Self Soothing Meditation (Grounding Through Touch)

Good morning and welcome to the Artist's Morning.

My name is Darius and I'm so grateful you and I get this time together.

Today's meditation practice will be an exploration of grounding energy available to us.

Today's meditation practice will be a little different.

There will be invitations for a bit more activity and movement.

Very simple activities,

Most of which involve grounding our energy through the use of touch.

Before we get started,

I want to say all bodies are different,

Different sizes,

Different shapes,

Different abilities,

Different ages.

What's important is that you take time to truly connect with your body.

I know all of us have goals and aspirations,

Things we are striving for,

And that's lovely.

But today's meditation practice is simply taking stock and finding gratitude for what's here right now.

Let's begin our meditation,

Find yourself a nice comfortable seat.

Your eyes are open,

I'd like to invite you to close them now as we go deeper,

Deeper inside our bodies and our inner worlds now.

Realizing the rising and falling of your breath.

Just connect with your breath,

Your precious breath.

Seeing if you can gently start to take deeper breaths.

Allowing that rising and falling of your breath to get longer and deeper.

Any of you are open to it,

I'd like to invite you to place your hands,

Palm down on your thighs and just gently,

Soothingly touch them,

Massage them,

Just love them.

Don't overthink this,

Allowing the energy to come to the places you are touching.

Noticing if you enjoy this sensation.

If you don't,

Is there a particular tension or speed in which gently rubbing your legs feels extra soothing and grounding to you.

Now just resting your hands wherever they'd like to fall and following the energy down your knees,

Your shins,

Wiggling your toes now and just bringing your attention to your feet.

Using the support beneath your feet.

Bringing love and gratitude to your toes,

Your feet,

Your shins,

Your knees,

Your thighs.

If you are able,

Bringing gratitude to your feet since they were little,

They were little infant feet to your legs.

These vehicles that have helped you travel through the world.

Imagining for a moment all the places you have been able to travel on this planet through the use of these legs,

These shins,

These knees,

These feet,

These toes.

Taking a deep breath and either resting your hands or using your hands to spread love through your legs and feet.

Bringing our attention to our lungs,

Either just imagining or actually bringing your hands gently to your chest and lungs and heart space and just gently soothing,

Connecting with yourself here.

And being honest and being receptive to this experience.

Maybe you like it and that's okay.

Maybe you don't and you want to place your hands down.

That's okay too.

And maybe just maybe there's a different way in which your own hands could bring grounding,

Soothing,

Healing energy to your chest now,

To your lungs now.

Perhaps feeling the rising and falling of your chest as your hands lay on top of them.

Noticing if you can feel your heart here.

Thank you chest.

Thank you lungs.

From the moment I was born to this very moment,

You have always been here for me.

Keeping your hands back down on your legs,

Taking a deep breath here with me.

I'd like to invite you to explore your face now.

That exploration could mean using your hands to gently touch and love and soothe your face or you can place your hands down on your lap and just imagine you're touching them.

Both options are available to you,

But touch can really be a tremendous source of grounding.

If you choose to actually use your hands,

I want you to try to sincerely pay attention to what your face responds to.

Maybe it's a really gentle touch around your forehead,

Your eyes,

Your lips,

Even your neck and throw.

Maybe your face is more interested in a stronger touch.

There's no right or wrong answer.

This is just a little bit of space for you to connect with your body.

Finding something you're grateful for in your face and neck now.

For this last song,

I want to leave some space just for you.

You can sit in stillness.

You can allow your hands to move through your body,

Noticing and paying attention to what feels like it needs a little extra love and what perhaps is not so interested this morning and really pay attention to how your body receives the touch.

Are there any places that are longing for a little bit of love,

A little bit of soothing,

A little bit of support?

I hope so.

Lowing my soul and music free,

Your glory is the unbalanced heart,

With wings of hearts,

I know everything I know.

In You,

Baby.

In You,

Baby.

In You,

Baby.

Bravo,

Dear artist.

Bravo,

Dear creator.

Before our meditation comes to an end,

Let's just take a moment here to land.

Placing your hands wherever they'd like to be.

Maybe on your lap,

Maybe on a specific body part,

Just trust your own intuition here.

As we have one more moment here to share gratitude with our own bodies in private.

Sending a little extra love here to yourself,

To your body.

Closing our practice with one big breath.

Breathing in.

Well done.

Thank you for meditating with me.

My name is Darius.

For those of you joining us live at the artist's morning,

I'm going to put 20 minutes on the clock and allow us to do some private personal journaling.

And for those of you catching us on a replay,

Perhaps on Insight Timer,

Of course you could do the same.

Once again,

My name is Darius and I will see you next time.