Welcome to this relaxing meditation to help you connect with presence and wellbeing.
I'm your guide,
Dorsey Standish.
In this practice,
We'll use breath awareness and visualization techniques to help you feel centered and calm.
Take your way into a comfortable posture,
Either seated or lying down.
As you feel ready,
You can soften the gaze down or close your eyes.
As you settle in,
Take a moment to thank yourself for taking this time to reset and renew.
Go ahead and invite in a few rounds of deeper breaths,
Feeling the air move into the body on the inhales and feeling the air flow out of the body on the exhales.
Each in-breath is an opportunity to take in new energy,
And each exhale is an opportunity to let go.
Allowing these deeper breaths to wash ease over the body,
Perhaps checking in and noticing any tense or tight areas in the body,
And as you breathe deeply,
Inviting these areas to let go and soften.
As we move into the visualization portion of the practice,
I'll invite you to imagine that you're standing on a beautiful sandy beach.
This might be a beach that you've been to before,
Maybe one that you're creating in your mind's eye.
As you stand on the beach,
You look around and notice five specific things you can see.
Maybe looking up to notice the weather in the sky,
Perhaps noticing other people or animals with you on the beach.
What can you see at this beach scene?
Maybe you can tune into your sense of hearing,
Noticing four sounds that you can hear on the beach.
This might be the sound of waves or wind or animals.
Then you tune into your sense of touch and notice three things that you can feel,
Perhaps noticing the texture of the sand,
The touch of the lifeguard chair,
The feeling of sun on your skin.
Maybe there are even two smells that you can notice at the beach,
Whether that's the smell of salt or sunscreen.
Maybe there's even a taste that you associate with this beach.
Having grounded into your five senses,
You start to walk across the beach down towards the water,
Feeling the texture and temperature of the sand beneath your feet.
As you arrive at the water's edge,
You dip a toe into the ocean and notice the temperature of the water.
You wade in a little further so that your feet can sink into the sand as the water laps around your ankles.
As you stand grounded in the sand at the water's edge,
You begin to sink your breath with the waves of the ocean.
Inhaling as the waves crash and the water flows out towards you onto the beach and exhaling as the water recedes and flows back into the ocean.
Inhaling as the water flows out to meet you and exhaling as the water flows back to source.
Continuing to breathe at your own pace in this way,
In time with the ocean waves.
Continuing to feel the waves of breath in your body in time with the waves in the ocean.
Breathing in as the water flows out to meet you and breathing out as the water flows back to the ocean.
As you continue to breathe with the ocean waves,
Perhaps you can bring to mind something that you're ready to let go of.
This could be a mindset,
Habit,
Relationship,
Anything that's no longer serving you.
Bring this thing to mind and imagine letting it go with each exhale as the water flows back into the ocean.
Letting go and releasing this thing that's no longer serving you with each exhale,
Seeing it flow back into the ocean water.
As you continue to breathe and let go with each exhale,
Perhaps you can also bring to mind something that you'd wish to bring more of into your life.
With each inhale as the water flows out towards you,
Imagine breathing in and receiving this thing.
So continuing to flow to breathe with the ocean in this way.
Exhaling to receive and exhaling to let go.
Let go.
Spending a few more moments here resting with the ocean waves.
Breathing in to receive and breathing out to let go.
As we connect with the ocean waves in this way,
We might see that nature can be our teacher.
It helps us appreciate the cyclical nature of all things and the continued opportunities to receive and let go.
Take one last look out over the horizon,
Soaking in this ocean view.
Remember that you can come back here at any time to breathe with the ocean waves and practice receiving and letting go.
Shift your gaze downwards and notice your feet sunk into the wet sand.
Pull your feet out of the sand and turn back towards where you came from.
As you walk back across the beach,
Allow your steps to take you all the way back into this moment in the room that you're resting in.
Begin to sense the room around you and feel the breath moving into and out of your body.
Take a few moments here to breathe deeply,
Waking the body up from the inside out.
As you carry on with your day and your week,
Remember this Chinese proverb,
Tension is who you think you should be,
Relaxation is who you really are.
Keep connecting with your true nature of peace and relaxation by coming back to the waves of breath in your body.
Thank you so much for your practice.
I look forward to meditating with you again soon.
Take care.
