Good evening everybody and welcome to April's Sunday meditation. I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend. Finally, the sunshine has come out and it's been glorious and we can actually start to feel spring has arrived.

So this evening's meditation, we're going to start off with start off with a lovely body scan with Mike and then we'll do mindfulness of decisions with myself. And the reason I chose this meditation is related to springs, as I say, we're starting to feel that we have arrived at spring with the sunshine, . And spring is about, I've been doing a lot of workshops at the moment with yoga and about how spring is about the rising energy.

So as we come out of winter in the hibernation, we start to pick up our energy, start to spend more time outdoors and also. It's about, it's the time where we start putting our plans into action. So in the winter it's about preparing and planning and then as we come into spring, it's about taking action.

And making decisions. And Definitely decision making is one of my one of the things that I definitely do have a tendency to take a while over, so this is something that I've been working on to get in balance with the spring and the energy of spring. So that's what I've focused on is the mindfulness of decisions, so just to.

Start to check in, not just making decisions from a men's point of view, but from the whole of the body, so we'll do a little bit more of that later on. So sit back, relax, and I'll hand you over to Mike for your first meditation, and I hope you enjoyed the session. Thanks everyone.

Thanks very much, Meggan, hello everybody. Yeah, so my decision for tonight was to go right back. So, when we do the eight week mindfulness-based stress reduction course, the very first meditation we do is the body scan.

And I just thought it was a good time to come back and maybe do it even more mindfully than perhaps we've done it before, because I'd like to do the, linear body scan today where we sort of scan our body from the top of our head and sort of work our way down. And What I'd like to try and do is do it even more mindfully, so. I'm gonna ask you all to just notice already.

Just go and scan yourself and. Have a, have a look in at yourself and recognise whether you've got any sort of fixed ideas about a good body scan or a not so good body scan or doing it really well, or the purpose of it is to try and purify our body. And let go of that.

So. The only discipline. Involved with body scan, it's just that we keep practising it.

And being curious about the possibility of cultivating an attitude of openness and curiosity about whatever we experience as we begin to scan down our body. So I'm gonna ask you all to try approaching this experience with the attitude of, oh, well, that's just the way things are right now. So if you find pain or you find discomfort.

That's just what I'm finding right now. Because if you try and fight off unpleasant thoughts or feelings or bodily sensations, that fight takes you away from the meditative processes. So, before we start the body scan, just remember that.

You know, you only have to give yourself the most helpful conditions and maybe think about it as a bit like planting a seed. The more you poke around and interfere with that seed, the less it will develop and grow. When you just leave the, the seed to grow it.

Expands to become a life filled and lived with more mindfulness, so it's just. Allowing your experience to be your experience and the most important guideline always is let's just do it. So we begin this meditation by just trying to centre our attention.

So in order to do this, let's take our Attention outside of the room. That you're meditating in. Maybe look out the window.

Maybe listen to the sounds. And then bring your attention. Into the room that you're meditating in and.

Look around the room that you're meditating in. And then perhaps closing our eyes. And bringing your attention right down, narrowing that focus until we can find just you.

Your breath And your body And we begin the meditation by very gently. Just escorting our attention to our scalp. And just Centering our thoughts, our feelings, our attention.

On that membrane of sk skin. It just sits there. And On the surface maybe we don't believe there's much happening there but Those tiny blood vessels just.

Transporting oxygen and. Taking away impurities and. If we really focus.

And just being in this moment. With our scalp. Finding that mindful half smile.

And just staying In touch with that Part of our body. Noticing if your thoughts. Just sort of are pulled away at all.

Just noticing that. And if they are once again just smiling. And taking this opportunity.

To just be In each moment, without having to do anything. To change it. And now just escort your attention gently.

And compassionately from the scalp. Down over your forehead. And just bringing curiosity to whatever we find.

And if we find tension. Or pain Just meeting that with. Ah, there you are.

It's OK to be there. Noticing any urges to try and push things away or not to have any sensations. And letting go Of that pushing away.

Just allowing ourselves. To be with that part of the body. And then just taking your attention down once more.

And find your jaw. And just be curious again, is the jaw tight? Is there a smile there?

Maybe Approaching that like a curious scientist, what will happen? How will it feel? If I just let go of some of that tension.

Without making any judgments about it. Just playing. Just being in this moment with each part of our body.

And noting the way. That we're sitting in this dignified. Position and does that cause any tension in our neck?

Or in our throat And just scanning our attention. Down the body Finding that Space between your shoulder blades where so many of us hold our attention. And again with no judgement but being in this moment.

With whatever we find. And then choosing if we want. To just let go some of that tension.

And smile. And then to find Chest And our breath once more. Just breathing in.

And out Paying particular attention. To the movements of our body as we breathe. Holding it lightly.

And smiling. As we scan our bodies. And bringing your attention down the right arm.

And just letting go of anything we find. And the same with the left. Then just finding.

The left arm And the hands And bringing mindful attention to whether our fists are clenched or Tight and Can we let them go? No judgement about whatever we find. What is is And moving down to our tummy.

And maybe just placing your hand. Softly on your tummy. Noticing there's no goal to be achieved.

Other than just to bring awareness. To whatever it is that we find. As we make an awareness of our tummy.

And the movement's there. Letting go and moving down the right leg. Scanning our attention down.

And where if we find any pain or any discomfort in our knees or in our feet. Just directing our breath. In and then just imagining breathing into wherever that tension is.

And letting go. And then bringing our attention down the left leg. Memory our intention is not to relax.

Or to feel peaceful. It's just 2. Kind of bring attention.

An awareness To whatever it is that we find. And finally finding our toes. The toes of the right foot and The spaces between the toes.

And the toes of the left foot. And the spaces between those toes. And for the last minute of the meditation.

I just ask you to. Just be aware of anywhere that you may have any tension or tightness or even pain. And to use the last minute of the meditation to breathe into those areas on the in breath.

And to let go of whatever you find. On the out breath. So I'm gonna be breathing in my right knee which is sore.

And as I breathe out, just letting go of anything that I find there. So for the last minute, I'm gonna be very quiet. Mhm And well done.

And I'm just gonna hand you back to Meg for some. Some decision making. Thank you for all participating in that.

That was lovely, Mike, thank you very much. So that was actually perfect meditation to lead into this one, so I will go straight into it. So this is a mind from some decisions meditation.

And it's about taking decision making from a purely mental experience into an embodied experience of really feeling the sensations in the body. So you're in perfect preparation for this meditation. So just doing any adjustments if you, if you need to in your position.

Making sure that you are still comfortable. And then we'll just go straight into it. So, The eyes have already opened, just begin to soften the gaze.

And connect back to the breath. Just taking the awareness back into the body. Just noticing any sensations in the body, noticing perhaps.

Clothes against your skin. Set that you're sat on or the ground beneath you just observing it again without thinking about it too much, but just feeling these sensations in the body. Taking it all and And then I'm just gonna invite you to reflect on an issue or dilemma that needs a decision at the moment.

So just something that needs a decision. Perhaps there are two ways. Two paths that you can go down for this decision.

I'm going to invite you just to choose a solution, so choose one of those paths. And keep that with you in mind throughout the meditation. So continue just to breathe in and out.

If you decide which path you're going to take, which issue, dilemma or decision. You choose this evening. Just bringing it into your focus.

And allow everything else to become quiet. I'm just gonna take you through a few questions. And invite you just to really observe any sensations that arise in the body.

The body feels open, relaxed. The energy is free flowing and then. Observing that, or perhaps there's a feeling of uneasiness or sadness.

Maybe areas of tension and tightness in the body, just observing those as well as we call these questions into our minds. Move again So based on your decision. And the solution you've chosen, I'm just gonna ask you a few questions.

So the first one is my decision clear. Is my decision clear just repeat it mentally to yourself. Notice what comes up.

The body's responses, any images. Perhaps there are words. Feelings that are coming up.

Is my decision clear? And a second question, is my decision stable? Again, just repeating it to yourself, is my decision stable and just observing, being the observer.

Of what arises when you ask this question, is my decision stable? Third question, is my decision true for me? Is my decision true for me?

And then next, just allowing the feelings to. This pleases you come to the next question. Is my decision wise?

Is my decision wise. Notices you go between each question to different sensations arise or does the same one just stay there? We gain observing with a gentle curiosity without.

Going into the reasoning. Again, moving on to the next question, is my decision kind? Is my decision kind?

OK, just observing, listening. Anything that comes up. I'm gonna go through those questions again, but before I do, just maybe summarising those feelings that came up throughout those questions.

It's getting an overall feel in the body. And then letting it go. And just guide you through the next part, I'm just gonna invite you to take.

The other roads, the other path, the other solution. And bring that fully into your focus. Taking the other path, bringing that into full awareness.

Just as we did before, I'm gonna guide you through the same questions and just observing. Noticing How that feels as you go through the questions. Starting off.

Is my decision clear? Is my decision clear? Once again, noticing if any changes in the body without attaching without without thinking or reasoning, just observing.

Allow those sensations to drift off. So we move on to the next question. Is my decision stable?

Is my decision stable? Moving on. Is my decision true for me?

Is my decision true for me? Where it's come up. What enters the mind as you ask those questions?

And as we come to the two final questions, allowing that one to pass. To come to the next, is my decision wise? Is my decision wise.

Just repeating it to yourself silently. Finally, is my decision kind and just that final question. Repeating it to yourself and observing.

Feelings of unease or perhaps a calm. Relaxed feelings in the body just observing that final question. Well done.

And when you're ready, just beginning. To focus on that breathing. Taking a breath in through the nose.

And out for the news. Lovely, and then when you're ready, just beginning to open the eyes. Doing any adjustments, getting, making sure you're nice and comfortable again and well done.

That was mindfulness of decisions. So with that meditation. Choosing the two paths, maybe it's good now, just to write down what sensations came up for each path, each solution that you took.

And notice if for the first solution at the end that you had to change of heart. Just making a note of those while they are fresh in the mind. It's just a nice one to help with any dilemmas that you have at the moment.

So there we go, that was the my first decisions. Thank you very much. That was great, Meg, I like that.

Oh, good. Thanks, Mike. Mm.

It's a good one, definitely. It is, you know, I changed, I started off thinking. That, and then I, I decided I needed to change the decision, sort of scale it down a bit.

And, and, and, and, and that worked really well. Oh, that's good. Mhm.

So is it quite, so there was multiple paths I suppose there. Yeah, yeah, well, two really. One was I was thinking about making a big decision, but then, and then I just thought, no, the decision is shall I run it past this person first.

And then I, and so I sort of shifted it around a bit, but it still, it still was very, very useful. I love that, it reminds me of the thing I use quite a lot, which is called the Choice Point. You know, what takes you towards who you wanna be and what takes you away from who you wanna be.

It was a lovely meditation, thank you for that. Maybe we could do that, we could do that one next week, next month. That sounds.

Have we done that one on the mindfulness? Of course, Mike, I feel like it rings a bell. No, we did it, when we did the work stress one, with the webinar that we used the Choice point there, I believe.

But that might be one to do again, yeah, it's great. That'd be nice. Oh, wonderful, thank you very much.

As always, if there are any questions on either of the meditations that we did this evening, you can feel free to pop those into the Q&A and . This evening or always, as always, you can email us in any questions or anything you would like to see in the future meditation so the one that we've done in the past that you would like to repeat, always let us know cause feedback is always appreciated. So thank you very much, everyone.

Hope you have a lovely rest of your Sunday evening and we look forward to seeing you next month. So thank you very much Mike again for joining us. Yeah, bye bye.

Have a lovely evening. Good night. Bye bye.