Hi,
I'm Jenny Mayo.
Welcome to this meditation for softening,
For relaxation,
For stress and anxiety reduction.
To begin,
Finding a comfortable position for your body,
Seated,
Maybe lying down,
Whatever is calling to you today.
And once you're there,
Closing the eyes if you like.
We'll take a few moments now just to arrive.
Allowing yourself to land on this spot of earth right here.
Feeling the points of contact you're making with whatever's holding you up.
Your body supported and held in this moment.
Moving up from the earth to our beautiful breath.
Watching a few rounds of natural inhale and exhale.
The next few,
Taking a sigh audibly on the way out,
Just releasing anything that's built up,
Anything you'd like to let go of in this moment.
Remembering that for these few minutes we have together,
There is nothing else to do,
Nowhere else to go.
There is just this spot of earth,
This body,
And this breath,
This one right here.
We'll begin a bit of a body scan together and as we move through each area,
Just imagining your body softening as if you are an ice cube starting to slowly dissolve into water.
Beginning with your forehead,
Allowing the muscles to melt and smooth.
Melting down to your jaw and clenching and releasing.
Melting down your neck,
Just noticing your breath doing some of this softening for you.
Letting your inhales so gently widen your collarbones.
Melting your shoulder blades down the back.
Opening your ribs to let in a little bit more sky and space with each inhale.
So soft.
Melting all the way down your arms through your fingertips,
Down through your low back,
Your belly,
Your soft belly.
Melting through the hips,
The pelvis,
Down through your thighs,
Front and back,
Your lower legs,
And your feet.
Breathing gently,
Slowly out to take in your whole body.
Noticing if there are any areas that could use a little more breath,
A little more of that melting.
Taking these next few breaths,
Just breathing and softening there.
Moving a bit further with this water imagery,
This feeling of melting and this expanse of water.
Just feeling the whole space of your body as if you are a lake,
A giant body of water.
Feeling your expansiveness,
All that you contain.
Realizing that despite all the waves of thought,
Of life,
Of stress that arise,
You are not the waves,
You are the water.
Really sensing into this now,
Feeling your depth and your breath.
To get a better feel for this,
You might imagine that someone has just dropped a pebble into this expanse of water.
Just watching it in your mind's eye,
Falling slowly,
Slowly.
Layer after layer after layer,
Until it finally settles on the bottom of this lake.
Breathing into this wholeness,
Into your expansiveness,
Your depth,
Into your belly.
Anytime you feel a wave coming up,
Maybe just labeling it wave,
Noticing that it's there and bringing yourself back out to this big picture.
You are not the wave,
You are the lake.
Here and breathe and just be with our wholeness,
In our wholeness for a few more minutes.
I'll mind the time.
Just continue to breathe into your depth,
Into your expansiveness.
Deepen your breath,
Learning to draw yourself back into your space,
Back onto your spot of earth,
Back into your body right here,
Right now.
Starting to take some gentle movements,
Maybe rolling the wrists,
Rocking the head side to side,
Whatever would feel good.
Moving towards your deepest,
Fullest breath of the day now,
Deep into the belly,
All the way down to the toes.
Gently release,
Opening the eyes if you haven't already.
Thank you so much for meditating with me today and carrying with you this reminder that you are not the waves,
You are the waves.
This reminder that you are not the waves,
You are the water.
Fluid and deep and expansive,
Supported and held.
