Gratitude Guided Meditation
Settle into a comfortable, quiet space sitting upright in a position where your head, back, and neck are supported. Before starting the meditation bring yourself to a position that you can sit in for a while and maintain focus.
Before closing your eyes, take your first inhale - acknowledging the space you are in. Breathing the smells, thinking about the temperature of the room.
Following your exhale, close your eyes.
Begin to breathe.
Do not allow yourself to get distracted by the curiosities of your mind, rather try to tune into how long you can breathe in and then breathe out.
This concentration on your breath should then begin to center and calm you.
You may even want to gently place a hand on your stomach to feel the inhalation and exhalation of your breath… the rise and the fall.
As you continue to take these deep, long breaths, take a moment to scan your body. See what feels tight or tense and navigate your breath to those specific areas. The body has these amazing superpowers to heal physical tension with breathwork, so allow yourself to oxygenate the areas to open up and relax.
Continue to breathe.
Now think, what is worrying you?
Keep breathing.
What is irritating you right now?
What is causing you anger or anxiety?
Now as you process each of those things individually, breathe them out. Allow them to come in and ruminate in your body with your inhale. Maybe locate where that anger or where that anxiety moves to in your body specifically. Then with your exhale let it leave your body.
Make sure your exhale is longer than your inhale to ensure that these thoughts have enough time to flow out of you.
Your body in this process is doing a sort of cleansing, moving towards a state of clarity, openness, and rest.
Focus on breath, and now begin to think about the most basic things you have:
Is it the gift of life itself? Your heartbeat?
Is it the ability to hear, the ability to see, to feel and touch, to smell?
Now go deeper, what else do you have? As you think about these things: continue your inhales and longer exhales.
Is it the ability to run? Is it your ability to learn? Maybe your ability to simply be able to have this moment of quietness.
And keep breathing.
Now move your breath a little deeper. See how long you can inhale and then exhale for, and just continue to feel grounded in your seat with the flow of breath as your concentration.
With this, think about what you are grateful for?
Is it your family?
Is it your health?
Maybe the sport you play?
As these appreciations start to flood your head - allow your breath to move through them still.
Maybe take a moment to reflect on the reasons you admire or love these things.
And then continue back to your breath.
Allow your appreciation to fill you up. And begin to now just simply focus on your breath again, quietly. If a thought comes to your mind, set it aside for a moment and just continue to breathe.
After you think about all these things, maybe you open your eyes, notice that you have been sitting quietly for several minutes - thinking and taking the time to be grateful. This moment has not been filled with judgment or distraction, but simply a moment to promote gratitude and a sense of well-being.
