When we're born,
We're born with joyful source energy that is almost too much sometimes.
And we can see this in children where they can suddenly run and scream with excitement out of what seems like nowhere.
There's a natural process over our lifetime of quietening it down as our ego identity develops and we traverse through the challenges of life.
But unfortunately this energy can get very dampened down and trauma in our life can compound this.
So as we begin to heal and allow space within,
There can be a reawakening of this energy felt as joy and love.
I was only made aware of this a few years ago actually.
My Buddhist teacher and guide Rob Priest was mentioning it and it evoked something extremely blissful in me.
And actually over the course of the next few weeks it awoke so much joy in me that it eventually even became too much.
I didn't know what to do with it all.
It was like a tap that had been opened and all the water was just pouring out.
It did calm after a few weeks and now it feels somewhat more balanced but it definitely awoke a new beginning in me.
It led me to realize that my meditation practice had for many years,
Although heartfelt and enjoyable,
Had become somewhat serious.
Not drastically serious but there was a serious tone to it.
So in this meditation we're going to spend some time relaxing and grounding and connecting to our body and letting ourselves become more spacious and open.
And while we're resting in spacious awareness,
I'll prompt you to notice the underlying pleasant or joyful feeling.
So let's start by finding somewhere comfortable to sit.
It's good to have your back straight with fresh air coming in your lungs.
It'll allow your body to have some movement to it and softness.
As you relax in your seat,
Bring your awareness into your body.
As you relax in your seat,
Bring your awareness in to become aware of your breath.
Aware of your breath within your body.
You could notice the feeling of the air coming in and out of your nostrils and your throat.
Notice the feelings and sensations of your lungs,
Ribs and abdomen.
Rising and falling with each breath.
See if you can allow yourself to be present in your body at ease and be inquisitive of feelings and sensations in your body as you breathe.
And shift your awareness slightly to become aware of your out breath.
As a resting and settling breath.
Really follow each out breath down.
Feeling yourself relax deeper and deeper with each out breath.
When you become distracted,
Just soften around it and see if you can let go of the thought for now.
Let it drift off to wherever it wants to go.
And then come back to your body and notice any holding or contraction that is there.
Allow that to soften and relax and open.
And then gently bring your awareness back to your breath and back to notice the feelings and sensations in your body as you breathe.
Move your awareness now to the ground of your being.
Notice the sensations of the weight of your legs.
Notice the feelings and sensations of the ground or the chair pushing up from the ground.
Notice the feeling of it really supporting you as you begin to relax and settle.
And see if you can allow yourself to trust that ground and deeply relax and let go into it with your whole body.
Whenever you become distracted again,
Try not to judge yourself or try not to stop the thoughts.
Just kind of soften around it and see if you can let go of the thoughts for now.
Notice any holding or contraction in your body and then gently allow to soften,
Relax and open again.
And then gently bring your awareness back to your breath,
Back into feelings and sensations in your body and allow your whole body to deeply relax into your ground again.
Move your awareness up into the trunk of your body and notice any feelings and sensations there.
Just notice what is there and give it space to be as it is.
Expand your awareness out to the rest of your body,
Out to your arms,
Up to your neck and your head and back down into your legs.
And let go until you become aware of feelings and sensations within your whole body from the inside out.
You could ever sense that your whole body is breathing like your skin is permeable and let that breathing process soften the subtle holding to your sense of form.
So as you breathe,
Let your whole body breathe.
Continuously and gently letting go,
Relaxing and letting yourself gradually become more spacious,
And letting yourself gradually become more spacious and open.
Quiet,
Present awareness.
And when you become distracted,
All you need to do is come back to your body,
Notice any holding or contraction there and then gently allow to soften and relax.
And gradually become more spacious and open again,
Allowing your whole body to soften and breathe.
While you're allowing yourself to rest in this spaciousness,
You may get a sense of the aliveness within your body,
An inner vitality.
Just notice what you feel and whatever you notice,
Give it space and allow it to be.
While you're resting here in spaciousness,
You might notice a connection to a pleasant feeling of sorts.
It might be a subtle feeling of something quite nice about being present here in your body,
Something safe about it and comforting.
It could be a connection to feelings of love in your heart that feels like it wants to grow.
Your innate joy manifests in your body in many shapes,
Forms and sizes.
So if you notice something like this,
See if you can give it space to permeate out as much as it wants to.
Out to the rest of your body.
Until your whole body is saturated with blissful feelings of love and joy.
And instead of visualizing it,
See if you can really feel that throughout your body.
As we bring this meditation to a close,
I'd like to invite you to take a moment to remember that this joy and love is an intrinsic aspect of your true nature.
So try to take moments wherever you can to bring spaciousness into your life and allow your energy to flow out of your body and into your mind.
And as you go out into your day,
Remember that this joy and love is an intrinsic aspect of your true nature.
And allow your inner joy to radiate out as much as you can.
I think it's so important for us after trauma to reconnect with this natural inner joy.
Sometimes it can be overlooked because we're so busy trying to heal.
But even the healing process itself can be uncomfortable sometimes.
So now it's time to start reawakening this love and joy.
And for you to start enjoying your newfound freedom.
This meditation is from my course,
Return to Joy,
Healing from Trauma.
Where I take you through the steps that I found were truly beneficial and rewarding in my own journey of healing.
So please feel free to take a look.
The courses are a great space for you to take a journey step by step and reflect back at me so that I can deeply support you and go with you on that journey.
Thank you.
