Three Centers: Belly, Heart, and Head

Sean Fargo leads a mindfulness meditation to enhance body awareness of three centers in the body: the belly, the heart, and the head. Which one calls for your attention the most?

I'm just finding a posture that feels relaxed and alert, maybe taking a deep breath or two, relaxing the belly, softening the shoulders and the jaw, feeling your feet flat on the ground. You can close your eyes gently or look downward just to limit visual distractions.

Connecting with the feet on the ground, noticing any pressure on the bottoms of the feet, exploring the sensations under the toes, arches, the heels. Sensing in the legs in general. Sensing into the pelvic area, hip bones, the pressure of your body on whatever you're sitting on.

Sensations of the belly, maybe the belly is moving. Maybe there's a sense of heaviness or lightness, fullness or emptiness. Maybe it's feeling pleasant or unpleasant.

We're not trying to feel a certain way. We're not judging these sensations to be good or bad. We're just noticing what they feel like, moment to moment. Now sensing into the heart, the chest, the lungs.

What kinds of sensations can you notice all around the chest? Maybe you can notice a movement or maybe stillness. Maybe there's a sense of warmth or a coolness. Sometimes around the heart we might feel a sense of dryness or moisture.

Sometimes if we're feeling a sense of care or ease, there's a sense of pleasant sensations around the heart, a sense of lightness. Or if we're going through a tough time, sometimes the heart can feel heavy, dry.

I'm just noticing what's true for the sensations around your chest in this moment, allowing these sensations to be here. We bring this gentle curiosity to the sensations around the heart, giving ourselves the space to feel.

Now shifting our awareness up into our head, sensing into the physical, visceral sensations all around the head, all the sensations around the face, the ears, inside the mouth, all around your scalp. Sensations all around the brain, just noticing what you can viscerally sense, allowing all of these sensations to be here. The sense of gentle, caring, curiosity, just being with the sensations all around the head, remembering to breathe as we bring this gentle curiosity to the head.

Now it's taking a quick survey between the head, the chest, and the belly, these three centers, noticing which one of these is calling your attention the most. Which of these three places in the body could use a little bit more of this gentle curiosity or presence or care? Is it the head or the chest or the belly?

Then just bringing your awareness to one of those three centers, bringing this presence, just kind of hanging out in that area for a little bit, offering this non-judgmental moment to moment awareness.

May we bring the same quality of spacious, kind awareness to our three centers, the head, heart, and belly for the rest of the day, maybe taking a deep breath or two, softening the belly. Reconnecting with our feet on the ground, feeling the weight of our body on the chair, whatever we're sitting on, wiggling your fingers or toes, slowly opening your eyes whenever you're ready.