Grounding Through Body Awareness (<8 minute meditation)

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Grounding through body awareness.

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Find a comfortable seat.

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This could be on the floor, on a cushion, or on a chair.

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For this meditation, we want connection to the ground.

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So if you're sitting on a chair, plant your feet flat on the ground,

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and if you're sitting on a cushion, take your cushion to the floor.

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Either sit on your knees with your shins and the tops of your feet, rooted to the

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earth, or cross your legs and arrange the height of your cushion so your knees

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are lower than the height of your hips.

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Once you're comfortable in your seat, sit up tall, close your eyes and gaze

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softly at the ground ahead of you.

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Seal your lips and breathe gently, quietly and slowly in and out through your nose.

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With every exhale breath, allow the weight of your body to release

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further down towards the ground.

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With every inhale breath, notice an opposing upward lifting energy that

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lengthens your spine a little bit taller.

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With each exhale breath, release the shoulders, hips

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and legs toward the ground.

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With each inhale breath, feel a gentle lightness, a gentle, upward lifting.

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Rest here for a moment, finding a balance between these two breaths.

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Grounding exhale.

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Upward lifting inhale.

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Now take your attention more towards the exhale breath.

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Let each exhale breath take a little more time than each breath in.

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Lengthen and extend the exhales gently and comfortably without trying too hard.

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Now notice all the points of your body, which are touching down and

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connecting to the ground below you to the earth, the soles of your feet,

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or your ankles, your shins, your sits bones, the backsides of your thighs.

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With every exhale breath, as you further ground by releasing energy down to

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the earth, imagine that each of these connection points expands a tiny bit.

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They widened the way water spilled on the floor slowly begins to spread.

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And if at any time you feel as though you're melting down a little too

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much, just remember the accompanying lightness of each breath in.

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Rest here, aware of this play and this connection between the solidity of your

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body and the firmness of the earth.

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And now of course the mind is still active, perhaps very active.

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Anytime that you notice the mind has wandered off chasing a thought..

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Spend no time wondering why.

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Spend no time wondering on what.

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Spend no time judging the meditation or yourself as good or bad.

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Simply bring the mind back to the body.

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Check back in with your sense of the weight of your body, the form of

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your body, the solidity of your body.

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Get very curious about the sense of your body.

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Is it heavy?

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Is it light?

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Is it still, or in motion, solid or fluid?

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Be present with the body right here right now with the body, seated on your

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chair or on your cushion, in touch with the ground, relatively still, physically

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stable, rooted, grounded, neutral.

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From this place of stability, continue to notice when the mind wanders off

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and as many times as you need to, bring the mind back to the body, back

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to this anchor of the form of your body stable and connected to earth.

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Notice the body as Homebase for the mind.

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Wherever the mind goes, the body remains grounded.

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And whenever you notice the mind has gone, the mind has

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the grounded body to return to.

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Before you open your eyes, check in one more time with the space in

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which your body meets the ground.

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Breathe out.

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Release down into the space, into the ground.

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Breathe in and push down into the space as you open your eyes.

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Stay here for three to five breaths with your eyes open, still aware of your body

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and the support of the ground beneath you.

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And as you rise up to stand, be aware that to do so you press down