Good morning.
Welcome to this meditation to wake up with a smile.
My name is Heather Dean and I'm so happy and grateful to be with you to start your day in the best possible way with meditation.
Thank you for being here.
The best time to practice this meditation is when you're feeling somewhere between neutral and really good.
Neutral could include a little bored,
Maybe a little frustrated or a little confused.
But on a scale of one to 10,
I'd like you to be at at least 5 today to benefit from this particular meditation.
If you happen to be struggling right now,
I'm sending you so much love and peace and I would recommend trying another track I have here on Insight Timer,
Soothing Meditation for Difficult Times.
So if you are feeling somewhere between neutral and good today,
Here's what we're going to do.
We'll start with a gentle breath work exercise to come into the body.
Then we'll do a gratitude exercise before moving on to our Metta,
Our loving kindness practice.
We'll end with three minutes of mantra meditation,
During which I'll invite you to repeat the mantra silently in your mind.
By the time we get to the end,
You'll have naturally raised your vibration and your brain will be swimming in some wonderful,
Feel-good chemicals like serotonin and oxytocin.
But before we get started,
I want to invite you now,
If you haven't already done so,
To just let your eyes float closed,
Drift closed,
And as you do so,
To bring a gentle smile to your lips.
Even if you don't really feel like smiling right now,
I'd love you to just try this with me.
As Thich Nhat Hanh so beautifully puts,
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
But sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
Is your heart smiling as well as your mouth?
What would that look like?
What would that feel like?
See if you can invite your heart to gently smile.
And as you do this,
Let's look briefly at the neuroscience of this practice.
We know that smiling creates a chemical reaction in the brain that releases feel-good hormones including dopamine,
Endorphins,
Oxytocin,
And serotonin.
Serotonin release is associated with increased calmness and reduced stress.
Oxytocin is known as the love hormone.
When we allow ourselves to smile,
We're signaling to the body that we're safe.
It's okay to relax now.
Studies have shown that smiling can even support immune health and reduce our heart rate.
And finally,
Smiling also activates tiny molecules in our brain called neuropeptides.
These increase neural connectivity which increases neuroplasticity or simply put,
Our mind's capacity to change.
When our mind is open,
We can see situations from new perspectives.
We can become more creative,
Have greater clarity,
Feel more inspired and motivated.
Sounds good,
Hey?
So keep gently smiling if you can throughout this meditation,
If this resonates with you today.
Let's move on to a short breathwork exercise to help stimulate the vagus nerve and activate our parasympathetic nervous system.
We're going to tell our brains that we're safe and that this is a good time to rest and restore.
We'll take a deep breath in to the count of four,
Hold it for four,
Then breathe out to the count of six.
Then we'll hold at the bottom for a count of four.
And we'll do this together three times.
I'll guide you through this exercise so you don't have to worry about keeping count.
So go ahead and take a nice deep breath in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
And hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Again breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
And hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And one last time,
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
And hold,
Two,
Three,
Four.
That's perfect.
You're doing so well.
And now just let your breath return to a natural,
Comfortable rhythm.
Now we're going to do a short exercise to help us connect to the high vibrational feelings of gratitude and appreciation.
A grateful heart is magnetic to more things to feel grateful for.
So our gratitude practice is truly magical.
I invite you to bring to mind one person or animal who is present in your life in any capacity even if that's only energetically.
Someone you feel truly grateful for.
Hold that thought for just a moment and connect to the feelings of appreciation.
How good it feels just to have this person or animal in your life.
Now bring to mind an experience you had that you feel truly grateful for.
It doesn't matter how big or small this is or how recent it was.
We're just connecting to the feelings.
This could be your wedding day or a walk in the park with a friend.
Just connect to how you felt in that moment.
What were the feelings?
Stay with them for just a moment here.
Now bring to mind a quality in yourself that you feel truly grateful for.
Maybe it's your kindness or your sense of humor,
Your generous spirit or your warm smile.
Any one thing about yourself that you love and just focus on that one aspect and allow yourself to feel grateful for who you are.
I know you're a wonderful kind human because you're here.
And now finally,
And this one's a little different to the others but just as important,
I invite you to bring to mind a moment when someone else was showing gratitude for you.
Be that with words or a hug maybe even a gift.
I invite you to recall a time when someone showed they appreciate you or something you did.
Maybe helping a neighbor or listening to a friend who needed you or even showing kindness to a stranger.
Just connect to that feeling of being appreciated.
That's perfect.
Now we're going to do our meta practice,
Our loving kindness meditation to help us connect to the vibration of unconditional love.
First of all,
I invite you to bring to mind someone you hold dearly in your heart.
Someone you love so much.
This is often a child or a beloved pet.
It could be your best friend.
Whoever it is,
Just hold this person or animal in mind and repeat these words silently in your head.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you have peace in your heart.
Next,
Bring to mind someone you know but don't have strong feelings for.
This could be someone you see at the school gates or the person who works at the grocery store for example.
Hold this person in mind and let's repeat those words again.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you have peace in your heart.
That's great.
You're doing so well.
This next one is a little harder.
I invite you to bring to mind someone you've had an issue with in the past that maybe isn't really fully resolved.
But let's not make this too difficult.
I don't want you to think of someone who caused you harm in any way.
Just a person that got to you a bit.
We all have experiences like that.
Now just think of this person and repeat those words again.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be happy.
May you have peace in your heart.
Well done.
That one's not easy but you did it.
Now imagine you can zoom out from where you're seated right now as if you were floating towards the ceiling looking down at yourself.
You see this beautiful deeply lovable human and I want you to say to them may you be well.
May you be happy.
May you have peace in your heart.
That one's important.
You deserve to be well and happy and to have peace in your heart.
Last one.
From where you are now I invite you to imagine you are zooming out further still so that you're outside of the building looking down over the trees and streets.
Zooming out further still so you can see the whole village or town.
Zooming out even further so you're looking down from space over the whole country and now further still so that you can see the whole of our beautiful blue and green home planet.
Isn't she amazing?
And from here let's send our love to all beings everywhere.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you have peace in your heart.
That's wonderful.
This is a very powerful practice that helps raise the vibration of the collective and of our little home planet and it feels so good.
We're going to do one final exercise together to really get those feel-good chemicals flowing so they stay with you for the rest of the day.
We'll do a short three-minute mantra meditation.
The word mantra comes from the Sanskrit man meaning mind and tra meaning travel.
So mantra literally means mind travel.
In a moment I'll stop talking and the music will fade out and for three minutes you'll have silence.
Then I'll come back and say a few more words.
During the three minutes I invite you to repeat silently in your mind the Sanskrit words Aham Brahma which means I am divine love.
Aham Brahma.
Aham Brahma.
Aham Brahma.
If you notice your mind has drifted away from the mantra and it probably will that's normal.
As soon as you notice just come gently back to the mantra.
Aham Brahma.
Aham Brahma.
There will be a bell at the end of the three minutes.
Enjoy the journey.
Aham Brahma.
Thank you so much for meditating with me today.
Have you still got that beautiful smile?
Keep it going if you can and pass it along to anyone you meet.
Smiling is highly contagious so let's spread the love and remember if you don't stop smiling the universe will give you something to smile about.
Keep smiling.
Sending you so much love.
May you be well.
Namaste.
