Hi,
It's Julie Potokur for the Balanced Mind Meditation Center.
This meditation will be 15 minutes.
Close your eyes gently.
Sitting in a comfortable position,
Either on the floor or in a chair,
We're going to take three relaxing,
Delicious breaths in through our nose and out through our mouth.
On this third breath,
Sip in a little more air at the top and really hold it so that you feel a sense of fullness and then let it out with a sigh.
Okay,
Allowing your breathing to find its normal rhythm,
Relax your eyebrows.
Imagine your forehead really smooth.
Relax your jaws.
Relax the root of your tongue and inside your mouth,
Imagining a slight smile to the outside corners of your lips.
Dropping that smile down into your throat,
Relax your throat and your neck.
Letting your shoulder blades melt down your back,
Keeping your shoulders nice and open and then dropping that smile down into your heart center,
Into your chest,
Taking a moment to notice whatever's going on in there,
Vibrating,
Heart beating,
Then dropping down into your belly,
Relaxing your abs,
Letting everything hang out and then relaxing your hips into the chair or the cushion,
Relaxing your thighs and your knees,
Your calves and your ankles and your feet and then softening your hands.
For a moment,
Feel your hands from the inside,
Feel the aliveness there,
Any kind of tingling,
Vibrating and now relax your hands onto your lap.
It doesn't matter whether they're face up or they're face down,
Just make your hands comfy.
Now noticing your breath where you notice it most easily,
We're going to focus our attention on our breath for a few moments.
So it could be at the tip of your nostrils where you'll notice when you breathe in through your nose,
It's a little bit cooler than when you breathe out.
You might notice it at the tip of your nose on the inside.
It's subtle,
But it's there.
Or you might find it more easy to notice your breathing with the rise and fall of your chest or the rise and fall of your belly.
But wherever you notice it most easily,
Please focus your attention on your body breathing in and on your body breathing out.
So you're seeing yourself breathing and you're feeling yourself breathing.
I'm going to be quiet for a few moments and allow you to concentrate on that.
When your mind wanders,
Gently bringing it back to the focus of your attention,
Which is your breath right now.
Now I'd like you to add a word.
It can be the same word on your in-breath and your out-breath,
Or it can be a different word.
For an example,
Fitnat Han likes peace on the in-breath and calm on the out-breath.
But whether you want to say love or peace or calm or ease,
Whatever word feels good to repeat over and over on the in-breath and on the out-breath,
I'd like you to do that for the next couple of moments.
So now you have two focuses of attention.
You have your breath and you have a word.
And oftentimes that helps quiet a busy mind's chatter.
Bringing your attention gently back to the words that you've chosen and your breathing.
Now,
I'd like you to call to mind an individual,
A being that makes you feel good.
Makes you smile.
So it could be a pet.
I often use my dog,
Madeline,
Or it could be a person,
But a relationship that's not too complicated so that when you visualize this being in your mind's eye,
Like you're looking at a photograph,
A smile naturally emerges on your face and joy arises in your body.
Take a moment to audition people for this role.
And when you have this image fixed in your mind,
Take a moment to notice what is the eye color of this individual that makes you happy?
How about skin tone,
Fur color,
If it's a pet?
And see if you can feel in your body,
This is the mindfulness piece,
Where the feeling of expansion is located.
Because when you're feeling love or joy or happiness,
It's occurring in your body at the same time.
It's not just intellectual,
It's embodied.
Let that fill you up.
Now I'm going to give you traditional loving kindness phrases to say to this being that you've chosen.
If you have a consistent loving kindness practice and you have your own phrases that you'd wish to substitute,
That's absolutely fine.
The traditional phrases,
Which you're going to repeat over and over to the individual that you've chosen,
Are may you be safe,
May you be safe,
May you be happy,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be healthy,
And may you live with ease,
May you live with ease.
Now,
When your mind wanders,
You have this image of this individual that brings you joy and these gorgeous phrases for goodwill.
I'm going to be quiet again and allow you to experience this great loving kindness meditation section.
Bringing your attention back to the phrases,
May you be safe,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
And may you live with ease.
Now I invite you to add yourself to this photo.
So it's the two of you.
How terrific.
It's you and this being that makes you happy together.
Savor the feeling of goodwill,
Of being together in your mind's eye.
Let that fill you up in your body.
Those positive mental states rewire your brain for happiness.
So take every opportunity to amplify that feeling in your body.
And then of course,
The phrases become,
May we,
May we both,
May we be safe,
May we be happy,
May we be healthy,
And may we live with ease.
So when your mind wanders,
You have the snapshot of the two of you and these magnificent phrases.
Widening the circle of compassion now,
I invite you to add other people.
Family members,
Friends,
Coworkers.
May we be safe.
May we be happy.
May we be healthy,
And may we live with ease.
You can take your imagination all the way out here if you'd like to.
I like to imagine the earth,
The whole planet,
All the sentient beings with a fishnet of loving kindness surrounding the entire globe.
May we be safe.
May we be happy.
May we be healthy,
And may we live with ease.
Now imagining a camera zooming in,
Zooming in,
So that the whole globe is falling outside of the camera,
And the friends and the family are falling outside of the camera,
And even the original being that you chose is disintegrating,
And what is left in that lens is you.
Imagine yourself sitting in meditation,
And the phrases of course become,
May I,
May I be safe.
Just as all things wish to be safe and free from suffering,
So do I.
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy,
And may I live with ease.
May I live with ease.
In the last part of this meditation,
I'm going to ask you to drop the focus on the phrases,
And to just see what comes up,
What thoughts or feelings or emotions come up in your body and in your mind,
And see whether you can notice but not attach to any storyline.
You might hear a noise and not name it.
You might have a thought and not spin out on the storyline of what that thought is.
Imagining your mind is a huge sky,
And your thoughts and feelings and emotions are clouds just drifting by.
This is more difficult than using a word or a phrase,
But it's a great skill to cultivate open awareness meditation.
And if you find it too difficult,
Go back to the focus of your attention on your breath or on a word,
But I'd really like you to try it for a couple moments before we end.
And now,
Before I ring the bell,
You might want to wiggle your toes,
Wiggle your fingers,
And when you hear the chime,
Slowly bring yourself back into the space.
Stretching out your legs,
Stretching out your arms,
Arms up to the ceiling if it feels good,
Turning to the right,
Turning to the left.
And now,
Patting yourself on the back for having given yourself this time,
And go have a balanced mind day or a balanced mind night.
Thanks so much for listening.
I'm Julie Podeker with Balanced Mind Meditation.
