Gratitude For Life Itself Meditation

Sometimes we can get so caught up in the busyness and the stimulation and the pressures of life that we get so crazy in this upper space and we start to miss the gratitude of just simply being alive.

The feelings of joy and clarity and centeredness that come from just being connected to life itself,

Just in its simplicity,

Just in simply being here and just breathing,

Just being awake and alive.

And it's really easy to lose sight of that when we get really scattered and there's a lot of stimulus and pressure.

So this meditation practice brings you right back,

Right back to the basics,

Right back to the nature of life and how beautiful it is just as it is without having to do or change anything at all.

So may you enjoy this practice and really connect with having gratitude for life itself.

Welcome to your meditation practice.

My name is Laura.

Thank you for joining me today.

Let's take some time now to find a comfortable seat,

Maybe some support behind your back and we'll gently close our eyes.

We'll begin by taking our right palm to our upper belly and our left palm to our chest.

As you begin to feel that connection with yourself and your breath,

Allow the space around your eyes to soften and your shoulders to relax down onto your back.

You may open your mouth and move your jaw around a bit or stick out your tongue.

Squeeze and release the face.

And then as you land in stillness,

Begin to feel this sense of effortlessness,

Joy,

Peace.

Just filling up your body as your face lets go.

Noticing the power of simply softening the face.

Noticing the power of how those life-supporting emotions or feelings of joy,

Gratitude,

Peace,

Almost start to just surround or bathe your body as the face relaxes.

It's almost like you have a gentle glow of these higher vibrational energies emanating out from your body.

And you're just kind of basking and sitting in this beautiful little dome of peace.

Gently bring your awareness to the rise and fall of your breath.

And we'll begin our two-part inhale and two-part exhale.

This breathing is very beneficial as we direct and move the air right to the lower lungs,

The side lungs.

And any buildup of air or energy that's residing there begins to leave on our exhale breath.

So first let's breathe into the belly,

Filling up the right palm.

Breathe further into the chest,

Filling up the left palm.

Same way to exhale,

First from the belly,

Next from the chest.

Inhaling,

Belly,

Chest.

Exhaling,

Belly,

And then chest.

Breathing in,

Filling up the belly,

All the way up to the chest,

And exhaling from the belly.

And then the chest.

Continue breathing like this.

Like you're filling a balloon up from the bottom to the top.

And letting go the air from the bottom and then the top.

Breathing in,

Filling up the belly,

All the way up to the chest.

Breathing in,

Filling up the belly,

All the way up to the top.

Breathing in,

Filling up the belly,

All the way up to the top.

Let's take three more and see if we can slow down the breathing even more.

Breathing in,

Filling up the belly,

All the way up to the top.

And once you're done the three,

Let's inhale,

Belly,

Chest,

And then hold the breath and we'll gently sigh out the mouth.

So breathing in to the belly,

Breathing in to the chest,

Pause the breath,

And sigh it out.

Again,

Breathing in to the belly,

Breathing in to the chest,

And pausing the breath,

And sighing it out.

Let's take two more of those on our own.

Breathing in to the belly,

Breathing in to the chest,

And pausing the breath,

And sighing it out.

And once you're done,

Just gently release your hands down to your thighs.

Feel that softening of the face again.

And begin to center your awareness on that seed of stillness within you.

In focusing on the stillness you feel within,

Allow yourself to become familiar with the qualities of this feeling.

How does this seed of stillness affect your physical body?

How does this seed of stillness affect your mind?

In this space of feeling calm,

In this space of being safe and connected to our bodies,

Let's take a moment to thank life itself for giving us this day.

To thank life itself for the intelligence that flows through our body,

For the beating of our heart,

For the gentle,

Precious rise and fall of the breath,

Of our breath.

What a gift it is to receive this powerful intelligence without much effort,

Or maybe even no effort at all on our part.

Extend this deep sense of gratitude to life itself,

For giving us this day.

As you inhale,

Say to yourself,

Thank.

When you exhale,

Say to yourself,

You.

Thank you.

You.

You.

You.

You.

You.

You.

Now sit a little bit taller through the crown of your head.

There's a string gently drawing you up and you're following that expansive line of energy upwards.

Now allow a little smile to come onto your face.

As you continue breathing in,

Thank,

Breathing out you.

As you continue breathing in,

Thank,

Breathing out you.

Notice how you feel inside.

Notice how held and supported you are by life's energy.

This opportunity we have in this day that we've been gifted.

Let's allow ourselves to set an intention for what we want to create or just be in this moment.

And we'll take our palms on top of our chest and we'll finish by asking ourselves the questions to connect deeper in building a strong relationship with ourselves and getting clarity on this day on how we feel.

Insert in your own name,

I'll say my name and then put in your own name for yourself.

Ask yourself,

How is Laura doing?

What does Laura need?

Or me,

Who's my current friend?

What would bring Laura joy?

What is Laura tolerating right now?

What is Laura?

With your own name,

Repeat to yourself three times.

I love Laura.

Take three exhale breaths.

Breathing into your heart space and letting it go.

Let's carefully now just begin to take our palms over top of our eyes.

Feeling the inner stillness.

Feeling the deep connection you have to yourself.

Feeling gratitude for the life energy that flows through you.

Thank you for this day.

Thank you.

Gently opening up the eyes behind your hands and carefully bring your hands back down.

Thank you so much for practicing with me.

I hope that you feel a little bit calmer and more grateful for the simplicity of life and just how miraculous it is that you are alive.

You are here and you have a presence within this world and you are experiencing all that you're experiencing.

Allowing that to be enough.

Thank you.