Greetings and welcome to this guided meditation.
I'm Stacey Iresol and today I'm going to guide you through a little check-in.
Take a moment to find your seat.
Lengthen the spine,
Straighten the back.
Get into some intentional posture,
An intentional position.
And when you're ready,
Softly and gently close your eyes.
As your eyelids softly press together,
Shifting your awareness to your internal environment.
Simply letting go of everything outside yourself as we enter into stillness.
Just feeling into your body,
Resting in your seat.
Feeling into your breath.
Feeling into those subtle sensations between your body and your breath.
Each time you breathe in and breathe out,
Just noticing what you notice as the air travels in through and around you.
With each breath sinking a little deeper into a state of relaxation.
With each exhale,
Relaxing the muscles,
Softening the body.
With each inhale drawing yourself back into this present moment.
Feel the face,
The shoulders,
The back and the belly all together.
Just relaxing and relaxing.
Just relaxing and relaxing.
Noticing the mind as it will naturally drift and wander.
That's the natural tendency of the mind is to create thoughts.
To acknowledge those thoughts without trying to ignore them or push them away.
Just observe what comes up through the mind without judgment,
Without reaction,
Without frustration.
Just simply observe,
Become aware and shift your awareness back to the breath.
Feeling into the presence of that breath in your body as a way to anchor yourself into the present right here,
Right now.
Coming back again and again.
And as you continue to acknowledge those thoughts,
As they continue to naturally arise and fall away.
Using this as an opportunity to check in with yourself mentally in this moment in time.
Simply observing if the mind is busy and active or if the mind has slowed down and there are greater pauses and spaces between your thoughts.
Just notice what you notice.
There's no right.
There's no wrong.
As you observe the mind witnessing when the thoughts arise,
Are they pulling you into the past replaying stories or scenarios of things that have already happened,
Things that we cannot change?
Or is the mind jumping ahead into the future worrying,
Trying to perfectly plan or predict what's to come,
All things outside of our control?
Just knowing that when the mind does drift from the present moment,
It's either traveling back to the past or forward to the future.
All that worrying,
All that rumination doesn't serve you right here and now.
So consciously bringing yourself back to be present in this moment of stillness.
And as you continue to observe your thoughts,
Letting them be,
Letting them go,
Acknowledging them,
Just also taking a moment to reflect if these thoughts running through your mind in this moment are serving you,
Are serving your higher good.
Are your thoughts judgmental and harsh?
Are they full of worry and fear?
Are you thinking about the worst case or the best case scenarios?
Don't judge what you observe.
Just simply become aware of the quality of thoughts currently taking space in your mind.
Finding yourself back with your breath again and again and again and again.
And as you take notice,
Conscious awareness of your wandering mind and thoughts,
Just taking a moment to check in with yourself to see how those thoughts are making you feel.
Just checking in with your emotional state in relation to those thoughts arising and falling away.
Are your thoughts causing you to feel good,
To feel joy,
To feel hopeful,
Grateful?
Or are your thoughts causing you to worry,
To feel fear,
Sadness,
Frustration,
Or perhaps something in between?
Do not try to fix or change your emotions.
Simply use this as an opportunity to become aware,
To fully embrace,
Honor,
And experience the feelings that are rising in you in this moment.
Knowing that as human beings we are gifted this privilege to feel all of the emotions along the spectrum,
From one extreme to the other and all that fall in between.
And as you observe,
Witness,
And just feel into your current emotional state,
Witness and observe the thoughts showing themselves in your mind.
Just also knowing that with awareness of our thoughts and feelings comes opportunity to shift,
To choose better feeling thoughts and better feeling emotions the majority of the time.
Not to say that we should only feel good all of the time,
But with awareness we can choose and refocus how we feel the majority of the time.
Simply inviting you to deepen your breath again now.
Gently drawing a little more air deeper through your lungs,
Into your body,
Breathing out,
Fully,
Completely empty.
Release any stagnant energy from deep within.
And with these few deeper breaths,
Shifting awareness back into your body,
Feeling in physically,
Softly expanding that awareness outward,
Becoming aware again of your surroundings,
With your eyes still softly closed.
And inviting a great big smile to your face,
Ending with a smile,
Keep your eyes closed and just feel into that smile,
How it feels all throughout your entire body,
Not just in your cheeks.
Feel those happy hormones being released through your system.
And with that smile on your face,
Just taking a moment of gratitude towards yourself.
Thank yourself for taking this time in stillness,
For showing up for you and also bringing to mind anything or anyone else that you are grateful for today.
Every day that we wake up,
There's something we can be grateful for,
Even if it's for just waking up in itself.
When you're done with that moment of gratitude,
In your own time,
When you're ready,
And softly and gently open your eyes,
Invite gentle movement back to the body,
Stretching out,
Doing whatever feels right to come back.
And welcome back.
Thank you for joining me again and have a beautiful day.
