Hi,
My name is Inga and I will be guiding you through your practice today.
Welcome to this meditation on how to let go of thoughts,
Feelings and sensations and release yourself into open awareness.
Let's start by aligning the body,
Release the hands onto the knees,
Press the sits bones into your seat.
Stack the vertebrae on top of each other,
Reaching the spine,
Tall and high.
Rolling the shoulders up towards the ears and then releasing them down the back.
Reaching the head up towards the sky and then take a few slow and steady breaths through the nose.
Inhale expanding the belly,
Widen the side ribs,
Open the chest and exhale releasing the chest,
Ribs and drawing the belly in.
In the first part of this meditation I invite you to experience when you are pulled by your thoughts.
What kind of thoughts pull you most and to investigate why you identify with them.
In the second part we will practice being the observer of these thoughts,
Learning to see them come and see them go.
To notice the beginning and to notice the end and distinguish between thoughts,
Feelings and sensations.
In the third and last part we practice to let go of this idea of being the observer.
We become aware that we are awareness itself in which thoughts,
Feelings and sensations come and go.
We are not our thoughts.
We are not the observer of our thoughts.
We are merely the awareness in which internal and external sensations arise.
Let's start with the first part of our meditation today,
Learning to notice the pull.
If you haven't already,
Close your eyes,
Use your breath to sink into your body.
Now imagine that you are flying over luscious,
Mountainous,
Wild land.
Colors and smells of the spring have set in and so has the melting of ice and the sound of water accumulating into a beautiful river.
When you look down towards the river,
You spot a tiny island,
A big rock in the middle of the river.
Stand on this rock,
Feel the warmth of the afternoon sun that this rock has gathered for you on the soles of your feet.
And take a seat.
For the next few minutes,
This seat will be the place from which you observe your thoughts.
The river around you is the stream of sensations,
Emotions and thoughts that will pass you by and will pull you away from your rock.
The moment you notice a thought pulled you off your island,
Just notice what pulled you.
Notice the content of what pulled you.
And then let go and come back to your rock.
When you notice the river has swallowed you without judgment,
Come back to your rock.
Align your body from your sits bones up.
Follow your breath.
And just sit.
This river will always carry thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensations.
But we don't have to be pulled by them,
Engage with them,
Identify with them.
We can observe them as they come and go.
Let's practice now to make your rock your point of observation.
Focus your gaze upstream and see if you can see thoughts,
Emotions or sensations coming.
When you notice a thought is coming,
Watch it approaching,
Passing and fading to the distance.
Sit and watch them come,
Pass and fade.
Perhaps when you see something coming,
You can observe what this object is.
A thought,
An emotion or a sensation.
You can simply say to yourself,
Thought,
Emotion,
Sensation.
Now,
If you feel ready,
It is time to let go of your rock.
And become one with your river.
Stand up and place your feet into the cool water.
Slowly walking in,
Allowing the water to surround you.
Allowing the current to pick you up and become weightless.
Releasing your body into the natural flow of this river,
Merging yourself with the water.
Plumbing the river with its thoughts,
Feelings and sensations.
This being this ever ongoing river of open awareness.
This being this ever ongoing river of open awareness.
This being this ever ongoing river of open awareness.
This being this ever ongoing river of open awareness.
Slowly come back to your rock.
Feel its support beneath you.
Feel your hands on your knees,
Your sits bones on the surface.
The air flowing in and out of your nose.
Air filling up your belly,
Widening your chest.
And when you are ready,
You can gently open your eyes.
Thank you for trusting me with your mind and taking the time to get to know yourself a little bit better.
Have a lovely day.
Namaste.
