Hello and welcome to this recording.
I'm Christoph and I'll be your guide.
I'm very grateful that you are here.
Thank you for your interest in my work and thank you for being you.
This meditation was recorded live during a Calm with Christoph online meditation session.
Enjoy!
Before you close your eyes,
I'm going to ask you to keep your eyes open for a few moments,
But get comfortable.
Get as comfortable as you can.
And what I'm going to do is I'm going to ring the bells and then we're going to take three deep breaths together and then we'll close our eyes afterwards.
So here we go.
Gong Keep your eyes open and let's take three deep breaths together.
Beautiful.
So I would like to invite you to close your eyes and just get that extra little bit comfortable.
And we're going to start this particular practice with a body scan to help us to fully arrive here and relax,
But without,
Ideally,
Without falling asleep.
That's why we call mindfulness meditation falling awake.
It's about falling awake to the beauty of this present moment,
The only moment that matters,
For it is the only moment there is.
You may want to place one hand on your heart and the other on your belly,
Especially the lower belly,
And do that gently.
And just notice how that feels having your hands on your body like this.
It's like giving yourself a hug.
And there's a good chance that this is the first time this week you connect with yourself in this way.
And it's very helpful and healthy to do this because you release oxytocin,
The cuddle hormone,
As it is often called.
And when we hug someone,
We release oxytocin,
But when we do this,
When we place our hands on ourself in this manner,
We release oxytocin for us as well.
So enjoy that feeling.
And we're going to start with the head.
So bring your awareness,
Bring your attention to your head.
And we're going to start with the muscles behind our eyes,
All the small muscles behind the eyes,
Just allow them to relax a little bit more.
And relax your cheeks and your jaw.
Relax your mouth.
No need to clench your teeth.
And try to also relax your tongue.
And whilst we're here,
Why not bring a gentle smile to your face as well,
That infamous half smile or the Buddha smile.
And now bring your attention to your ears.
And without doing anything,
Just let your ears relax a little bit more.
And your eyebrows and your forehead.
And also the top and the back of your head.
And then you're just coming down into the neck and your shoulders.
Allow your neck and shoulders to relax a little bit more.
And how about the chest area?
Where we often carry stress,
Discomfort,
But also huge amounts of joy and compassion and kindness.
But for now,
In this moment,
Allow your chest to fully relax.
Nothing that needs to be done.
Nothing that needs to be fixed.
As we continue with this beautiful body scan,
We shift more from the doing mode to the being mode.
And bring your awareness to your lower belly and your hips.
Just let your awareness rest here for a moment.
And notice any sensations.
There's no need to judge any feelings.
Just let everything be a part of your body scan.
And how about your left leg?
The whole left leg.
All the way down to your toes.
And do the same for your right leg.
Upper leg,
Knee,
Lower leg,
Ankles,
Foot,
And your toes.
And let your awareness rest here in both legs for a few moments.
Again,
Noticing any sensations without judging them.
And bring your awareness to your right arm.
From the right shoulder all the way down to your right hand and fingers.
Relax this part of your body a little bit more.
And now scan your left arm from your left shoulder to the fingers in your left hand.
Again,
Noticing any sensations without judging.
And now try to observe your whole body in this now moment at rest still and a lot calmer than when we first started this practice.
And bring your awareness now to your breath and just observe your breath,
Breathing your body effortlessly.
There is nothing you have to do.
Just be with your breath as you fall awake even more to the stillness of this moment.
And the theme for today's practice is holding space for yourself.
You are always available to friends and family members,
Colleagues,
And so forth.
But now we are holding space for ourselves in the same way we do so for others.
And so I'm going to invite you to simply listen to my words as you observe what comes up for you.
When we want to help somebody we need to be fully present.
So my question to you is how can you be more present in your life?
And I'm going to give you a few moments to contemplate this.
How can you be more present in your life?
And I'm going to give you a few moments to contemplate this.
How can you be more present in your life?
And when you spend time helping somebody else,
You listen to them and you listen deeply.
You offer someone the gift of being heard.
So my next question for you is how well do you listen to yourself?
And again I'm going to give you a few moments to think about this.
How well do I listen to myself?
And for the third and final question,
We are going to reflect on what we then usually do next.
When we help someone.
And that is to extend our support,
Our empathy.
And so my question for you is how empathetic are you towards yourself?
Are you kind or are you rather harsh on yourself?
And the best way to try this out right here and right now,
To gauge those levels of empathy for yourself,
Is by observing your thoughts in the next few moments.
And see if you can allow them to be without judging your thoughts as good or bad,
But simply as thoughts.
And that practice is called choiceless awareness.
And the more you cultivate this practice,
The more you learn to hold space for yourself.
So I'm going to give you a few moments to practice this.
It's about being a very good friend to yourself.
Caring,
Respecting,
Valuing and then supporting yourself in the same way you would others.
And mindfulness meditation helps us with that.
Because we slow down and we relax and we unhook from the default thought programs in our mind.
And we take time out to respond rather than react.
And it's important.
It's a great way of keeping your own cup full.
And you stay in the energy of this practice for a few more moments.
And then when you hear the bells,
You can open your eyes.
And you may want to take a deep breath in and out.
So thank you very much for sharing this moment with me.
Namaste.
I love you.
And I hope to see you again next Sunday.
Have a beautiful week everyone.
Bye for now.
