A breath in and out and just release anything that you're holding on to and deeply relax your shoulders,
Your jaw,
Your tongue,
Your eyes,
Your pelvic floor,
And your abdomen.
Let your shoulders hang.
Let your abdomen hang and drop down with gravity.
Start to notice any sensations in your feet.
Wiggle your toes and start to activate the muscles and nerves in your feet.
What can you notice?
Do you like the sensations that you're creating in your feet or are there things that you don't like?
Let both just be there.
See if you can accept whatever sensations arise.
Now begin to become aware of your thighs and your calves.
Notice the sensations.
Could be tingling,
Temperature changes,
Just a general awareness of the existence of your legs in space.
Pressure against any surface that you might be contacting.
See if you can focus as much as your attention as possible on your legs.
And I invite you to repeat in your own mind.
One,
Relax.
Two,
Relax.
Three,
Relax.
And repeat that in your own mind and notice if you can relax more deeply and let go of any tensions that you're holding in your muscles.
And now moving up your body to your belly,
Your abdomen,
Your back.
See if you can be aware of any tension or sensations there.
If judgments arise,
You can simply note them,
Allow them to occur.
There's nothing wrong with the activity of the mind and continue to notice exactly what these sensations feel like in your back and your abdomen.
Begin to become aware of your fingers,
Your palms.
We often hold tension in our fingers,
In our hands,
And forearms.
So see if you can just deeply relax each finger,
The muscles controlling your thumb,
Your forearms.
Let your arms be heavy and let any sensations pass and flow freely.
Working your way up to your shoulders and your neck.
You may again want to move your neck very gently.
Experiment.
Allow your head to be pulled up against the force of gravity,
Softly,
As if a string was attached to the top of your head.
And notice the sensations in your muscles around your spine and in your neck.
And now release and let your neck hang gently.
And as you do this,
Become aware of any other sensations that are arising as you move and orient your head in different directions.
Is there anything pleasant that you can become aware of?
And now turn your attention to your head and your face.
We often use our face to convey to the world information about ourselves.
And these muscles in our face that do so much for us,
They also need attention and care.
Begin to move those muscles.
You might open your lips and your mouth,
Raise your eyebrows,
And do this very consciously and slowly at the speed of your own attention.
And doing what intuitively comes to you and feels good in your face.
Notice your ears and your scalp,
The weight of your hair,
If you have any.
And again,
Relax now into your seat.
Let the weight of your body just be there.
Feel the pressure at the point of contact with the surface you're on.
And in your own time,
Become aware of any noises in the space again.
Orient yourself to this particular space that you're in.
May slowly open your eyes and look around with a soft gaze.
And as you do this,
Thoughts may come and welcome those thoughts.
Give yourself the time you need to transition back to a different way of relating to your environment.
Maybe you have some things you'd like to do today and that is coming up in your thoughts.
Or maybe when you opened your eyes,
You noticed things around you that you wanted to interact with.
Whatever is arising,
See if you can carry forward into your day this awareness of your environment and your body as your home.
This highly sensitive home of skin and nerves and muscle and connective tissue that allows you to move around and do everything that you would like to do.
Take a moment if you'd like to to honor your body,
To honor the health that you do have,
The capacities.
And thank you for taking this time to tune in to your body.
