Hello and welcome.
I'm Christoph and I'll be your guide.
This recording is from a live online Calm with Christoph mindfulness meditation session.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for being you and thank you for taking time out for your own self-care.
Enjoy.
So it would be very nice if you could gently close your eyes if you feel comfortable doing so and if it's safe to do so.
And if this is newer to you,
Then maybe just lower your gaze or find a point on the wall to focus on.
Preferably just surrender to the energy of the moment and gently allow your eyes to close.
And take a moment to allow yourself,
Your mind,
Your body and your spirit to fully arrive here.
And you have to do nothing for that.
Meditation is about being more than doing.
There are no problems we need to fix.
There is nothing we need to tend to.
There is nowhere to go.
There is just this beautiful invitation to be.
Let's take a deep breath in and out together.
I invite you to bring your awareness to your shoulders and your neck.
The region of our body where we tend to carry stress often without knowing.
And simply by resting your awareness in this area,
You invite your neck and your shoulders to relax a little bit more.
And now gently place one hand on your chest in the hard area,
Very gently.
And place the other hand on your lower belly.
And notice what this feels like.
It's a certain coming home to ourself.
And just stay with this sensation for a moment.
Perhaps this is the first time this week you have actually given yourself a hug in this way.
And as you do this,
Ample amounts of oxytocin are released into your system.
The cuddle hormone.
And we can give this to ourselves too.
That's what we are doing right now.
And now bring your awareness to your breath.
Notice the rise and fall of your chest or your belly.
Maybe you can feel the airflow over your nostrils or your lips.
Cool when you inhale and a little bit warmer when you exhale.
And just stay with the breath for a few moments.
You don't need to change the way you are breathing.
The invitation is to follow the natural rhythm of your breathing.
And this is a great way of getting grounded in this moment.
Simply by following the breath.
And when your mind wanders,
That's fine.
That's what the mind does.
Gently and without judgement,
Bring it back to your breath.
Stay with the breath.
Be with your breath.
And now we're going to gently shift our awareness to our facial muscles.
And we're going to scan up and down the face and see if there are any areas of tension where we can relax just a little bit more.
The forehead.
The jaw.
The tongue.
Your eyebrows.
And try to keep this level of presence,
This level of awareness and attention.
As you fall more and more awake to the present moment.
This moment of pure silence,
Stillness and empowerment.
And I would like you to bring a gentle smile to your face.
No need to overdo it,
Just a gentle smile.
A Buddha smile or a half smile.
For these are extraordinary times.
So much is going on.
So much is unknown.
But when we cultivate these moments of silence and stillness,
We are more at ease in these challenging times.
Because we become more at ease with ourselves.
Equanimity.
Calmness in the chaos.
Nothing you have to do.
Nothing you have to prove.
Just allow yourself to be in the presence of the most magnificent person in your world.
And that is you.
This is not about grandiosity.
This is not about vanity.
This is about simply letting our hands rest on our body,
Smiling and breathing.
As we feel the life force energy in the body,
But also in the mind.
As we fall more and more awake.
And allow any sounds or sensations,
Any itches,
Any urges to scratch any part of the body.
Just let everything be a part of your meditation.
For it is.
Everything is a part of the moment.
Everything provides you with a context.
So allow it to be there.
Mindfulness meditation is about cultivating that space between the trigger and the response.
And the more you practice,
The bigger that space between the stimulus and the response becomes.
And in that space you find peace,
Calm,
Inspiration,
Love,
Solutions.
And your capacity to care for yourself as well as for others grows beyond measure as you grow the space between stimulus and response.
Allow yourself to fall even more awake to this moment.
And as the mind wanders,
Keep bringing it back to the present moment,
To your breath.
And it can be helpful to simply say to yourself,
There's a thought and there's a thought.
Or I am thinking.
I'm thinking without entertaining those thoughts or being swept away by them.
And as I am recording this meditation with you,
And as we are breathing and celebrating this moment together.
The most beautiful storm is literally happening outside.
And I believe it is representative of the theme for our time together today.
The stillness that we cultivate when all around us things are extremely busy.
We are centered.
We are grounded.
Storms will pass.
Equanimity.
Calm in the chaos.
The stillness in the eye of the storm.
And I would like us to take a deep breath in and out together.
And we're going to move into the final part of our meditation today.
And that is the body scan.
It will further help us to become grounded,
Not just now,
But in hours and days to come.
And it doesn't matter whether you're sitting down or lying down,
But I would love you to bring your attention to your feet.
And your ankles.
And the whole of your left leg.
And your right leg.
And let your awareness rest in both legs and both feet for a moment.
And perhaps silently express your gratitude.
And we are going to move up towards the lower back,
Often another area where we store a lot of tension.
And then make our way up to the middle back and the shoulders,
The shoulder blades.
And if any colours come to mind,
Allow that to be.
Often when we do a body scan,
Colours come in to help us with healing and recovery.
So trust that whatever is coming up for you now is meant to be here for you.
And bring your awareness to your left arm,
From your fingers to your left shoulder.
And do the same for your right arm.
And let your awareness rest in both arms for a moment and express your gratitude.
And bring your awareness to your head.
No area in particular,
Just your whole head.
And now connect the top of your head with the bottom of your body in one straight line.
Like a plumb line.
All of your body centred,
More stable than before,
More aligned.
And the invitation is to take this alignment with you and allow it to carry you and support you.
And in a few moments I'm going to ring the bells and gently bring yourself back to the room and open your eyes.
So thank you very much for joining me in that practice.
I love you,
Namaste,
And I hope to see you on a future episode of Carl with Christoph.
Take care for now.
Bye guys.
