I'm Stephanie Nash,
And this is a special meditation where we will combine some wisdom from the Native American ceremony,
Where they respect,
Honor,
And open to seven sacred directions,
And a mindfulness practice of being present in the body and in relationship to the space around us.
So,
Take this moment to let the body settle and tune into that process of settling.
What's that feel like?
Maybe take a deep breath in and on the breath out,
Let the body naturally become grounded,
Settled,
As you can feel the weight of the body on the chair or cushion.
Allow the back of your head to easily and gently lift upwards,
Stretching the back of the neck and the whole spine so that you become lengthened and settled and balanced.
Maybe there is even fluidity to the body.
Let the face be soft,
Let the shoulders relax back and down,
And let the belly be soft,
Allowing the breath to just drop down easily and naturally into a soft belly.
Body settled,
Relaxed,
And lengthened.
Just balance there with minimal effort.
Now,
Move your attention to the front part of your body,
The face,
Chest,
Front of the arms,
And then extend your attention to reach out into the space in front of you,
However far you can stay in contact with it,
Maybe several inches or several feet.
Feel to the front.
You may feel energy going out or coming in or both,
And maybe having a sense of the connection,
The relationship,
The front part of your body has with this space in front of you.
Now,
Gently shift your attention to the right side of your body,
The right side of your right foot,
Leg,
Arm,
Torso,
Right side of the head,
The whole right side of your body.
Now,
Extend your attention into the space to the right of you.
Again,
Maybe you feel energy radiating out or that you are receiving.
Just be open and explore the space to the right and the body's relationship to it.
Now,
Shift your attention to the backside of the body.
This may take focus because due to our visual field only going forward and to the side,
We often miss and don't value the backside and the space behind us.
Start with your back,
But also include the back of your legs and arms,
The back of your head,
The back of your neck,
Back of the heels,
Ankles,
Calves,
Hamstrings,
And then open your awareness to include the space behind you,
That connection with what's behind.
Maybe there's a supportive flavor of energy there that you can allow,
Receive,
Or send.
Just notice.
Allow your attention to rest behind you.
Now,
Move your attention to the left side of the body,
Feeling the left leg,
The left side of the left leg,
Left side of your torso,
Throat,
Face,
Left arm,
Your whole left side.
Now,
Extend your awareness to include the space to the left,
The way you might reach out or put your arm around a loved one to your left,
But this is space,
Energy.
Maybe you feel energy radiating out from you.
Maybe you are receiving it.
Now,
Move your attention to above.
First,
Feel the top part of the body,
Shoulders,
Head,
Then connect to the space above the body.
You may especially feel some kind of energy here.
Maybe you are radiating up.
Maybe you are receiving.
Maybe both.
This may be inspiring,
Or healing,
Or whatever flavor you experience.
Notice that connection to however much space above you you are aware of.
Now,
Shift your attention to below.
First,
Sensing the weight of the body,
The contact of the body to what's below.
This is grounding,
And allow your awareness to soak downwards,
Beyond this contact,
Into the earth energy.
Allow that to come up and ground and support you.
Allow any energy to move from you,
Down through and out the bottom part of your body,
Into this space below.
Feel this connection with the space below.
Now,
Move your attention to inside the body,
The seventh sacred direction.
Everything inside the skin,
Lots of sensations and kinds of energy there.
Hold all those kinds of energy as one whole,
This inner body space.
Now,
Expand back out and include the space and energies to the front,
To the right,
To the back,
To the left,
Above and below.
All together,
These directions create this huge sphere of space and energy in which the energies of your body are in the center.
Rest in the connection to this greater space.
What if you kept in touch with this connection as you move through the world?
How would that be different?
Now,
Taking a nice big breath in,
Breathing in all these energies and spaces,
And on the breath out,
It accentuates your energy radiating out.
Do a few breaths like that.
Feel that.
Breathing in these energies and spaces,
Breathing out your energy,
Allowing it to radiate out.
Now,
Notice how you feel,
And maybe set an intention to have moments in your day to remember this connection with the space and energy around you as you move through your day.
