Welcome to this guided meditation.
My name is Desiree and today we're going to focus on letting go of perfection by cultivating self-acceptance and awareness of your natural beauty in all its imperfection.
Find a comfortable position and give yourself some time to arrive by taking several deep breaths.
Begin to add an extra second onto every inhale and exhale and begin to invite any tension in your body to gently melt away.
Feel the weight of your body on the floor and the lengthening through your spine.
Notice how you feel in your body,
In your mind and in your emotions.
Not judging or trying to change anything,
Simply observing and bringing awareness to how you feel in this moment.
To begin this meditation I want you to contemplate some things in nature that we typically consider to be incredibly beautiful.
A seashell,
Once the home of a living creature,
Is unique in its shape,
Patterns,
Colours and size.
No two seashells are identical,
No shells are symmetrical or perfectly formed.
Some have holes,
Are broken or faded,
Yet we marvel at the beauty of seashells.
A delicate flower that blooms for only a moment in time.
Its petals,
Although striking,
Are imperfect,
Vulnerable and fragile.
Its bloom soon wrinkles and wilts and the flower,
Without struggling,
Surrenders to its inevitable passage in time.
A magnificent mountain range that has formed over thousands of years,
Is striking in scale,
Admired for its history and storytelling.
Its shape is rough,
It's covered in lines,
Folds,
Bumps,
Light and shadow.
And yet it's beautiful in its aged and imperfect form.
A stunning sunset,
Indicating the coming to an end,
Light melting into darkness,
Hope for the new day ahead.
We see the sunset every day,
And yet we never tire from its beauty.
We admire the colours,
The patterns it leaves on the sky,
Each one is different to the next.
A passage in time,
A fleeting moment,
Always changing.
Now bring your awareness back inward to your body.
Can you shift the way you view your own beauty,
To align with the beauty we know and appreciate in nature?
The unique shape and size of your body,
Like a seashell.
For some of you,
A body that may have once been a home for a beautiful little human.
Can you admire the patterns on your skin,
Whether they be freckles,
Stretch marks or scars?
What wonderful stories do they tell?
What beautiful memories do they hold?
How beautiful are these marks in their imperfect nature?
What about the folds in your skin and the curves of your muscles?
Maybe the curves aren't muscle at all,
But they're there nonetheless.
They exist because of your journey over time,
Like a beautiful mountain range.
Your body too is a beautiful representation of the choices you've made,
The experiences you've had,
As well as a reflection of the bodies that created you.
Now consider how your body is ageing.
What thoughts or emotions does the idea of ageing provoke?
Sit with those feelings for a moment.
Can you consider your life's journey like a sunset?
As the sun sets,
The colours get richer,
More vibrant and more inspiring.
Can you shift your view of ageing to one that is excited by the spectacular display that's yet to come?
Knowing that your richness and wisdom gets deeper with every moment and one that embraces its passage in time,
Because impermanence is what makes each moment so precious.
That's what makes us feel alive.
Now consider the fragility of your human body.
Can you see beauty in your vulnerability and your impermanence,
Like you would a flower?
Can you learn from the grace of a flower and embrace your unique passage in time without resistance?
With this renewed view of beauty,
Take a few moments to feel gratitude for the body you are in.
This body whose journey is incomplete.
This body that is impermanent.
And this body that is imperfect.
Take a deep breath in,
Cleansing and renewing.
And slowly breathe out all the air from your body and let go of any remaining ideas of perfection.
Inhale self compassion,
Self love and self acceptance.
Exhale let go of everything else.
As we start to wake from this meditation,
Bring this renewed view of beauty with you and notice the freedom and contentment that grows from accepting yourself as you are in this moment in time.
Incomplete,
Impermanent and beautifully imperfect.
And take another deep,
Cleansing breath in and a slow breath out.
Begin to awaken your senses by gently wiggling your fingers and toes.
Become aware of the sounds around you.
And gently bring your awareness back to your surroundings.
And take a moment to feel gratitude for taking this time to meditate today.
Thank you for joining me.
Namaste.
