Evening everybody and welcome to February's Sunday meditation with the webinar vet. It's lovely to have you all back here this evening, and it's lovely just to be here, really enjoy these Sunday meditations, look forward to them the whole weekend and just prepare us for the week ahead. So myself and Mike, as always, we'll be doing guiding to meditations.

So one will be the body scan with Mike. He'll tell you a lot more information about that one and then a compassion one with myself at the end. So get yourself comfortable and just get to grab any cushions, any pillows, prop yourself up against the wall or lie down, whichever is more comfortable for you and just enjoy the next half an hour.

OK, I'll pass you straight over to Mike. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Megan, and yeah, welcome.

So. This first meditation, we're going right the way back to, if any of you did the mindfulness-based stress reduction course, or you've done one before, you'll know that the very first meditation as part of this beginnings of our journey into mindfulness is the body scan meditation. And the rationale for it coming first is that we hold so much of our stress in our bodies, and.

So much of that, holding on to the stress has become sort of masked and. A little bit hidden, and so we end up reacting to it without even knowing that we're reacting to . The stress that's manifesting itself in our bodies.

So I want to do a body scan with us today and. I, you possibly remember, I, I like a sort of nonlinear body scan where we just kind of experience the. Freedom of being able to choose where we send our attention.

And that's the other really lovely thing about the body scan. It's that sense of escorting our attention from one part of the body, and then sort of, anchoring it onto another part of the body. But because we're kind of seasoned meditators now, I thought I'd add in just a little bit extra to, to shush it up a bit, I suppose.

And I want to just talk about this concept that we, all of us, have, a noticer within us. And that noticer. Sometimes feels like it is a noticer without choice.

And if we're not careful, the only stuff that we notice is aches and pains, tightness. We only notice where . Where problems exist, perhaps when we're doing the body scan, but perhaps if we can get our heads around this concept that there are two notices and .

Of course I'll notice ah there's tension, but maybe what I can start to notice is, oh there's relaxation, and there's calm. And there's Softness. And there's strength.

So it's that. Flexibility to be able to choose what we notice as we're anchoring our attention to different parts of the body. And as well as our noticer, we have our internal advisor.

And so, for instance, if I notice that there's . Perhaps a bit of pain in my wrists, and then my advisor kicks in and says. Oh, be careful, that might be.

That, that, that might be something a bit worrying, you know? If I realise that, you know, my advisor. Is literally something that I have the opportunity to mindfully observe.

And then maybe go and find a better advisor. So if my advisor's giving me something scary, like, oh, that's not good, you know, a bit of pain in the wrists there. Then I can just go and just see whether I, there's a different advisor there and .

What would I say, you know, how, how might I appraise this? From a place of compassion and warmth. Well, why wouldn't you be stiff, you know, you've been busy all week, sort of, and then you've cycled at the weekend.

And then let go and move on. So I'd like to take the body scan to this next stage today. And so you'll hear me say, let's just go and see what our noticer makes of this part of the body.

And now let's just see whether our advisor. Has any advice for us or? Whether our adviser is sending us any thoughts, good or bad.

So, the body scan as you're aware, is normally done in a lying down position, but because I'm doing the webinar I'm, I'm in a seated position and that's absolutely fine. So I'm gonna assume that we're all in that lovely, comfortable position. And Let's start.

So we just begin this meditation. By bringing. A mindful awareness.

To the fact that we're doing something that is really important. It is really Healing sometimes. And we're doing it kind of because we like ourselves.

And we're prepared to give ourselves time. Just for us. And so we begin by.

Just finding our breath. And just breathing in. And then letting the Breath go on the out breath.

Using our noticer. To notice what's happening. To my body as I breathe.

Bringing that mindful curiosity. To something that we do day in and day out for every day. Every minute of our lives.

Just breathing in. And breathing out. And as we breathing in.

Noticing the movement of our body. Just checking out whether our advisor. Our chattering mind.

And just allowing ourselves to just have that. And then to let it go. And to bring our attention just back.

To the movements of our body. As we breathe And now let's send our attention all the way down escorting it lovingly. Past your chest.

Right the way down the right leg, past the knee. Down the shins. To the toes of the right foot.

Just noticing The toes of the right for all of your attention there. And as we bring our noticer into play. Just noticing what we're doing there.

Are we wiggling our toes or moving and. And then check out our advisor. Why are we doing that?

Doesn't matter, but we are. And then just pressing our feet. A right foot down.

Hard to the floor beneath us. And then softening. I'm bringing a curiosity to the change that we experience as we.

Push our feet into the ground. And then just let go. Using our noticer to notice when we do that, what other muscles, what other parts of our body.

Are impacted on And let it go. And then escort your attention again. Right the way over to the toes of your left foot.

And once again Just being with that part of the body. Without any judgement. These are just your experiences.

In this moment. And all you have to do. Is to use your noticer.

To be aware of them. And use your noticer to notice that your mind is wandering. And To be aware whether there's any judgement from your adviser about that.

Just letting go. Of that Unhelpful Adviser, it's OK. What is is.

And then we leave our feet. And we take our attention. And we cajole our attention.

Up the body All the way to the top of your scalp. And we rest our attention there. And we settle And we engage our notice that.

And what do we get now? As we put all of our attention just into our scalp. Is there a tingle?

Is there pain in your head at all? Just sitting Allowing That's excellent. And listening To our adviser.

You know, maybe we should go there next. Maybe Michael ought to take our attention down to the tummy cause that's where I need it. And then just smiling.

And noticing that our brain wants to sort of create order and. A sense of structure to this process and. Letting go of the urge there and just accepting and being with what is is.

And we let go of the attention on the scalp. And sure enough, yeah. We take our attention.

Lovingly escorting it down the body. And maybe just placing a hand on your tummy. Very gently.

Noticing the warmth. Of the contact of your hand. Upon your tummy.

And as you're breathing. As you're focusing just on your tummy. Bringing awareness to.

The movement within your tummy. Using your noticer to. Distinguish any.

Feelings there. And listening Curiosity to any. The advisor stuff there, maybe we started to think about filling our tummies and eating.

And our minds being pulled away by that chattering adviser. And we smile, just that half smile of non-fear. It's OK.

We just sit You Your hand And your tummy. And then we take our attention. And we take it to the back of our neck.

Noticing as we do so. That automatic response of Just shifting or moving our neck as we attend to it. I'm bringing a curiosity, why do I do that?

Is it like an urge to quickly be relaxed? Just listen to the adviser. What that's about.

And let go. And now As we scan our body. And as we bring mindful attention to these different parts of our body.

Just look for where there might be. Discomfort Or pain even And when you find it, Use your breath to breathe into that area. So breathing in to wherever you find the tightness or the pain or the discomfort.

And as you breathe out. That's in that area soften. And just relax.

And then gently sending the noticer in. How's that feel now? And for the last minute of the meditation.

Let's just choose where we want to send. Our attention. As we explore our bodies.

Further well done. And just remembering that with the body scan. You only have to give it the most helpful conditions.

And those conditions are just time that you set aside. To devote to yourself and the body scan. You know, and just regular and frequent practise and making sure that when we are body scanning ourselves, and we're engaging in a body scan meditation, the more you try to control the effects of the body scan.

The less effective it will be. And If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things. Then perhaps this can be the best time.

Of your day And I'll hand back to Megan. Thank you very much, Mike. It was lovely.

It was really nice to do. I, I do the body scan quite a lot before going to bed, and I often don't make it to the end. Yeah, it's, it's a good one for sleep, isn't it?

It's very good, really, really good, but that was, that was nice to do it and not drift off at the end and actually go through the whole rotation, so that was working with someone last week and they were saying that. They, you know, they were saying that, that, you know, the, the, the mindfulness, they weren't sure it was effective for them. And we checked it out a bit and it turned out that they were falling asleep within 2 minutes of starting each meditation, and .

You that whilst that's great for sleep, it doesn't actually build your mind for practise, does it? So, you know, I said, keep it for your sleep, but let's try and do it at a different time of the day. Yeah, yeah, definitely, because it's great if you, if it helps to fall asleep, as you say.

It's, it's, it's continuing throughout the day as well. That was lovely. You very nice and relaxed.

So thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mike. So.

The compassion meditation, it's, it's very, it's very similar to the love and kindness that we have done with Mike a few times on the MBSR course and I think we've done them a couple of times as well on our Sunday meditation, but it's just. It was a, I think it's just, it's just always nice to be reminded of compassion, and I certainly was reminded we went to an event in Manchester, mindfulness event a couple of weeks, weekends back, and that was with mindfulness for professionals, and there was a lot about compassion there. It was just a nice little reminder and that's what triggered me to want to do a meditation on it this evening.

Cause obviously mine was so, so important and it's what Mike always repeats, about bringing compassion. So when you're checking in with the body scan, checking in parts of the body, if anything comes, comes up, for example, tightness, I'll have tightness in my shoulders and often when I'm teaching yoga, I get frustrated with myself because I can, I, I really feel where my tensions in the shoulders when I'm teaching certain postures. I find it more difficult and it's bringing that compassion.

It's OK, we're all, we're all made difference, but I'm aware of where the tension is, so you can breathe into that more in that space and it's just so important to bring that for yourself and, and for others as well. And I think the body scans are lovely instruction as well for the love and kindness meditation because if there, if we are holding resentment towards, you know, ourselves, perhaps we get angry and frustrated with certain quirks or flaws that we have, or maybe it's to others as well. We also hold that tension and frustration and anger in our bodies.

So the body scan and the love and kindness meditation really work nice together. So, and it's also both the meditations are ones that you might want to do regularly. So there's a you know a particular person that you're struggling with, and it's just bringing that compassion to them and remembering that everyone has their own journeys and perhaps bringing that, it just stimulates that.

Empathy, rather than pity, so that's where compassion comes in, it distinguishes between the two and actually just bringing empathy towards others and understanding that people deal with, you know, their emotions differently, and when you come with compassion, love and kindness in general, then it helps with yourself as well and how you approach certain situations. So just coming back to your nice comfortable position before we start our meditation. So you might want to adjust your position.

If you are sitting up just checking in with your posture, noticing the shoulders. Where are they? They slumped and maybe rolling them back a little bit to open up that chest, checking in the spine.

Maybe gently moving the head from left to right and just finding that nice length all the way. The sip bones right up the spine to the crown of the heads and just feel that nice length all the way up through the body and then just placing the hands onto the knees or anywhere, maybe in your lap. It's always good to have a nice upright posture.

As I've mentioned before, the spines, the antennae of awareness, so it helps to create that nice alertness in your meditation to stop you from drifting off like we mentioned before. And as always, just starting off either closing the eyes or gently lowering the gaze, and then we'll begin our love and kindness, compassion meditation. We'll start off just connecting to the breast.

Just observing the movement of the body, the subtle rise and fall as you breathe in through the nose. And out through the nose. Who may be breathing in.

And out through the mouth, whichever feels more comfortable for you this evening. Maybe just gently slowing the breath down. Controlling that breath.

But again with compassion. Just gentle breaths in and out. We'll just start our loving kindness, starting at ourself.

And then widening the circles out to other people. So first starting with ourselves, just. Visualising yourself that or lying whichever post you're in.

Listening to this meditation. Again, now you'll be a bit more aware of the body, how it's feeling after your body scan. So just checking in again.

Often when we check in with the body and with the minds or flaws and any criticisms, the mind starts chattering, making conclusions and criticisms about the body, about the mind. If anything does arise, just bringing compassion. Loving kindness and allowing those judgments, those.

Attitudes just to float by, just observing them. Letting them go. As you breathe and just feeling a sense of warmth and to the body.

Warmth brings with it love and kindness. And spreading from cell to cell. Maybe just feeling that warmth spread through the body.

And through the nose. Up to the hand The back of the head down the neck, the shoulders, the arms travelling all the way through to the body. Through to the sit bones, the tips, the toes.

And bringing with it that love. And kindness. And compassion for yourself.

And then maybe extending that feeling, that warmth. Out of the body, so it begins to evaporate out of the body, but there's still the warmth that stays within, just begins to seep out. It creates a nice layer around the body.

And maybe if you want to visualise this with this warmth, a lovely golden light shining around the body, protecting it. Like a halo. Regain this love and kindness.

And then extending that love and kindness out just further beyond the body. To loved ones, perhaps a best friend. Your parent or your partner, someone who is very close to you, someone you love dearly.

So you've got that warmth, loving and kindness in the body, surrounding the body and now extending it out to someone you love. You care dearly for. Giving out that warmth, that light, that golden light, spreading it.

And sending with it love and kindness. And compassion. Wishing them All the love and kindness in the world.

I'm just visualising that person. What they'd look like, knowing that you're sending that love and kindness towards them. Perhaps visualising their face.

How they would feel receiving that love. You can pick one person or maybe you want to pick a few. But just keeping with people you who are close to you and you love and care for dearly.

And then beginning to extend that love and kindness. So yawns people who are close to you. And out towards people you respect.

So perhaps your teacher, a colleague, your mentor, your boss, someone that you respect and care for. Your doctor. Maybe your neighbour.

Again picturing that person. As you send them love and kindness. Again, you can visualise and receiving that golden warmth.

A light of love and kindness as they receive it again observing. What they would look like knowing that you're sending them that love, how they would feel. Just send them all the love and kindness in the world.

Wishing them happiness. And then widening the circle again to someone that You've been acquainted with what you have neutral feelings about, so you neither. Just like, like, I don't really feel much towards them.

Probably because you don't know them very well. Again, it could be your neighbour, a colleague, a ment. Your cleaner, your doctor, just somebody that There's neutral feelings towards them.

And if you can just picturing. I'm just visualising them again as you extend that circle of love and kindness. Out towards them.

Began picturing them as they received that light of warmth. How they may feel, knowing that you're sending all the love and kindness. In the wild.

And then extending that circle. Even wider. Towards someone perhaps you feel you have feelings of hostility, negativity.

Frustration or anger just. Facializing. So you have those feelings towards.

And often, it will trigger feelings in the body. If that happens, bringing kindness and compassion to those feelings as well. It's not attaching to them or judging them.

Again picturing that person. Just picturing how they would feel. She was send them love and kindness, sending that golden light towards them.

Sending feelings of compassion. And all the love and kindness in the world. Allow them to receive it.

And just to finish off the meditation, just. Picturing and staying with that golden light that you've passed. We're passing to passing.

Maybe extending it across to everyone. Every person touching them with that golden light of love and kindness and compassion, just passing it. Out to the community, out to the world, to everyone.

And then coming back to yourself. I'm just checking in before we finish the meditation. Just making sure if any emotions or anything came up, you just finish off.

We're bringing compassion, love and kindness. Back to that golden warmth, that lovely light in the body. Spreading from south to south.

And then coming back to the breath, it may become a bit shallower now. Just observing the air as it enters. Body on the inhale.

How it moves around the body. And then exits on the exile. And when you're ready, just gently opening the eyes, maybe moving the fingers, the toes, adjusting your position.

And I'm just coming back. So well done, that was the love and kindness, compassion meditation. So well done everybody.

Done really, really well this evening, so. I say it's just about coming back to Those feelings of empathy and. That's one that you may want to do quite regularly.

Yeah. Oh, hi Mike. I yeah, I think, I think the one I find that really the, the most interesting bit is, you know when you find someone neutral.

And, and, and, and then when you do it there and the, the, the look on their face, you know, . Just that sense of of of how they might take someone who they, you know, doesn't register as being, you know, part of their life at all. Yeah, yeah, it's very powerful.

It is, it's really, I think, I think it's a great one actually as well, in work because we, you know, there's always, there's all, you know, it's, it happens regularly doesn't it? There's, but just because I think everybody works different in a work environment, and that one works really well because perhaps somebody's working in a different way and you feel a little bit frustrated by if you come to that and know that. Bringing empathy and compassion towards them, you realise that actually we're all different in that sense and we work in different ways and it just helps to have a different conversation with, with that person.

And obviously at home or you know, it's lots of different situations, but I think that one is quite, quite nice, . And I really like that one as well. So, yeah, thank you, thank you very much.

I think that's it. Yeah, we were gonna just remind people that, that we're doing the mood series on Tuesday, aren't we? Yes, as well, thank you for reminding me, Mike.

So we've got the mood, series coming up, which I'm really looking forward to because I haven't attended this one before, so I'm really, really excited. It's next Tuesday with the wonderful Doctor Mike, and it's at 8 o'clock in the evening as always and we're we're using a very new way of doing it actually this time, so, yeah, it should be fun. Wonderful.

And as always, any questions, please do email us and if you have any particular meditations you'd like to see in the future or anything, any suggestions at all, we always have the survey as well, so it's great to hear feedback and to see what our meditation members want and hope to see you next Tuesday on the mood series . Webinar as well and say I'm really looking forward to that, Mike. Yeah, great.

Now I'm really looking forward to it. OK, wonderful. Well have a lovely Sunday evening.

Thanks for joining us again as always Mike. Thank you very much and have a lovely evening. Bye now.