Loving Our Bodies

Welcome to this guided meditation on what it means to love our bodies fully and completely.

Today we'll explore what it means to embrace them just as they are,

Not as physical form but as sacred vessels.

Many of us have a complicated relationship with our bodies.

Our experience of the world is bound up in our body's sensations,

Pleasure,

Pain,

Health,

Illness.

We admire some parts of our bodies and judge other parts quite harshly,

Wishing they were different,

Larger,

Smaller,

Flatter.

Sometimes we mold and alter our bodies,

Changing their shape through exercise or surgery,

And we often ignore our body's need for rest,

Hydration,

And nutrition.

We can even sometimes abuse our bodies through overexertion,

Plying them with substances that offer short-term bliss in exchange for long-term pain.

And we can treat our bodies as machines,

Devices that serve a function.

In this meditation,

We'll practice offering our bodies the love they deserve.

As we move our attention slowly through the body,

Gently hold each part in your awareness,

Visualize it,

Feel into it,

And offer your love and gratitude.

Take a moment to find a comfortable position if you haven't already,

And take three conscious breaths.

Feel into the sensation of the air entering and leaving your body,

And then let go of any effort to direct the breath.

Allow the body to do what it knows how to do on its own.

One of the reasons we focus on the breath is because we can easily connect with it.

We can follow the breath more easily than listening to our heartbeat,

For example.

But another reason is to remind ourselves just how much the body takes care of us without any effort,

Performing countless tasks without any mental direction or input.

Notice your breath,

And thank your lungs for the essential task that they perform over and over again.

Take a moment to imagine your lungs,

Small sacks filling and deflating,

Taking in oxygen and giving back carbon dioxide.

Feel grateful for this essential process that happens over and over without your conscious effort,

And allow your gratitude to flow from your mind and heart to your lungs.

This is how we love our bodies.

As we bring our attention to different parts of the body,

Do the same process,

Imagining each part in your mind,

Feeling into it,

Pondering ever so briefly the role that body part performs for you,

And allow your gratitude to fill that body part.

Bring your attention to the crown of your head,

And to the beautiful structure of the brain within you,

The seed of your thoughts,

Dreams,

And decisions.

And thank your mind for organizing your experiences,

Storing your memories,

Allowing you to learn,

Imagine,

And remember.

Bring your awareness to your eyes and everything they let you see,

Offering them gratitude.

Turn your attention to your ears,

And thank them for your capacity to hear.

Feel into your mouth,

And how it gives you the ability to speak,

Taste,

And nourish yourself.

Bring your attention to your neck and your throat,

This passageway that allows you to share your voice,

To take in nourishment,

To take in air.

Feel grateful for your ability to speak,

Swallow,

And breathe.

Bring your attention to your shoulders,

And how they sometimes feel like they carry so much weight.

Allow them to soften and settle.

Right now,

In this moment,

There's nothing that they need to carry for you.

Thank them for all that they bear,

All that they hold.

Feel your arms,

Beginning at the shoulders,

Moving down through the elbows,

To your wrists,

To your hands.

Now,

Offer them gratitude for how these parts of your body allow you to interact with the world,

To build,

Create,

Hug.

Our arms and hands are our primary source of physical interaction with the world,

Primary source of physical connection with the world.

Bring your attention now to your chest,

Your heart,

And see if you can notice the gentle rhythm of your heart beating as it pumps blood to the rest of your body.

Like your breath,

It performs this essential task countless times each day.

Allow your chest to swell with deep appreciation of this labor.

And thank it not only for sustaining you,

But for being the center from which love and appreciation flow.

And allow that flow to come back to it.

Really thanking your heart,

Being grateful for its incredible capacity.

Gently move your awareness now to your belly,

Your stomach,

The internal organs of digestion,

Where so much happens to turn food into the energy that sustains us,

Where our bodies take in nourishment from the external world and make it compatible for our bodies.

Take a moment to marvel in this incredible system and all the processes that allow us to stay alive.

And feel now into your ribcage,

Your spine,

The muscles of the back.

This incredible framework that gives us our posture,

Holds us upright,

Protects our organs.

This incredible architecture of bone and muscle.

And thank them for their incredible strength and support.

Bring your awareness now down to your groin,

Your reproductive organs,

Organs of excretion.

Just feeling into this area of our body with respect,

Tenderness,

And honor for all that they perform for us.

Their creativity,

Pleasure,

Removal of waste.

Incredibly powerful processes that are essential to our well-being.

And give them your gratitude.

And feel now into the hips,

Pelvic bones,

Structure that provides a foundation for the body.

Gives it stability.

Give them thanks for helping us to move through the world.

And bring your awareness to your legs,

Down through the thighs,

Knees,

Calves,

Ankles,

Your feet,

Your toes.

Allow yourself to fill with wonder at how these parts sustain us.

Helping us move through the world,

Take steps.

Allowing us to walk and run,

To connect with the earth,

To feel grounded.

Now turn to a part of the body that may not be performing in the way that we've described.

It may be in distress.

It may be a part of your body that has never worked in the same way.

You may not have sight,

Or hearing,

Or speech.

Your arms or your legs may not operate in the same way.

Whether this is something that you've dealt with your entire life,

Or is a more recent experience,

We can still extend gratitude to those parts.

Whatever area or part of the body that calls to you now,

Bring your heart and mind to it.

Begin by acknowledging that this part of you has been in pain,

Or distress,

Or hurt,

Or simply functions differently.

Different from what you may have expected,

Or society expects.

And take a moment to acknowledge the ways that you have ignored this part of your body,

And judged this part of your body,

Wishing it were different,

Wishing it worked differently.

And just allow that feeling to come up.

Ask this body part for forgiveness for the ways you've disregarded it,

Or judged it.

And then extend it love,

Gratitude,

Wonder,

For all that it has done for you.

In whatever way it has.

And now take a moment to hold your entire body as a single unit in your awareness.

Rather than focusing on individual parts,

Feel into it as a single miraculous living organism.

A system.

And bring gratitude to the way all of these parts operate together,

Function together.

Your bones,

Muscles,

Organs,

Skin,

Mind,

Heart.

Everything operating collectively.

And thank this body for all that it does for you every single day.

Countless processes.

It deserves your love.

Just bring love,

Love,

Gratitude,

Wonder to the entire body.

And rest here for a few more breaths.

Marveling at the incredible beauty that your body is,

What it represents.

This incredible repository of your life force.

And whenever you're ready,

You can begin to bring some gentle movement to your hands,

To your toes,

Beginning to wiggle them or stretch them.

You can take a few deliberate breaths to begin to wake up the body.

And then you can gently flutter your eyes open,

Coming back into the room,

Being present.

And may you carry this feeling of love,

Gratitude,

And wonder for your body throughout the rest of your day,

Calling on it whenever you feel any discomfort,

Hurt,

Pain,

Concern,

And judgment for your body.

Just remembering how truly miraculous your body is.