This is David with Grounded Mind and welcome to this meditation on enlightenment in the body.
We're going to start off light and shallow with some humor and slowly walk more deeply into the ocean of awareness.
One of my favorite quotes comes from the meditation teacher Ram Dass and he says,
You think you're enlightened go spend a few weeks with your family.
You can go ahead and close your eyes.
Start to get comfortable.
And take a nice deep breath into your body.
One of the secrets when it comes to finding enlightenment in your body is that the more perfect you try to become the farther away you get from enlightenment.
And whether that perfection comes with your work or how you think your body should look,
How you should meditate,
Even how you should breathe.
So right now I invite you in this meditation to not have to be perfect.
You don't have to try to meditate well.
Enlightenment is not being the best.
It's not being the best version of yourself and it's not being perfect.
It's really an acceptance of who you are.
Right here.
As you start to calm and relax your space,
Allow your shoulders to drop,
Allow your muscles to let go of any tension.
Just be friendly with yourself.
Be kind to your body.
And pay attention to your body.
We can't have enlightenment without the body.
The body is where we get enlightened.
It's where we find our awakening.
It's where we experience the world.
It's where we fall in love.
It's where we experience loss.
And it's where we accept who we are.
And right now in this moment just let yourself deepen into who you are in your body.
The reason our bodies are such a special and unique doorway into enlightenment is because they are imperfect.
Or at least we think of them as imperfect.
Most of us carry some level of judgment around our bodies in relationship to other bodies.
We're too tall,
Too short,
Too wide,
Too thin,
Too old,
Or too young.
We have too many freckles.
Too many pimples,
Not enough dimples.
We all hold our bodies in some judgment.
Notice if there's anywhere you've been holding your body in judgment.
And anywhere you have been holding your body in judgment,
Just be aware of it.
Don't judge the thoughts that you have around your body.
You don't need to judge a judgmental thought.
Have compassion for it and awareness.
And on a deeper level notice that your body isn't perfect or imperfect.
It just is.
You wouldn't walk into the forest and point out a tree and say,
You're too tall,
And another,
You're too short.
Your branches are the wrong shape.
But we do that to ourselves and to each other.
You can allow any self judgment to melt off of you.
Let it wash off of you.
We spend so much time looking at each other through filters of judgment,
Looking at each other's bodies,
Comparing our bodies.
And through all of it we miss how special our bodies are,
How unique they are,
How rare they are,
How they bring us an opportunity to be enlightened on earth as human beings.
It's easy to be spiritual without a body.
You can be enlightened and float through the ethers.
Have no problems.
Be at one with the universe.
But to be enlightened in a physical form,
To be aware of yourself and to accept yourself as a human,
That's an enlightenment with an entirely different level of depth and meaning.
Allow your enlightenment to deepen within the context of your experience of who you are.
We won't find our enlightenment despite our bodies.
We find it because of them.
Notice that enlightenment in every cell in your body,
In every fiber,
In every muscle and bone.
Notice the enlightenment that shines from your body,
Even the shape of your body,
The geometry of your body,
The presence of your body.
The body can't be in the past and it can't be in the future.
It is anchored in the present.
And that is why it's such a sacred gift.
No matter where we go in our minds,
Our bodies are always right here,
Reminding us what it means to be present,
Reminding us what it means to have acceptance,
Reminding us of what it means to be human.
And if we can't love our bodies,
How can we expect to love another person?
How can we expect to love the world?
How can we expect to love all of creation if we can't even love what's been created for us?
Truly start to accept your body and the presence of you in your body.
If the body's enlightenment was based on how perfect it was,
Then the Buddha would have been a bodybuilder.
Mother Teresa would have been a supermodel.
But that's not how it works.
Notice your presence.
Notice your awareness.
It's all possible because of your body,
Because of your brain.
So much of our stress and anxiety comes from our lack of acceptance of our bodies.
And the body's natural state is to be calm,
To be present,
And to be conscious.
Be that presence in your body.
Awaken to that awareness of who you are.
Be kind to yourself.
Let go of that veil of judgment that you see yourself and others through.
Enjoy the time that you have on this planet in your body as a human being.
And when you're ready,
You can slowly open your eyes and come out of this meditation and continue to be in your body and allow your light to shine into the world from your body,
From the inside out.
I'll see you next time and enjoy yourself.
