You are listening to the Motherhood Unstressed Podcast and I'm your host,
Liz Carlisle.
Thank you so much for tuning in,
For making the decision to make your self-care and your self-love the priority of your day.
And even if you're doing this as the last thing you do before you drift off to sleep,
That's okay because you're still taking these next few minutes to send yourself some love to enrich your inner life that determines the decisions you make,
The feeling,
The energy you bring to a room,
And truly how purposeful you feel in the world.
So let's get settled.
You can do this meditation lying flat on your back or seated comfortably.
If you're in a chair,
Make sure your legs are uncrossed and planted firmly on the ground.
Let's take a deep breath in together to bring awareness to our bodies and our lungs and everything going on internally.
So take a deep breath in and let it go.
And deep breath in and let it go.
Deep breath in and let it go.
And deep breath in through the nose and let it all go.
Return now to gentle rhythmic breathing.
Drop your shoulders away from your ears.
Relax your body inch by inch.
Helpful practice is to do a body scan,
So starting at the very top of your head,
Bringing your awareness inch by inch down past your eyes,
Your nose,
Your lips.
Relax your jaw.
Bringing your awareness down your throat to your collarbones,
Relaxing your shoulders even further,
Bringing healing and nourishment to every cell.
Down your sternum into your belly,
Relaxing,
Releasing tension.
We hold so much anxiety in our chest and our shoulders and our stomachs.
Now is your chance to release all of that into the floor,
Past the foundation,
Back into the earth and out of your body.
Bring your awareness down into your hips,
Releasing tightness and tension there.
Coming back in love with your own sexuality,
Your own creative energy that lies there in that chakra.
Down further into your legs,
Releasing tension in your hamstrings and quads,
Down past your knees,
Your calves,
Your ankles,
All the way to the tips of your toes.
If that felt particularly satisfying,
You can do a scan back up from your toes all the way to the top of your head,
Igniting those chakras.
Now that you're feeling more in your body,
More relaxed,
More at home as you should,
I want you to ask yourself the question,
What did I love to do when I was a child?
What brought me joy?
Take the next few breaths to find an answer or to let an answer come to you from deep within,
Past memories,
Past experiences of joy.
Let those all float to the surface,
Even if you haven't thought of them for quite some time.
Now see yourself present day.
Go outside of your body right now in your mind's eye.
Look at yourself meditating,
Doing the work,
Actively tuning in,
Calming your body,
Connecting.
What three things about yourself do you love?
Is it your dedication to this practice?
Is it your dedication to your family or your work?
Find three things or more if they start coming that you truly love and admire about yourself and feel that emanating from within,
Not egoic accomplishments,
Not looks,
Not anything superficial.
What is it about you that makes you stand out?
What is it about you that is truly in alignment with who you were as a child and things that you bring to the world today?
Recognize that,
Connect with that,
And grow that even more.
Acknowledge how far you've come.
Acknowledge how much you bring to the world.
Acknowledge that just by elevating your energy to a place of love and understanding and empathy,
First for yourself and then expanding that out to others,
How much you truly do improve and uplift everyone in your community.
And then that,
Of course,
Carries on to the rest of the world.
It's not small stuff that you're doing right now.
Thank you for doing the work.
I invite you to sit in meditation for as long as you need.
Press pause or lie flat on your back in Shavasana.
What I really wanted to create within you today is a connection back to who you really are and the awareness that you are special,
That you are here doing this work so that you can love yourself and then help others do the same.
Thank you for doing the work.
It's not easy.
Until next week,
Namaste.
