Day 7: Everyday Gratitude

Hi, my name is Chloe Freytag with Get Healthy U TV. Congratulations on making it through your first week of our 14-day meditation challenge. As you can see, I hope it's becoming a little easier to carve out five, 10 minutes of your time. It's not so much, but the effects of meditation are hopefully having a noticeable result on your body, your mind, your health. So let's keep going as we move towards our next week.

For today's meditation, find your way into a comfortable seat if that's cross-legged or any other position, maybe sitting on your knees. Feel free to utilize your pillow, your blanket, elevate your hips so your seat can be in a neutral position. Your pelvis is neutral. Your spine sits up nice and tall, right on top of the pelvis. Hands can turn up or down, maybe first finger and thumb touch.

Whatever position feels good for you today. And from here, make the choice to either close your eyes down or just softly gaze towards the floor. We'll begin our meditation with three deep breaths together, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Deeply inhale in, and exhale, let it all go. Cleaning the slate of the mind with our breath.

Again, big inhale in, exhale, release all worries. Last time, biggest deep breath, and exhale everything out. Start to bring your attention in to your breath, taking it comfortably, long and deep. Slowing the breath down as much as you can, as much as feels good for you. Whenever your mind starts to wander, just return in to that conscious breath, being fully present with your inhales and exhales.

Allow your body to feel comfortable and relaxed in the position you're sitting. Noticing if there are any areas that feel tense. How you can use your breath, use your exhalations to release that tension so that your entire body is calm and at ease. As you breathe here, long and deep, also start to notice your mental state of being today. Not becoming attached or judgments, putting any judgments on your mental state, but just noticing where you're at, letting it be okay.

Letting the thoughts come and go without holding onto them or feeding into them. And if you do find yourself getting a bit too caught up in the clutter of the mind today, just keep returning to that breath. Let that be your tool to keep bringing you back into the present moment, to keep bringing you back into your body, into this easy, comfortable state of being. Keep the spine nice and long and lifted so that your lungs have that space to breathe. And go easy on yourself here.

Meditation is not about perfection, it's about progress. It's a journey, a connection to ourselves, developing more compassion and understanding for your own mental state and for the others around you as well. Take a few more deep breaths, being present with all that's happening inside of you as you breathe, as your thoughts pass, as they come and go. And slowly you can begin to bring your hands into a prayer position right in front of your heart. And we'll take the time to close our meditation with gratitude.

So whatever that emotion starts to bring up for you today, if it's something specific or just a general feeling, just connect into that gratitude. Saying a mental thank you for all the blessings you have in your life. And with that gratitude in our hearts, let's close with a big, deep inhale. We'll pause at the top of the breath, and then we'll exhale out through the mouth, letting everything go. Take a deep inhale in, pause at the top, keep the body relaxed, shoulders soft, and then exhale out your mouth.

Letting the hands fall back onto your knees or in your lap, softly blinking your eyes back open to gaze forward. Thank you so much for meditating with us today. We hope to see you tomorrow.