Nourishing Rest: A Body And Light Meditation

Welcome.

Let's get comfortable.

I would recommend lying down for this guided meditation.

So lie down and when you're ready,

We're going to take three breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.

So let's take our first breath in and breathe out slowly through the mouth.

Let's breathe in again in through the nose and breathe out slowly through the mouth again.

Let's breathe in one big,

Deep last breath in through the nose.

And when you release this time,

Make an audible sigh and let it all go.

And if you can find another 5% wiggle,

Tweak your body to get a little bit more comfortable.

And take a moment to acknowledge the support you're getting from Mother Earth.

She's got you in her arms and allowing you to rest at this moment.

If part of your mind is caught in the day behind you,

That's okay.

Acknowledge it with kindness.

It's part of you that's already planning for later.

Notice that too.

And then gently invite all of yourself to be here now,

Just for this time,

Just for these moments of deep rest.

And when you're ready,

Bring your attention to the crown of your head.

Become aware of any sensations.

Can you feel the skin and the air meet of the top of your head?

Just relax.

There's nothing for you to do here.

It's just to become aware.

Move your attention to your forehead,

Head and your brow.

Become aware of the space between your ears.

Move your attention to your eyes,

Your cheeks,

Your nose,

Your jaw.

Generally,

We hold some tension in our jaws.

So sometimes it's easy just to sort of part your lips a little bit and relax.

Become aware of your entire head.

Sense any tension or stress and let it all go.

Now you can move your attention to your neck and your upper shoulder blades.

Become aware of any tension there or stress.

Let it go.

Make sure your shoulders are dropped and you're surrendering that.

You can also acknowledge the weight that they carry for you.

Moving our attention to our right arm,

Our shoulder,

Our bicep,

Our elbow,

Our forearms,

Our wrists,

The palm of our hands,

The outside of our hands.

Feel the air as it touches your skin,

Your fingers,

Your fingertips.

If you're gripping,

Release that grip and release anything that you're holding.

Moving your attention to your left arm,

Your shoulder,

Your bicep,

Your elbow,

Your forearm,

Your wrists,

Your left hand,

The palm of your hand,

The outside of your hand,

Your fingers,

Your fingertips.

Become aware of your arm.

Sense any tension or stress or gripping and let it go.

Now bring your attention to your chest and your heart space,

Your upper back,

Between your shoulder blades.

Become aware of your breathing as you breathe in through your chest and your upper back and the accordion nature.

You're breathing in as it rises and lowering as you breathe out.

Become aware of any stress or tension.

See if you can soften that.

Move your attention to your belly,

Your lower back,

Your sacrum,

Your hips.

Just become aware of the area.

Sense any tension,

Stress.

Let it go.

Relax.

Moving to your left thigh,

Your hamstring,

Your knees,

Your top of your knee,

Inside of your knee,

The bottom of your knee,

Your shin,

Your calf,

Your ankle.

Become aware of your entire right leg.

Sense any tension or stress and let it go.

Bring your attention to your feet,

Through your heel,

The bottom of your feet,

The top of your feet,

Your toes,

The tips of your toes.

Sense that your feet is your foundation,

Your root into the ground.

Now bring your attention to your left leg,

Your left thigh,

Hamstring,

Knee,

Top of the knee,

Inside the knee,

Behind the knee,

Calves,

Shin,

Ankle.

Since your entire left leg and see if you have any tension or stress.

Let it soften.

Relax.

Moving down to your foundation,

Your feet,

The bottom of your feet,

The top of your feet,

Your toes,

The tips of your toes.

Now become aware of your entire body as one living organism.

Relax and sense that you are whole and complete as you are.

From the crown of your head to the tips of your toes,

Your entire body is at rest,

Supported and safe.

Notice the wholeness of your being.

As you rest here,

Picture golden light surrounding your body like warm sunlight on a peaceful afternoon,

Or the glow of candlelight in a quiet room,

Or the luminous quality of dawn breaking through darkness.

This light is nourishing you,

Restoring you,

Reminding you that rest itself is sacred work.

You don't have to earn this.

You don't have to be depleted to deserve it.

You are worthy of rest simply because you exist.

So let this golden light begin to move through your body.

Imagine it entering through the crown of your head,

Washing down through your face,

To your throat,

To your shoulders.

Feel it moving like honey,

Slow,

Thick,

Sweet,

Coating every cell with gentle nourishment.

This light knows exactly where to go,

Exactly what needs healing,

Exactly what needs softening.

The light is moving through your chest now,

Softening your heart space.

If there's been tension here from holding feelings,

Protecting yourself,

From trying too hard,

From loving too much,

Or not allowing yourself to love enough,

Let the light dissolve it with tenderness.

Your heart is safe to soften.

Your heart is allowed to rest.

You can put down the shield you've been carrying,

Just for now,

And just for these moments.

The golden light now continues downward through your belly,

That soft center where you digest not just food,

But experiences,

Emotions,

And life itself.

Let the light bring warmth here,

Comfort here,

Moving into your hips,

That place where we store so much emotion,

Where trauma can be held in the tissues.

Breathe the light into your hips,

Inviting release,

Inviting ease.

The light is now flowing down your legs,

Revitalizing tired muscles,

Soothing overworked joints.

Feel it pooling in your feet,

Grounding you,

Anchoring you in this moment,

To this breath,

To this body that has carried you through so much.

This golden light now expands beyond your body,

Creating a cocoon of safety around you.

Imagine yourself resting in this luminous egg of peace,

Completely protected,

Completely held.

Nothing can disturb you here.

You are safe,

You are held,

And you are at peace.

Stay with the rhythm of your breath,

And let it carry you home to yourself.

There's no need to control or change it.

Simply witness the tide of your breathing,

The natural rise and fall,

Like waves on a shore,

Like the rhythm of life itself moving through you.

Your breath has been with you for every moment of your life.

It's the most faithful companion.

Trust it now to guide you deeper into rest.

And if your mind wanders,

Because it will,

That's perfectly okay.

The mind's job is to think,

Just as the heart's job is to beat.

You don't have to stop your thoughts.

Simply notice where your mind has gone without judgment,

Without frustration,

And gently guide your attention back to your breath,

Back to the sensation of your body at rest,

Back to this moment of deep permission.

You might notice sounds around you,

A car passing,

A bird singing,

Voices in another room,

The hum of electricity,

And that's fine.

Let them be part of the landscape of your awareness.

You don't need to push anything away.

You're simply resting in the center of your own being,

Anchored in by your own breath,

And held in this golden light.

With each breath,

You're releasing layers,

Layers of effort,

Of striving,

Of the pressure to be productive,

To be perfect,

To be more.

You're sinking beneath the surface of doing and discovering the depths of being.

You're remembering a deeper truth,

That you are worthy,

Simply because you exist.

Not because of what you accomplish.

Not because of how much you give.

Not because of how you look,

Or what you achieve.

Simply because you are here.

You are enough,

Exactly as you are,

In this very moment.

Imagine now,

That with each exhale,

You're releasing into the earth below you.

The earth receives everything you no longer need.

Your worries,

Your to-do lists,

Your exhaustion,

Your fears,

Your frustrations.

She takes it all with an infinite capacity,

And transforms it into nourishment.

She composts your pain into possibility.

You are held.

You are supported.

You can let go.

With each inhale,

Imagine drawing up from the earth beneath you.

Her stability,

Her groundedness,

Her ancient wisdom of cycles and seasons.

She reminds you that rest is part of that cycle.

That winter comes before spring.

That the field must lie,

Follow,

To become fertile again.

That the seed must rest in darkness,

Before it can reach toward light.

That nature doesn't hurry,

Yet everything gets accomplished.

Continue breathing at your own pace,

And let each breath be an act of trust.

Trust that you can rest,

And the world will continue.

Trust that you can pause,

And nothing essential fall apart.

Trust that you're allowed to take up space,

To take up time,

To simply be.

Let yourself sink even deeper into this rest.

Imagine you're floating in warm water,

Completely buoyant,

Completely supported,

Or sinking into the softest bed,

Cradled in comfort.

Or maybe you're lying in a meadow on a summer day,

The earth solid beneath you,

The sky vast above you,

And nothing,

Absolutely nothing that needs your attention right now.

There's nowhere else to be,

Nothing to prove,

No one to impress.

Just this,

Your breath,

Your body,

This moment of radical permission to simply be.

As you rest here,

You might notice that your breath naturally slows,

Becomes subtle.

This is your nervous system shifting into its parasympathetic mode.

Rest and digest.

Heal and restore.

This is your body remembering its innate capacity for peace.

Trust this.

Allow this.

Welcome.

You might feel sensations in your body,

Tingling,

Warmth,

Coolness,

Heaviness,

Lightness.

All of these are signs that energy is moving,

That healing is happening.

Simply observe with curiosity and acceptance.

There's no right or wrong way to experience this rest.

Now,

Allow yourself to sink into an even deeper layer of rest.

Imagine that beneath your thoughts,

Beneath your physical sensations,

Beneath even your breath,

There is a place of absolute stillness,

A place that has never been disturbed,

A place of infinite peace that exists at the very core of your being.

This is your true home.

This is who you are beneath all the doing,

All the becoming,

All the trying.

This is you that existed before you learned to worry,

Before you took on the world's expectations,

Before you started keeping score.

This is essentially you,

Whole,

Complete,

And unbroken.

Rest here in this deepest place.

There are no words here,

No concepts,

Just pure being,

Just existence itself.

You don't have to understand it or figure it out.

Simply rest in the mystery of your own being.

Let the golden light that surrounds you and fills you now pulse gently like a heartbeat,

Like the rhythm of the universe itself.

You're connected to everything,

To the earth beneath you,

To the sky above,

To every living being.

You are part of the great web of life,

Held in a network of invisible connections.

You belong here.

You're meant to be here.

In this deep rest,

Healing happens naturally.

Your immune system strengthens,

Your nervous system recalibrates,

Your mind processes and integrates,

Your heart repairs,

Your soul remembers itself.

You don't have to make any of this happen.

Simply by resting,

By allowing,

By being,

You give your body and mind and spirit the space they need to restore themselves.

Continue to breathe softly,

Naturally.

Let your awareness be spacious,

Open,

Like the sky.

Thoughts may pass like clouds,

But you are the sky itself,

Vast,

Unchanging,

Always here.

Sensations may arise like weather patterns,

But you are the sky,

Unaffected,

Witnessing and at peace.

Now,

Very gently from this deep place of rest,

Begin to bring your awareness back to your breath.

Notice it moving in and out,

The faithful tide of your breathing.

There's no rush.

Take all the time you need.

Begin noticing the sounds around you again.

Sounds that were probably there all along,

But perhaps faded from your awareness.

Let them help orient you,

Bringing you back gently.

Become aware of the surface beneath you,

The weight of your body resting upon it.

Feel all the points of contact.

Feel yourself held and supported.

And now slowly,

Gradually begin to deepen your breath.

Invite a little bit more air in with each inhale.

Feel your lungs expanding a little bit more fully,

Your rib cage opening.

You can also start to bring back small movements back to your body.

Maybe wiggle your fingers and toes.

Take your time.

Move like you're waking from the deepest,

Most nourishing sleep.

Take your time.

You can start to roll your wrists and ankles in slow circles.

Stretch your fingers wide,

Then make soft fists,

And then release.

Flex your feet gently.

Feel free to stretch if it makes you feel good.

Roll your head gently from side to side.

Notice how you feel.

Do you feel like there's more space in your body,

More ease in your breath,

More quiet in your mind?

Observe without judging.

This rest was exactly what you needed,

Exactly as it was.

Let's take one more deep breath in through our nose,

And then just hold it at the top just for a moment,

Feeling the fullness.

Then exhale slowly through your mouth,

Perhaps with a gentle sigh.

If you're lying down,

You might want to roll onto your one side,

Curling into a fetal position.

Take your time before you start to sit up.

And when you are ready,

Use your hands to press yourself up to a comfortable seated position.

And when you're seated,

Take a moment to settle.

Feel your sitting bones grounded.

Feel your spine stacking up vertebra by vertebra.

Bring your hands to your heart center,

One palm over the other,

And feel the warmth of your hands.

Feel the gentle rise and fall of your chest beneath them.

See if you can feel your heartbeat,

That faithful drum that's been with you through everything.

Feel gratitude for your body,

For carrying you through the days,

For resting with you now,

And for the miracle of your heartbeat,

Your breath,

And your aliveness.

Thank your body for the wisdom,

For the ways it communicates with you,

For never giving up on you,

And healing itself when you're not paying attention.

Thank yourself for taking this time,

For choosing rest,

For honoring your needs,

And for giving yourself permission to pause in a world that constantly demands more.

This was an act of courage.

This was an act of self-love.

And when you're ready,

Keeping your hands on your heart,

Whisper quietly to yourself,

Or you can simply hold these words in your awareness.

I am nourished.