Your Mindful Journey

Gift yourself the space and time of this practice by being present. Please remove any extra distractions like notifications, your cell phone, or any extra screens. You might prefer to have a journal and a writing instrument next to you and I recommend being warm enough to sustain comfort as we move through our practice today.

And once you're settled in, take a moment and ask yourself, how are you feeling right now? Taking a moment to put everything else on pause and identifying your physical, emotional, and spiritual sensations. How are you feeling right now?

We've covered a lot of ground in the previous classes on mindful eating. So, ask yourself, what did you learn from the last session, the last experience? What were the big takeaways? What parts of mindful eating are genuinely resonating with you now? In the last class, one of the key points was: what you practice becomes stronger. We can talk a lot about mindfulness but really the practice speaks for itself.

I'd like to take you on a guided relaxation experience allowing you to deeply set your own personal intention for your mindful journey. Allow yourself to become comfortable, relaxing into your chair or seat or even on the floor, comfort and warm, blankets or an extra sweatshirt, socks, just so you feel the essence of coziness. And by doing that, by taking that little extra moment to take care of our body, we can allow this practice a chance to become completely effortless. There's nothing else you need to do right now. Except follow my voice.

And when and if you become distracted or your mind wanders, just gently guide yourself back to my voice. Let's begin by taking a few slow and comfortable breaths. With each exhale, feel your body relax more deeply. Make sure your posture is completely comfortable. This is your practice. Adjust your body as you need.

Settling into your chosen position. Allowing your whole body to rest with deep awareness. Feel your feet relaxing. Feel your legs relaxing. Feel your hips and buttock relaxing. Feel your abdomen and low back releasing. Feel your arms and hands relaxing. Feel your shoulders and neck softening, letting go. Feel your face and whole head relaxing.

Take long deep abdominal breaths. Letting awareness focus on your breathing. Now bring awareness to your heart and visualize someone, something, or some place that you are grateful for. Feel gratitude spreading from your heart through your entire being.

Carrying this feeling of gratitude in your heart, begin to create a heartfelt intention, a quality you want to bring into your life. Create a feeling an essence or see an image of your intention. Holding this feeling or image, create a positive statement in the present tense describing your intention.

For example, I am an intuitive eater. I am at ease with life. Or, I am happy and healthy. And now, say your intention three times to yourself, knowing it to be true.

Allow your awareness to travel through your body now on a journey of sensation. Simply feel each part as it is mentioned. Welcome all sensation just as it is.

Begin with the mouth. Feel your mouth. Feel sensation in your mouth. Feel your jaw, lips, upper lip, lower lip. Notice where the lips touch. Feel the inside of your mouth. Roof of your mouth. Under tongue. Upper teeth and gums. Lower teeth and gums. Tongue. Root of your tongue. Center of your tongue. Tip of your tongue.

Notice sense of taste in your mouth. Feel your left inner cheek. Right inner cheek. Now feel all the parts together, now has a whole. Feel your whole mouth as sensation. Feel your nose. Notice the nostrils. Left nostril. Right nostril. Both nostrils. Notice the breath. Nasal passages. Follow nasal passages all the way back into your head.

Become aware of your ears. Right ear. Left ear. Both ears simultaneously. Feel the folds of the ears. Backs of the ears. Earlobes. Ear canals. Follow ear canals into the inner ear. Notice your ears receiving sound listening. Feel your ears hearing.

Feel your eyes. Left eye. Right eye. Both eyes together. Notice eyelids. Feel each eyelash. Notice where the eyelids touch. Feel your eyes now as energy, radiant glowing embers. Bring awareness to the crown of your head. Forehead. Face. Feel your whole head. Feel your neck. Back of neck. Sides of your neck. Throat.

Bring all of your awareness now to your right palm. Thumb. First finger. Second finger. Third finger. Fourth finger. Feel your whole hand alive with energy. Feel your wrist. Forearm. Elbow. Upper arm. Your whole right shoulder. Notice the notch at the base of your throat.

And now bring your awareness to your left palm. Left thumb. First finger. Second finger. Third finger. Fourth finger. Feel your whole left hand alive and filled with sensation. Feel your left wrist. Forearm. Upper arm. Your whole left shoulder. Notice the notch at the base of your throat.

Become aware of the upper chest. Upper back. Shoulder blades. Feel your heart center. Notice your abdomen. Ribs on your back. Feel your belly. Navel. Pelvis. Hips. Feel your right hip. Right thigh. Knee. Lower leg. Ankle. Right foot. Right toes. Sole of the foot. Your whole right foot.

Feel again the pelvis. Left hip. Left thigh. Lower leg. Ankle. Foot. Left toes. Sole. Your whole left foot. Now, notice both feet. Feel your sitting bones. Navel center. Diaphragm. Heart. Throat. Between the brows. Crown.

Feel into your back body. Bring awareness to your whole back body as sensation alive with vibration. Now feel into the front body. Filled with radiant vibration. Pour your awareness like liquid into the right side of your body. Feel the whole right side. Pour your awareness like flowing sensors into your whole left side. Feel your left side. Feel midline.

Feel your whole body has one. Complete entity. Feel sensation throughout your entire body. Begin to notice your breath. Your natural breath as it flows through you. Feel the in breath.

Note the out breath. As you exhale, imagine a wave passing downward through your body carrying away tensions. As you inhale, a fresh wave flows upward through your whole body, bringing sense of calm to every cell.

Exhale, wave flowing downward through your body, carries away fears and tension. Inhale, fresh wave upward brings calm serenity. Now remember your heart's longing statement, your intention. Repeat it again three times as the present truth. Three times to yourself.

Notice the back side of your body. Feel all the places where your body is supported. Notice the front of your body. Notice all of the space surrounding you. Let your body expand wider into the space that surrounds you. Notice your breath. Feel its natural rhythm and pace. We are now completing our relaxation practice.

Before moving, sense your fingers and simply imagine them moving. Now begin to wiggle your fingers, feeling every sensation as you do. Notice your toes. Then, begin to wiggle your toes. Draw a deep breath into your belly. Into your chest. Lengthen your spine.

Take a full breath in and slowly exhale. Notice how you feel right now. Notice the effects of this practice. Gradually begin to allow your eyes to slowly open, taking in the light, colors, textures all around you. I invite you to contemplate or write in your journal any experiences, thoughts, or reflections that you had during or after this practice.

And before transitioning into the rest of your day, take some time to discern your vision of how you will spend your energy. Perhaps you'll write this down in your journal or think about it. Defining what you want to be doing more of. Thank you for taking time to practice this deep rest as you move through your contemplative and journal writing practices and begin to take on the responsibilities of the rest of your day.

Pay attention to the energy from this meditation that begins to emerge into your body and your mind and your spirit. I leave you now with this quote from Christina Feldman: "There is something mysterious and sacred about being alive. It's an awareness of something that is too important to forget."