Counting Your Blessings

Okay,

Welcome.

As usual,

Just take a moment to arrive,

And by that I mean settle into your body.

Make sure your feet are on the floor,

Legs uncrossed.

Make sure you're sitting in a position that you can sustain for the next week while,

Say 15 minutes.

Welcome your body to this meditation.

Welcome yourself.

Welcome your energy.

Just come to the breath.

Just notice your breath.

You don't need to do anything with your breath at the moment.

Just notice it breathing in and out.

We're just going to establish a really regular breathing pattern.

Just breathing in and out.

And as much as possible,

As long as it doesn't make you feel dizzy or any other adverse symptoms.

Just slow your breath down as much as you can comfortably,

And keep it even.

Breathing in and out,

Nice and even.

And you're just inviting yourself to walk inwards with an even breath.

We're just inviting yourself to become present to your breath,

To take some conscious breaths.

Just breathing in and out.

Breathing in and out.

And if you like,

If you feel comfortable to do so,

Then I would invite you to place your hands on your lower tummy.

Could be just underneath your belly button or somewhere around your belly button,

But the lower part of your tummy.

And just place both hands there,

One on top of the other.

It's almost as if you're making a connection between your hands and your lower tummy.

And in your hands,

You hold compassion for yourself.

You hold a space of non-judgment for yourself,

Just as you would compassionately hold and listen to someone that you loved.

You can do that for yourself right now,

Just one hand on top of the other,

A compassionate holding.

And let's also invite in a curiosity.

Maybe the curiosity will come on the breath.

As we breathe in,

We breathe all the way down and feel it going into our lower tummy,

Making that connection with our hands.

So we've got compassion and curiosity.

And allow yourself to settle into that.

Breathing in and out.

You've got the same regular pattern as a tidal wave.

It's coming in and going out.

And if you imagine that tidal wave,

You could also imagine that as you breathe out,

As the tide recedes,

So too many tensions or worries that you might have in this moment,

They also can just recede for now.

Just come away for a little bit of time.

You can pick them back up later if you need to,

If you want to.

But for now,

Just letting go of our attachment to them.

Letting them float out to sea.

Breathing in.

Breathing out.

Breathing in.

Breathing out.

Compassion and curiosity.

Let's just do a little grounding exercise.

This holding of ourselves with compassion and curiosity could be thought of as part of your personal journey or spiritual journey.

Could open you upwards and outwards to energies unseen that certainly felt.

So,

While we're doing that,

Let's make sure that we're grounded.

Just like a tree with strong,

Strong roots.

The stronger the root system,

The more that that tree can stretch up and out and bathe in the energy of the sun,

Withstand the buffeting of the wind.

Survive any cold or harsh winters.

So,

Let's make sure that our roots are firmly placed.

Keeping up that regular breathing pattern,

Just breathing in,

Breathing out.

Check in with your toes.

Just make sure your toes are alive,

That they're alive to you in this moment.

Maybe wiggling.

As you wiggle your toes,

The pressure will change on the balls of your feet.

Notice that.

As the balls of your feet become more within your awareness,

Perhaps you notice a tension or a relaxation in your instep.

Perhaps you're flat-footed or perhaps you've got a high instep.

Whatever it is,

Just notice it.

Notice what it is and imagine being grounded through your instep.

Imagine roots coming down through your foot down to the earth.

Have a sense of the instep.

Perhaps move your foot up and down as if you're about to start dancing or tapping your toes to some tune or other.

Maybe you're about to start the Boston Two-Step or the Highland Squatish.

Just check your feet.

Say hello to your heels.

Mary's wedding,

The song comes to me.

Step again,

Here we go.

Check your heels and your toes,

Tapping your feet gently and then let them settle.

And sense the grounding of your feet to the earth.

Sense how the earth supports you,

Holds you.

And perhaps take a little moment to wonder about the earth,

How it was formed,

What a blessing it is.

The hills,

The rivers,

The sea,

The separation of the salty water from the fresh water.

What a blessing these things are.

We're just imagining that time of waves still coming and going,

Saltiness of that sea.

Easing our tensions that we're carrying in this moment.

Bringing your awareness now from the heel of your foot up to your ankle.

To the calf,

To the shin.

Coming all the way up to the knee.

Maybe break contact with your lower tummy for a few moments and just use both your hands,

Just to rub your knees,

The front,

The back.

Just hello knees,

Hello knees,

Here we are.

You've carried me for so long.

Help me dance,

Help me walk,

Help me dig in my garden,

Help me dance with my partner.

Help me walk the hills,

Help me swim in the oceans.

And perhaps count the blessings of your body.

How you've been created,

The miracle of your very existence on this planet,

In this world.

How perfectly it all fits together.

Bring your hands back on your lower tummy again and bring your awareness up your thighs,

To your hip bone,

Your pelvis,

Your stomach area,

All the organs here that work,

Sight unseen,

That work so hard all the time to clean,

To purify,

To digest,

To keep us healthy and well.

The regenerative power of the liver,

What an amazing thing.

The cleansing power of the kidneys or gallbladder.

Breathe into these organs,

Just appreciate them,

Count the blessings of those organs,

Notice them,

Be conscious of them,

Just breathing in and out in a steady rhythm.

Coming further up to your diaphragm,

Your ribcage,

Check in with your vertebrae,

Your spine,

And all of this,

Although we're going upwards,

You can imagine a downward movement,

A downward movement towards the earth.

It's grounding for our feet in the soil,

We're supported by the soil.

Coming to the lungs,

The heart,

Checking in with these amazing organs.

The beating of our hearts,

Our lungs working to bring oxygen to our bodies,

Our hearts working to circulate blood around our bodies,

Carrying oxygen,

Nutrients.

Perhaps you could take a moment to feel that blessing of your body again,

The miracle of your body,

The fluidity of your limbs,

The perfection of your skin,

The perfection of the muscles and tendons,

Allowing movement,

Gross movement,

Small movement.

What an amazing thing our body's on.

Checking in with our spine again,

Coming up,

Our lower spine up to our upper back,

All the way up to our neck and our heads.

Coming down the arms,

Allowing our elbows to be heavy,

Which causes a release of tension in the shoulders.

Come back to that again,

Ask your elbows to be heavy.

Ask them again,

See if you can just make your elbows a little heavier,

See what happens with your neck and shoulders.

And breathe in,

Breathe in that beautiful air.

What a blessing of the air,

The air carrying exactly what our bodies need to thrive and survive.

What a blessing that is.

Breathing in deeply and exhaling.

Coming back up the arms,

Having checked in with the hands all the way down to the fingertips,

Coming back up the arms,

Coming to the neck,

The head,

The chin.

If you rotate your head gently from side to side,

Just really check in what a miracle your neck and head are,

The ability to swivel from side to side,

The ability to hear,

To speak,

To listen,

To see,

To smell,

To think.

What an amazing thing our heads are.

For a few moments,

Pretend you are chewing something.

Huge,

Big toffee that is in your mouth,

Really move your cheeks,

Your lips,

Your mouth around.

Allow a scrunching and a release in your face.

Get all the muscles working,

The muscles that sometimes aren't used in the day.

Give a big smile.

Let the jaw relax.

Scrunch,

Scrunch,

Keep on eating that toffee,

It's such a chewy toffee,

It's huge as well.

Really work it in your mouth,

Moving your lips,

Moving your jaw.

Allow and enjoy the freedom of that.

And now coming to your forehead,

Raise your eyebrows.

The biggest surprise has just happened,

Right here on my hand,

And I love it.

And another surprise,

A huge surprise,

Lifting the eyebrows up and allowing them to relax.

And turn the head from side to side again.

Gently from side to side,

Just creating space between the vertebrae.

Coming back to centre now,

Just describe little circles with your nose.

Round and then you go just gently,

Gently,

Gently.

Come back to centre and go in the other direction,

Gently,

Gently.

And then turn the head from side to side again.

Allowing that freedom within your neck.

Back to centre and just focus on the breath again,

Breathing in and out,

Breathing in.

Just feel yourself as whole.

Even if parts of you feel broken,

Feel yourself as whole.

Within your brokenness,

Where you are right here,

Right now,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Conscious of the breath,

Conscious of your body,

Conscious of the miracle that is you sitting in the miracle that is this world,

All of these things perfectly aligned.

So you exist,

So animals exist,

So the plants grow,

Rain falls,

It's dust,

Comes growth again,

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And allow yourself for the last few moments of this meditation to just be nurtured by the breath as you bring it in.

Be nurtured as it carries in energy from what is outside of you,

Energy from the sun,

The moon,

The wind.

Allow yourself to feel the support of the land underneath you,

Whether you're in a garden,

Sitting in a first storey flat,

Wherever you are,

You're still supported by the land underneath you,

Through buildings or cars,

Whatever,

However you're sitting,

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

I'm going to start to make our way back up to the surface now,

Taking three deep breaths,

Breathing in through the nose and releasing with a soft sigh.

Breathing in through the nose,

Out with a soft sigh.

And one last time,

Breathing in,

Breathing out with a soft sigh,

Coming all the way back up to the surface.

Whenever you're ready,

You can open your arms.

Well done.