Transcripts
1. Active Gratitude Introduction: Think of gratitude, what
comes to mind maybe a list of things you're thankful
for a quick moment before your meal to
appreciate what you have. But what if gratitude
is way more than that? What if it's not just an
isolated act or moment, but it's a new
approach to living, one that's also a superpower, capable of transforming the way you see and live your life. In fact, some of the most successful people
in the world have attributed their sense of well being and fulfillment to a consistent
practice of gratitude. I have found this reflected
in my own life, too. Gratitude not only brings a tangible feeling of beauty
and richness to my days, but it has also
been the life raft that has carried me through
the most difficult times. I believe it is the simplest, quickest way to dissolve
your negative thoughts, spirals of doubt and
internal stress, opening the way into optimism, constructive response,
and fulfillment. You can feel uplifted and prosperous at all
points of your path. If we haven't met yet, Hi. I'm Danon Lou, an Emmy
Award winning filmmaker, contemplative and guide of
authentic creative living. I created this class to take
you beneath the surface of ordinary gratitude into what
I call active gratitude. Using seven immersive
guided meditations in a series I call
widening circles, we'll journey into
the rich center of life from different angles
in expanding spheres, each one designed to unwrap
the hidden gifts around us, evoke awe and renew your sense
of wonder for your life. By the end of this class, you'll not only understand
why gratitude is important, but also experience its
restorative power first hand. Let's begin.
2. Class Tips and Project: Class tips and project. Although not required, I
recommend wearing headphones and listening to these
guided meditations in a quiet, intentional space. I've meticulously designed
the soundscapes so these audio journeys can be as immersive for
you as possible. If you can listen to one every day without skipping
a day for this week, you'll get the most out
of this experience. Then when you
finish this course, your class project will be
to share a written list or collage of three things you're feeling super grateful
for after this class. For your collage, you
can include photos or any form of creative expression that helps convey how you feel.
3. Day 1: Fill Your Own Cup & Melt Away Fear: M Welcome to day one
of active gratitude, where you're going to experience
its lifegiving effects. We're going to fill your
own cup and melt away any fears buzzing away
in your mind and body. Try to be present
to these words. And remember, all you
have to do is listen. Close your eyes if that
feels good to you and enjoy. Today on widening circles, filling your own cup Now we live in a time
of great uncertainty, where our world seems to be
fraying beneath our feet. What happens in times
of systematic cracking is that we tend to constrict,
which feels protective. But in actuality, it's freezing the fluid creative
spirit that is so necessary for wise pivoting. I've noticed that whenever
I face unexpected chasms, I tend to put my
art supplies away and tighten the straps
around my days, focusing solely on band
aids and balance sheets. I stop feeding myself
with what I love because it feels like an
impractical, indulgent luxury. But what I have observed and experienced is that
in challenging times, the things we put away are
the very sustenance we need to keep moving forward
with grace and buoyancy. Creativity, joy,
delight, beauty, play. These make the warm lifeblood of good problem solving
and adaptation. They keep us from collapsing into the downward
spiral of scarcity, which just brings
in more scarcity. When I say inviting
beauty and delight, it's more about
noticing and imbibing the goodness laid out
on life's open palm. In other words, it's about
practicing gratitude. And when you do, it's like cracking open the
sweet shell of life with the back of a spoon and digging into its
sweet rich center. So this journey will bring you into the life giving
waters of gratitude. If you're feeling a little
resistance at the idea, know that is normal and welcome. Together, we will unwrap the hidden gifts
within and around us and allow these meetings to melt any bottlenecks
of fear inside. Enjoy. For this journey, you'll want to find yourself comfortably seated
or lying down. Make sure you are warm enough. Just close your eyes and allow
yourself to be carried by my voice as if you were floating lazily down a warm sunlit river. Take a deep breath, the deepest breath you
have taken in your day. Now, take a few more, allowing all your stress to
swirl out on the exhale. Feel your mind settling
back into your body and notice the stillness
arising at the borders. Any bracing held in your body, allow it to release. Soften your body as if you were made of a warm lump of clay. So first, I'd like you to bring your loving
attention to your heart. Notice its gentle reassuring
paths inside your chest, saying, I'm here. I'm here. Your heart has been
here rooting for you, loyally thumping your life into existence ever since
you were in the womb, working nonstop, beating
100,000 times a day, even while holding all the hurt that has visited you
throughout the years. Take a moment and
place your hands over your heart warming
it with gratitude. Now, I'd like you to bring
to mind someone you love. Hang some of your
special memories together on the
mantle of your mind. Allow the love you feel to
begin slowly bubling out, permeating your entire body. Take a moment and feel the gratitude that life has
brought you, this person. That in this tiny
flicker of existence, your life was able to brush and mingle with theirs in this
fleeting dance of life. Et's now extend our gratitude so that it goes
beyond ourselves. Take a deep breath. Half of the oxygen you just imbibed was knit
by plankton from dark salty thep somewhere
so that you may live and carry out your
highest expression. Take a moment and
drink in that knowing. They are not the only ones working tirelessly to
sustain your life. The honey bee, the
worms, the fungi, countless creatures are working in synchrony on your behalf so that you may eat and taste delights of
every shape and color. Let that sink in for a moment. The truth is we're constantly
being showered with gifts. Let us not forget how
the day opens with gentle golden rays and the
sweet chorus of bird song, with soft warm beds and cleansing water that
flows from the tap, with working stovetops with the miraculous smell of coffee, and another chance for you to
become who you want to be. Take a moment and feel the simple blessings
that grace your day. Let us not forget the moments of synchronicity that
life has brought us, The chance encounters
where we met someone at the right time or heard of a new opportunity that
enriched our life. Take a moment and feel the gratitude for these
moments blossom in your heart. Let us not forget the infinite
library that awaits us, which we can tap
into with our phone. This miraculous portal that emperors of history
would conquer lands to have this bridge to someone
you love across distances, a recorder of moments that you'll revisit
when you're old, a treasury of answers to all your questions
at any moment. Take a moment to
feel the gift of all the possibilities that the Internet and your
phone opens up to you. Let us not be blind to the way our day ends with
rose gilded skies. Let us notice the warm suppers
cooked by loving hands, the dancing shadows
across the wall, the perfume of flowers
drifting at dusk, the stars in the sky reminding
us that even in the dark, there are points of light. For even during
challenging times, life is constantly
showering you with gifts. All life is rooting for you. You can always warm your
hands on the hearth of life. It just takes a conscious
choice to notice and fill your own cup with a
bounty that's always there. In a few moments, you can open your eyes and
carry on the rest of your day, wishing you beautiful moments
ahead until next time.
4. Day 2: See Your Intricate Beauty through Atomic Eyes: Welcome to day two
of active gratitude, where you're going to
see yourself through an entirely new lens that of the smallest
particle in atom. Remember, this is your
time of self care. Give yourself permission
to set down your worries, close your eyes if that
feels good to you and enjoy. Today on widening circles,
your atomic self. You are made of atoms, even though you may
seem whole and static. Right now, countless atomic
journeys are being made in you that link you with everything that exists
and all of time. The reason why I
offer this besides evoking widening circles
of awe is because many days we aren't able
to see our own beauty. We see ourselves as failed projects
compared to this ideal, and that's a very sad, disempowering position
to greet life. When you see yourself
through atomic eyes, you'll leave understanding
that you are artwork of the most intricate and
exquisite kind where every millimeter
of your being was crafted with the utmost
care and pizzas, where every nanoscopic nook has innumerable stories to tell. You are not a law or an
irrelevant accident. So settle in to a
comfortable spot and let this mind
melt carry you. Take a few deep breaths and
make contact with the quiet, hidden world inside of you. Feel the delicious sense of stillness that
begins to emerge as your thoughts settle
down and your mind slinks back into your
warm, cosy body. With every exhale, feel your stress completely
seeping out of your system. Allow the music to carve
out deepening ravines in your being as you continue to breathe and land
in this moment. Consider that right now, trillions upon trillions of atoms are jiggling and
giving inside of you, creating this fantastical
blur that is you. Your atoms outnumber the stars
in the visible universe, which would take
roughly 2 trillion Olympic si swimming pools to fill if they were
grains of sand. That would take
roughly five Earth sized planets to accommodate. Take a moment and
see if you can feel any vibrating traces of these dancing particles
inside of you. Now, take a deep breath. Half of the oxygen
carried inside was knit by tiny phytoplankton in
dark salty depth somewhere. The other half came from the bodies of
terrestrial plants and the splitting of
atmospheric water vapor from the sun and distant stars. If you trace the journey of these oxygen atoms
back even further, which not only
comprise your breath, but also roughly 65%
of your body mass, you'd find that they
were once forged in the heart of stars
billions of years ago, blown off into space like pollen from bright,
flaming flowers. You contain elements that have witnessed the formation
of our universe. Take a moment and let
that just sink in. Place your loving attention
now on your eyes. Allow your eyes to soften, which untucks the furrow
in between your brow. Much of the moisture in your eyes only recently
fell from rain clouds, and the hydrogen in these drops were formed shortly
after the big bang. Take a moment and feel that presence of deep
time in your eyes. Your eyes also
carry minerals that were once uplifted from
the Earth's crust, like the salt found
in your tears. For millions of years, its sodium atoms drifted
in primordial oceans, traversing fiery magma
and high mountains, winding through deep
mines and sun baked plains until they made their way to the plants and
animals that became you. Take a moment to just
let that sink in, feeling the awe of these incredible voyages
weaving you into existence. Now, bring your
attention to your heart. Send some loving breaths to it, acknowledging the
hard and loyal work it does of never skipping a beat its strength of holding
all the pain you felt. O. Your heart is a
furnace that stokes the commute of 1 quadrillion iron atoms through your body. These iron atoms
were once part of asteroids that flutter down
to earth as space dust, which rose again as plumes that crossed oceans
along wind currents. Some of these atoms
landed on Earth again and were dissolved
in groundwater, drunk by the animals and
plants that you have eaten until they were
absorbed in your bloodstream. While these same iron atoms once destroyed stars
billions of years ago, they now work to deliver
the breath of life, oxygen into your selves. Take a moment and
allow your heart to open in awe at all these
unseen unfoldings. As the last stop on
our atomic journey, we now arrive at carbon, comprising around one
fourth of your body mass. Carbon atoms are much like
the lego blocks of your body. Take the carbon forming
your skin fibers. In ages past, they may have
been spun into the worlds for spider webs or brightened the colorful wings
of ancestral birds. Your carbon atoms have already
spread all over the world, spending time in feathers, fins, flower petals, and feces of every description
since your birth. Like actors, they move
from roll to roll, auditioning for parts
in different theaters. Take a moment and lovingly send off these carbon atoms
out on your exhale, maybe telling them to break
a leg for their next part. I hope that this
atomic journey into yourself has helped you
see just what a miracle you are for you are woven
by the infinite tales of the elements that bring you into deep kinship with the
rest of the cosmos, with the rest of time. You are the vibrations
of these atoms, nothing less than music conducted
by the flaming heart of our solar system as it floats in emptiness for millions
of miles away. Are you listening to
the song of your being? When you're ready, you
may open your eyes. Thank you so much for
joining me today. I'm wishing you a beautiful day connected with your
radiant magnificence.
5. Day 3: Feel Your Immense Miraculousness: W Welcome to day three
of active gratitude, where we're going to amp
it up and journey into a new perspective
that'll make you feel immense gratitude
for being alive. Allow your body to
drink up these words. Close your eyes if
you wish, and enjoy. Today on widening circles, touching your own
miraculousness. You are alive. Have you ever stopped
and noticed this? I know this sounds
like a basic fact, but for most of my life, I took my own
aliveness for granted. I think we all conceptually know that we are
lucky to be alive, but do we really feel it? Do we live feeling like
we are walking miracles, or do we trudge through our days feeling insignificant and small? Today, I bring you
on a journey to put you in touch with
your own miraculousness. I hope this will
revive a sense of gratitude and amazement
at your own existence, which will dissolve any sense
of unworthiness and make all the issues you're dealing with suddenly feel very small. So settle down comfortably and allow this mind
melt to carry you. Enjoy. First, take a few deep breaths, allowing all of your stress
to ride out on the exhale. Feel the deepening sense of relief that comes
with these breaths. Allow your breaths to smooth down any rough
edges you may be feeling as if they were waves slapping against
the shores of your mind. Any striving or bracing
held in your body, allow it to relax. Allow your heart to
unlock and soften. Bring your mind back into your body and feel the
warmth of this homecoming. One in ten raised to
the 6.285 million. That's the number calculated to be the odds of
your existence. To give you a sense of
what this number means, imagine you had a stadium
filled with 2 million people. Every person had 1
trillion sided dice. To be one in ten raised
to the 6.285 million, everyone would have to roll their dice and land
on the same number. That's the astonishing odds
it took for you to be here, breathing for you to be here, sharing moments
with the ones you love and experiencing
the beauty of life. Take a moment and let
this knowing sink in. One in ten raised to
the 6.285 million. That's as if ten raised to the 6.285 million people
were lined up, which is more than the number of known particles in the universe. And you were chosen
out of all of them to receive
the gift of life. You were the one in
ten raised to the 6.285 million chosen
to be here alive, getting the chance to experience the delights that our
world has to offer. Delights like the warmth
of your friendships, the green of grass, the smell of Earth after rain and the weight
of your body. Take a moment and
let this sink in, feeling gratitude
for your existence seeping up like groundwater. Odds of your existence, one in ten raised to the 6.285 million is basically
shatteringly close to zero. You are the miracle of the
miracle of the miracles. Allow this knowing to
sweep away any feeling of smallness and
insignificance from the seller of your mind, because anyone who has
been granted this gift of life has already won
the ultimate lottery. You are born a winner. You have already won. Oh. Keep in mind that this number does not
even take into account the staggering odds of our planet forming favorable
conditions for life. So it's actually under representing the odds
of your existence. The odds that you are
here alive and breathing. Let your body receive
this knowing and feel your heart opening
in gratitude for this extremely rare
occasion of life. No. How are you going to live and honor the miracle
of your life? The miracle that you are? I leave you with this question. Thank you for journing
with me today, as I hope it rippled widening
circles of awe in you, wishing you a magnificent day and never forget the
miracle that you are.
6. Day 4: Discover Your Inner Spaciousness: Welcome to day four
of active gratitude, where we're going to dissolve
any heaviness you may be feeling and connect you with your miraculous
spaciousness. Close your eyes if that
feels good to you and enjoy. Today on widening circles,
your inner space. The way you see yourself depends on which lens
you're looking through. I find it's the same way when
it comes to how we feel. And in these times, I find heaviness is the
predominant feeling. So in this week's mind melt, we're going to embrace a perspective that will
help you see through this heaviness and allow any weight you're
feeling to vanish. So sit back, relax and enjoy. Begin by taking a
few deep breaths. With every inhale, feel the
relief coming in as if you were drinking a cool glass of
water after a long hot day. With every exhale, allow all of your tension
to just ride out. Any striving to
accomplish something, to be someone different,
to be better. Just allow that to
release and drop, yielding to the stillness
that's arising. Slink your mind back
into your body and feel the rise and fall
of your belly with every breath as if it was a lullaby anchoring you deeper and deeper
into relaxation. Unclench your jaw,
soften your shoulders. Allow your arms to sink down heavy as if they
were made of lead. Release the tension
in your back, your pelvis, and just let your legs hang loose
with nowhere to go. You are made mostly
of empty space. The reason why you seem solid is because
the tiny particles forming you are moving at such rapid speeds that
you can't see their gaps. To give you more perspective, imagine singling out one of the oxygen atoms
comprising your finger. If you were to
magnify its core of protons and neutrons to
the size of a raspberry, you'd see that its
surrounding electrons are orbiting from more
than 200 yards away, which is roughly twice the size of an American football stadium. The sphere encompassed
by the electrons would contain millions of
cubic yards of nothingness. This is a good thing because
if you were to collapse, all the empty space
comprising your atoms, the tip of your pinky would weigh close
to 1 billion tons. In other words,
you are more like a porous froth than the
solid mass you seem to be Try to feel the space
inside of you and the movement of the atoms
painting you into existence. Greet any heaviness
that you feel, any solid knot lying
inside of you with this knowing that you
are mostly empty space. Imagine the wide open
space making up this knot, this density or heaviness
and feel it becoming lighter and lighter and
lighter until it vanishes. Send some love now to the space inside of
you and around you, thanking it for allowing you to move and change,
grow and expand. When you connect with the truth that you are made
mostly of empty space, it lightens up your life. You realize that there's
nothing solid or impenetrable, including whatever problem
you are facing right now. Thank you for diving into
this exploration with me. I hope you are feeling lighter
than when you came in, and I'm wishing you a
beautiful rest of the day.
7. Day 5: Feel the Amazing Wonder of Your Body: Here we are in Day five
of active gratitude. Today, we're going
to reconnect you with the wondrous
gift of your body. Close your eyes if that
feels good to you and enjoy. Today on widening circles,
healing body gratitude. Our body is one of the
most incredible gifts, but one we often
forget to care for. It's common that we treat our cars better than
our own bodies, even though unlike cars, our bodies are something that
cannot be easily replaced. So this is a guided journey
to relax and think your body, which I find is very healing. Everyone likes to be
seen and acknowledged, and it's the same
thing with our bodies. So settle in, get comfortable, and let this mind
melt carry you. Begin by taking a deep
breath from your belly, the deepest breath you
have taken in your day. Anything you're holding onto, any striving held in your body, let it all go with
the next few breaths. I With every inhale, feel relief washing over you. With every exhale, let
go of any tension. We're now going to
travel down our bodies, relaxing and sending healing
gratitude to its parts. Let your eyes soften and relax
the space in between them. Your eyes, these
incredible sensors that read and interpret light
for you to see the world, your loved ones, and
your favorite things, smile and send a feeling of thanks to them for all
their generous work. Feel this acknowledgment being received with gladness
by your eyes. Now, unclench your jaw
and relax your lips, your teeth, and your tongue. Feel gratitude for your mouth. This amazing creation that allows you to express yourself, taste delights and sing. Send thank you to your mouth and feel this acknowledgment being
lovingly received by it. Let your attention
travel to your nose. The sturdy shoot that
warms the air for you, fights viruses, and allows
you to smell amazing scents. Send a thank you to
your nose and feel your nose responding joyfully
to this acknowledgment. Now, bring your
mind to your ears, these soft cocoons that bring balance and process sound
waves for you to hear, to hear the voices
of loved ones, beautiful songs, and
the sounds of nature. These guardians that allow
you to hear warnings, too. Let your mind caress your
ears with feelings of gratitude and feel your ears delightfully receiving
this appreciation. Now, feel your structure
made of bones holding you. Smile to them and send your
bones a big thank you. These amazing structures that
not only give you shape, but also regenerate your
blood inside your marrows. Feel your bones nodding with delight at being noticed
and blessed with attention. A let your attention
travel to your heart. This tireless worker
that has been beating all day from the
time you were in the womb. Send a breath of
thank you to it, allowing this gratitude
to soften any muscles around it and dissolve any
load your heart does not need. Feel your heart blooming like a flower for being
recognized and celebrated. Or Now, let your awareness
inhabit your lungs. These miraculous sacs that taken filter and process the
oxygen that keeps you going. Send a breath of
thank you to it, allowing your gratitude
to fill it with love. Feel your lungs responding with happiness for being
acknowledged. Take a moment to
think your spine, all the nerves and
discs in there, which coordinate your
body movements and communicate signals from
your head to your toe. Feel your spine feeling joy for being acknowledged
the way you feel when someone acknowledges you with gratitude
for your hard work. Traveling down to your belly, thank it for all the
numerous processes it does to alchemize your food
into nourishing energy. Thank it for taking all
the bad stuff you feed it, including your
negative judgment, and promise that you
will do your best to return its kindness with
healthy sustenance. Feel the gratitude
being absorbed by your stomach and intestinal
lining, letting it soften. Continuing to travel down, reflect on the amazing
gift of your legs. Allow them to rest fully flowing
down with nowhere to go. Imagine for a moment that
they were taken away. How challenging that would be. Reflect on how they
gracefully allow you to explore and interact
so freely with the world. Send a feeling of
thanks to your legs and feel this gratitude
being joyfully received. Now, let your attention
dwell in your feet as crucial as a heart in
many medicine traditions. Marvel at all the services you receive from this
humble body part, all the microadjustments it does every hour to keep you in
balance and moving forward. Send a breath of thank
you to your feet and feel this gratitude
making your feet stay. H Finally, scan your body and sense whether there's
any residual tension. A part that feels neglected or is calling
for your attention. If so, send these parts acknowledging breaths of
loving care and gratitude, saying, I see you. I'm here. Thank you for all
you generously do for me. Is there something
I can do for you? Stay here for a few
moments and listen. This peace, this gratitude
you feel for your body. Let it soak into your being
as if you were a sponge. Cultivate the
intention of treating your body with more care as
you leave this meditation. We're now going to gently bring ourselves
back into the room. Slowly open your eyes, roll your shoulders and take
a big, delicious stretch. I will leave you here now, wishing you a beautiful, healthy and connected day. Oh
8. Day 6: Drink Up Your Aliveness & Revive Your Wilt: Welcome to Day six
of Active gratitude, where we're going to
allow gratitude to revive any wilted or dried parts
of our inner landscape. Close your eyes if that
feels good to you and enjoy. Today on widening circles
drinking up your aliveness You are alive. Just stop and marvel at that. You are alive. Can you feel the magnitude
of that statement? I find I often move
through my days unaware of my own aliveness until I take an intentional moment
to drink up this truth. I find I often seek the feeling of being
alive somewhere else, but never submerge myself
in the spring of life already bubbling inside of
me right here right now. So let's awaken ourselves to our full aliveness and allow it to revive any
wilted parts inside. Let us honor this
most precious state of our being and allow it to carry us into our lives with deeper
gratitude and awe. Enjoy. Settle into a comfortable position and begin by painting
your meditation with the most fundamental stroke of your aliveness, which
is your breath. Invite in the deepest breaths you have taken in your day and allow them to carve deep wells of relief
inside your body. Feel your body awakening to your aliveness
with every breath. Um, any lingering worries
or unfinished to do. Just set them down for now. Give yourself full permission to take in this meditation
with your full presence. Jump into this time of self care with both feet and
don't look back. You can support yourself
in this release by letting out some
slow, audible sighs. Uh Really allow the hums to dislodge and carry away any residual stress
from your body. Feel your mind settling down like silt in a jar and feel the space arising for you
to greet your aliveness. Loosen your jaw. Allow all
the tiny little muscles on your face to just ooze
down like something molten. Allow your shoulders and
backside to just drop. Release your wrists from
their daily strain. Rest each finger. Allow your legs to
flow down like water. Nothing to fix or
achieve right now. Nowhere to go. Now, I invite you to
start tuning into your aliveness by
placing your hands on your thighs and feeling
the warmth coming through. This warmth is only present in things that are alive coming from all the tiny
cellular processes generating energy to
sustain your life. Take a moment to
relish in this warmth, this fleeting state, this
wonderful quality that you get to share
with your loved ones through hugs and cuddles. Now, gently shift your attention to the subtle vibrations
inside your fingers. Can you feel your aliveness sparking there like electricity? It's as if your liveness was plucking the strings
of your being. Take a moment to hear its song. I invite you now to melt your mind into the wet
saliva on your tongue. You know, dead people
have pretty dry mouths. We spend billions
of dollars trying to find these flowing
waters in the galaxy. And here it is on
your very lips, in your very cells, on your eyes, the waters flowing through
your blood and gut. Take a moment and receive this holy water of our universe. Gently bring your attention
to your beating heart, the centerpiece of
your aliveness. Allow its beats to remind
you that you're still here, that you still have
the capacity to experience all there is to
experience in this world, that you still can swoop up
your loved ones in your arms, that you still can take
that risk and call someone that you can still mark the empty page and start over that you can still
let go and forgive. Take a moment and really feel these beats of aliveness that your heart is
still giving you. We don't know when our
hearts will stop beating, but it will one day, so give
it some quality time now. Feel the gentle rise and fall of your soft animal body
with every breath. Take a moment to relish in
the softness, as it, too, is a sign that you
are indeed still here a part of this
amazing unfolding. Oh Poet John Green wrote, We are all snowflakes dissolving on the
tongue of the universe. Let's enjoy our aliveness
as much as we can. So go outside, look up and
stick out your tongue. Catch as many as you can. This is your moment. Go enjoy it. Thank you for catching
some snowflakes of aliveness with me today and wishing you
beautiful moments ahead. I'll see you next time.
9. Day 7: Feel the Miracle of Your Breath & Connect with All Life: Welcome to Day seven of active
gratitude. Our final day. Today, we're going
to journey into gratitude in widening circles, starting from ourself and
ending with our planet. I hope this will
dissolve any feelings of isolation that you may be feeling and reveal your amazing
belonging with all life. Close your eyes if
you'd like, and enjoy. Today on widening circles. Breath of Life meditation. We breathe approximately
22,000 times a day. It was our first
gesture in this world, and it will one day be our last. It is the very
frame of our life. Yet how often do we forget the simplest,
most essential act? How often do we take this
delicate miracle for granted? So this meditation is
dedicated to your breath, the heart of life. It is an invitation to awaken
your relationship with this most basic act and reconnect you with this
miracle that sustains you. Today, we will journey
together to honor, to feel, and to fully embrace
each breath, not as a habit, but as a gift. As this life giving
force, it truly is. I hope this
experience will allow your gratitude to overflow
and in the best of ways, quite literally take your
breath away. Let us begin. Begin settling back home
into yourself and break open this meditation with
the deepest breaths you have taken in your day, month, and even year. Start reminding yourself of
how good it feels to breathe. Feel the breath, break free
of its usual confinement. Allow it to come not
just from your lungs, but from the soles of your feet, drawn up through your body. Feel these breaths slipping down into the hidden corners of your lungs like rain
soaking into parched earth. Let it spill into every
tight, tired space, swelling your chest, softening the places where tension
has burrowed deep. Allow yourself to indulge
in this luxury of breath as if nothing else
mattered more in your life. And when I say luxury, I mean it quite literally. If you knew half of what
went into your breaths, it would take your breath away. Imagine for a moment, the story of oxygen, the incredible journey that
brought each molecule to you. It took the Earth
over 1 billion years to make enough oxygen, a slow patient creation woven through the alchemy of
countless ancient beings, like the blue,
green cyanobacteria glistening like cut gems
in primordial seas. Then it took another hundred
million years for enough of the substance to accumulate in our atmosphere to sustain life. Take a moment to fully receive this gift crafted
through deep time as if your inhale was the
gentle unwrapping of a gift that has traveled
across ons to spark your life. Breathe out as if your exhale was a passing
on of another gift, carbon dioxide that will nourish some leafy soul somewhere in this continued sacred exchange. Feel this giving and receiving, nourishing your entire body, the rhythmic rise and fall
of your belly reminding you that you can set down your worries and just
receive renewal. Can you start sensing how your breath is not
just a breath? It is a bridge, a
connection to all that is In this very moment, as you are breathing,
countless other beings are breathing with
you across seas, savannas, plains and deserts. Picture the great elephant standing beneath a
shady acacia tree, its trunk curling as
it inhales deeply. And somewhere far away, the snow leopard perched
in the Himalayas, drawing in the sharp, crisp
air of the mountains. The rippling coral
breathing beneath waves, the foxes in the night snoring, the ancient slow inhale of the giant redwood tree arching
its branches to the sky. All are here, breathing
together with you, linked by this life giving flow. Breathe now with this awareness, knowing you are participating in this invisible dance of
life supporting life, breathe deeply and feel the presence of
every living thing that joins you in this movement. Meanwhile, deep in your cells, every oxygen atom received
is being split a tiny, fantastic explosion as
extraordinary as a birth of stars. One split, this oxygen
does not travel alone. Iron, the silent
guardian steps in an ancient metal
forged in the cores of stars now coursing
through your veins. It holds the oxygen close, carries it faithfully like a devoted messenger faring
the most precious of gifts. Together, they travel
thousands of kilometers through your body hand in hand, moving life to
every waiting cell. Through their harmony
of strength and grace, they grant you movement and warmth enabling you
to stroke the hair of the people you love and tumble into the beauty
and chaos of life. Breathe as if you were
acknowledging their hard work. Feel the awe of
your own aliveness, the sheer beauty
of being here now. Never forget that you're the culmination of 1
billion tiny miracles, of breaths taken across centuries of lives
lived and given, of energies exchanged in the silent pulse
of the universe. Never forget that you're part of this vast
and sacred dance, that you belong to this
Earth and are woven into the same fabric as
the rivers, the trees, the stones, each breath, each heartbeat, a testament to this irrevocable belonging. Allow your breaths to
take you there into the arms of this great
enduring generosity of life. Now, as we close
this meditation, I invite you to send out an intentional exhale as
an offering to the world, letting it carry your gratitude
and love to all that is. Know that this breath
will nourish the world, just as every breath you've
received has nourished you. Thank you so much for breathing and journing
with me today, wishing you a beautiful
rest of your day. I'm Dandon Lou until next time.
10. Class Conclusion & Parting Thoughts: Congratulations for
finishing this course. I hope you felt deeply nourished by our journey and can
now sense that there is this amazing hidden
well of peace and prosperity within you that
you can tap into at any time. Remember, the more you
practice gratitude, the more it becomes
a way of life, or you can feel uplifted and
psychologically buoyant, even during the challenging
times of your life. So going back to
your class project, make sure to share
your written list or collage of three things that you're feeling
super grateful for. For your collage, you
can include photos or any form of creative expression that helps convey how you feel. To further journey with me, I invite you to check
out my other classes on my instructor page and
sign up for my newsletter, where I spoil my community with delights about the art of
authentic creative living, including more
handcrafted meditations. It's a cherished space for thousands of readers
around the world, and I'll bet it'll
be one for you, too. Sign up with the ink down
in the course description. Thank you so much
for journing with me and know that I'm
cheering you on. I'm Dan and Lou until next time.
Dandan Liu, Filmmaker | Contemplative Creative
