Hello,
Today we're going to focus on grounding our energy.
But before we begin,
If you'd like to pause this meditation and find yourself a small object,
It could be a coin,
A stone or a crystal,
A pencil,
Anything that you can fit in the palm of your hand that has an interesting texture to you.
Once you're back and you've found your object,
You can just place it in front of you for a moment.
We're going to get ourselves nice and comfortable here,
So if you're on the ground or if you're sitting on the earth outside,
Or maybe you're in a chair if that's more comfortable for you.
And you may like to take this opportunity to close your eyes now,
Or if you don't really like closing your eyes,
You may like to just soften your gaze so your eyes are barely open.
Feeling yourself in this position that you've chosen.
Feeling the sensation of something underneath you.
Feeling where this point of contact make with your body.
The buttocks,
The thighs,
The calves,
Maybe the shins.
And drawing up from there,
Feeling the long spine,
Drawing up towards the sky.
Maybe taking an opportunity to feel a softening of the shoulders,
The neck,
The jaw and the eyes.
And seeing if you can feel any sensations on your skin.
If it's a breeze or warmth,
Or maybe a slight feeling of cold.
Maybe the sensation of your clothes against your skin.
Whether they feel tight or soft or stiff,
Heavy or light,
Taking this opportunity to feel,
Really feel.
And then expanding this to see what you can hear.
Again it could be the sound of a breeze,
The sound of a car driving past,
Of children.
Maybe the sound of the fridge buzzing in the background,
Of a washing machine,
Birds outside.
Maybe seeing if you can identify a taste on your tongue.
Or if you can't taste anything in your mouth,
Maybe the feeling of your tongue in your mouth.
Sitting at the bottom,
Soft and relaxed.
And taking a few more moments here to just recognise any final sensations that you may be feeling.
And now that we've brought ourselves into our sensory body,
We're going to start to focus on our breath.
We're going to do some diaphragmatic breathing.
So if this is an unfamiliar turn to you,
Essentially we're trying to use the diaphragm,
Which is the muscle underneath the lungs.
And really draw it down so we can expand and bring as much air into our lungs as possible.
So the easiest way to do this is to think of your belly like a balloon.
And if you're quite tactile,
You may like to bring your hands onto your belly so the fingertips or the middle fingers are just touching.
And as we inhale,
We feel the belly expand and the fingers move apart.
And as we exhale,
The belly contracts back in and the fingertips come back towards one another.
And I always think of an elongation of the torso,
Drawing the diaphragm down like a bowstring down towards the pelvis.
So as you inhale,
Fingers expand,
Come apart.
And as you exhale,
Fingertips come back towards one another.
Inhale,
Expand.
Exhale,
Contract.
If it's helpful to you,
You can keep your hands on your belly,
Or you may like to place them downwards on your knees or your thighs.
Or you can even create a little downwards triangle mudra.
So we're connecting the two pointer fingers together and the thumbs overlap one another.
So if you create this little triangle mudra,
You can bring that down towards your belly button or your pelvis,
Pointing down towards the earth.
And as you continue with your deep diaphragmatic breathing,
Imagine some roots growing into the earth.
So they might be coming through the feet,
Or they might be coming down from the pelvis,
The root of your body.
These roots are growing down,
Down into the earth,
Making their way into this soft,
Luscious soil,
Feeling the energy of the earth.
Then send your breath even further down through these roots that are connected with the earth.
You may like to visualize these roots almost pulsating with this energy of your breath.
Maybe they're glowing.
This beautiful energy that you're giving to Mother Earth,
And that she is giving to you as you're connected.
This energy comes from above,
Down through the body and down,
Down,
Down through your roots.
Coming back to the focus of your breath,
The belly expanding and contracting,
Expanding and contracting.
The roots are growing deeper and deeper and deeper into the earth,
Glowing and pulsating with this beautiful energy,
Further realizing this connection that you have with the earth.
Take a few more moments here with your connection.
And then if your eyes are closed,
You may like to open them into tiny little slits to find your object that you chose at the beginning of this meditation.
Once you've found your object,
You may like to close the eyes once again or have that soft gaze.
And with your object,
Taking a moment now to really feel the texture.
So you can use one hand or you can place the other hand on top and just really move the object around.
Take the time to find that tactile sensation,
The texture if it's rough or soft,
Smooth,
Hard or soft.
Taking note of the weight,
If it's heavy or light.
Maybe the temperature of the object,
It's warming to the warmth of your hand or if it feels cold.
Feel the size of the object.
Maybe the texture is a mix of smooth and hard,
Rough and soft.
Maybe you even bring the object up to your nose and take a deep breath,
Smelling the object.
Maybe it smells metallic or woody or maybe it's more of a neutral smell.
And then you may like to use your eyes to explore the object now.
Looking at the colour of the object,
Any lines or shapes that you see,
Patterns,
Contrast.
Taking a few more moments here with your object,
Just continuing to feel into every sensation that you can.
And releasing the object now just nearby you.
I'm going to finish with a breathing technique called Nadi Shodhanal.
If you haven't practiced this technique before,
It's a beautiful breathing technique that really balances your energy and can make you feel quite calm and grounded.
So we're going to use our middle and ring finger and bring them into the middle of the forehead,
So where your third eye is or in between the eyebrows.
With the left thumb we're going to lightly block the left nostril and with the pinky finger we're going to block the right nostril,
So just in that little crease there.
But to begin with we're going to leave both nostrils open as we take a few breaths together.
Nice big inhale in together.
As you exhale,
Blocking the right nostril with the pinky,
Exhale left.
Inhale left.
Switch fingers,
Exhale right nostril.
Inhale right.
Exhale left.
Inhale left.
Exhale right.
Inhale right.
Exhale left.
Inhale left.
Exhale right.
Inhale right.
And continue in your own time.
I always think of this breath like an infinity symbol,
In and out.
Maybe expanding and lengthening the breath if you feel called to.
Two more rounds.
Whenever you finish those rounds,
Allowing your hands to relax once again on your knees or your thighs,
Or you can create that little triangle mudra again over the pelvis or the belly button just to reground the energy.
And taking another moment just to feel any sensations on the skin,
Any tastes on your tongue,
Any sounds you can hear.
Nice normal relaxed breath.
Reconnecting one more moment with the roots beneath you.
Your connection with this earth.
Thank you so much once again for joining me for this meditation today.
You can take your time to open the eyes to stretch and to move slowly.
With your own illness and silence.
