Inner Refuge

A guided meditation to carve out space for your own inner healing journey. With gentle step by step instruction, you will enter into an inner refuge which can be revisited at any time throughout your day.

Suitable for beginners to advanced meditation practitioners.

Key words: Relax, centre, refuge, renew

Transcript

And just allowing yourself some time to find a good position that feels just right.

Either sitting on the floor with a cushion or sitting in a chair.

If you're on a chair just check that your back is away from the back support if possible and you are upright but relaxed.

Exploring how many muscles do you need to engage to be sitting up but also at ease.

Allowing space in your spine.

Finding as much symmetry as possible between the left and right sides of your body.

And perhaps placing your hands palms up if you are wanting to open your energy up or palms down on your knees or thighs if you're wanting to move your energy inside or ground yourself today.

Just finding what feels good in this very moment for you.

Finding your body settling into stillness.

Allowing yourself to move at any stage of the meditation and giving yourself permission now and holding the intention to use that movement to come closer and closer to your center to your place of surrender.

And gently lovingly coming into this moment that you have carved out for yourself.

And giving thanks for this time and for your willingness to give some time to yourself.

And just allowing this time to be a journey back to your essence.

However you need to get there is the right way.

And gently landing into this moment by beginning to notice the shapes around you.

Perhaps noticing textures.

Allowing the world around you to come into your senses through your eyes.

Moving your eyes across the objects you see.

Over corners,

Lengths,

Widths of the objects.

Perhaps noticing the spaces in between.

And slowly as you begin to settle more and more into the space surrounding you.

Just allowing your eyes to soften.

Perhaps they want to close when you're ready.

Or they may want to find a space to rest your gentle gaze.

Just explore what your eyes are asking for in this moment.

And gently slowly moving within.

Traveling your awareness to the optic nerve at the back of your eyes.

And gently accepting any images that arise.

Releasing,

Relaxing,

Softening that area at the back of the eyes.

You may find yourself just appreciating all the complex and beautiful information this nerve and your eyes allow you to experience.

Or perhaps there is just a silent surrender as you release this area.

Being with what is as you settle and relax your sense of sight.

And slowly beginning to place your attention now on the sounds around you.

And just for this moment you might sense what it would feel like to listen with your whole body.

Just taking that intention out to the furthest edges of your experience of sound.

Taking your awareness of sound out as far as possible.

Opening to moving your mind from one sound to another.

Perhaps feeling,

Sensing or registering the sounds with your whole body.

Bringing your awareness now to the sounds coming from within the room.

In your immediate environment.

Perhaps feeling the difference between the outside and inside sounds.

Maybe sensing your awareness moving gently from one sound to the next.

And then shifting now to the sounds coming from within your body.

Either hearing,

Sensing or imagining the sounds of your breath.

Digestion.

Perhaps even your heart beating.

These sounds are always resonating within you.

And just for now sitting with them.

Connecting and inquiring how you register the vibration and frequency of your body's essential functions.

Just listening now to those sounds coming from within you.

And letting go of listening and moving into your sense of taste.

Just activating your taste buds.

Maybe moving your tongue around your mouth or perhaps connecting with the saliva glands and just tasting the flavors in your mouth just in this moment.

And like a snapshot of this time in space.

With all the complex microbiome that starts its journey of life in your mouth before traveling the full length of your gut and digestive system.

Perhaps sensing and appreciating.

And just resting with that miracle of micro life in your body.

Just experiencing it for the next few moments as taste.

And on your next breath in letting go of taste and slowly shifting to your sense of smell.

You might feel the air entering your nostrils and register any smells that surround you.

Feeling where in your nostrils and sinuses you might first detect smell.

Just allowing this discovery to unravel and emerge revealing itself on your next few breaths now.

And if there are no smells just registering that sensation of no aromas.

Just allow what is to simply be.

Honoring what you are experiencing with your loving awareness.

And as you breathe in inquiring into that sense of smell.

And gently releasing your awareness of smell now and expanding your inquiry to your sense of touch.

Perhaps feeling the quality of the clothing on your skin.

Enjoying or sensing that contrast of temperatures.

Feeling the difference across your body.

Feeling the parts in contact with the floor maybe or chair.

Contrasting with those facing up or out into the space around you in contact with the air.

And you might be feeling the weight of your body on the points of contact you are making with the earth or chair.

Just for the next few moments exploring your sense of touch.

As you register that feeling of touch that sensation of touch.

Connecting with the skin cells.

And tracing now the journey of the breath.

Breathing in and traveling your awareness from your nostrils.

Entering your body down into your lungs.

Feeling the breath carrying oxygen and vitality to each cell of your skin.

Just allowing that connection between the breath and your skin.

To slowly develop as you rest your awareness.

From the nostrils into the lungs.

Breathing in oxygen.

And sending it out to your skin.

And feeling the breath now carrying vitality down your arms to the skin of your hands.

Your palms.

Perhaps feeling the fingers or the back of the hands.

And just sensing the difference between the skin of your palms and the back of your hands.

And the skin of the wrists and your fingers.

Just all slightly different.

And your skin and nervous system are intricately linked.

From the moment the body is formed in the womb.

And from your nerve network your skin is the next system to emerge in the process of growth.

And perhaps as you feel into your hands you can access the healing power of touch.

You might sense your awareness as a form of touch as you lovingly feel into one finger at a time.

The knuckles,

The nails.

Delicate bones of the hands and fingers.

Perhaps you can touch your awareness across the tendons,

The nerves.

Or lymphatic system in the hands.

And just sensing those systems always working to nourish your hands.

And just breathing into the hands.

Just letting go now of that awareness of the hands.

And allowing on your next breath your awareness to journey from the nostrils to the skin across your face.

And breathing in oxygen,

Vitality into each skin cell of your face now.

Sensing fresh renewal,

Vital energy entering the skin cells of your cheeks,

Cheeks,

Eyelids,

Forehead,

All the way across the surface of your scalp.

Between each hair follicle.

Perhaps feeling or imagining the difference of these surfaces and their functions.

And feeling the oil glands beneath the skin or just imagining them and breathing in healthy,

Fresh,

Vital oxygen to these areas.

And sensing it moving from outside the body into the lungs,

Across the lung membrane and into the bloodstream.

And traveling into the heart and out across the body,

Filling you with life and connecting you to the outside world.

I'm just releasing a little more on each breath.

You might feel the body responding,

Giving over to the earth and to her pool of gravity.

Sinking down from deep within your core to the outer edges of your body,

Letting go.

And surrendering just for the next few moments.

Just feeling the body responding to your loving awareness of the skin surface.

You might even sense your skin cells ability to renew,

Constantly shedding and creating a new barrier between your inner and outer worlds.

You might see this oxygen as tiny glistening lights or sense it's like the fragrance of a rose or the ocean.

Breathing it in.

Breathing the qualities of loving vitality through the blood vessels and into each skin cell.

Your face,

Forehead,

Eyes,

Cheeks,

Nose or chin.

Perhaps feeling the muscles beneath the skin of your face,

Responding by relaxing or spreading with your loving attention.

You might sense your jaw release or your eyes move gently back and away from your eyelids as they sense a loving,

Caring attention washing across your skin.

And on the next breath,

Releasing the journey across the face and moving now down the length of your body from your head down your throat and neck into your heart center.

And as you move across your body down your torso,

You might like to use the breath and see it as almost a form of massage,

Imagining your outbreath like a loving,

Stroking hand holding you and guiding you into your body.

Perhaps resting now on your heart or you might feel the breath at the back of the lungs,

Sensing how the movements of the breath shifts your torso gently up and down like the tides of the ocean traveling in and out.

Just sensing the skin of your torso,

Perhaps the sides of your body expanding and contracting on each breath as you feel the connection between your skin of your upper body and your muscles and organs beneath.

Just connecting the torso as a whole area,

It might help to visualize a golden thread connecting your heart to your stomach,

Allowing the connection between your heart and stomach to travel along the breath just for the next few moments or so.

Moving your loving awareness from your heart to your stomach on each breath,

Perhaps seeing them as interlocking circles or partners doing a magical dance,

Just allow your body to introduce the connection between heart and stomach to you in whatever way that feels right for the next few moments.

And slowly,

Gently and when you are ready,

Letting go of feeling the connection between your heart and stomach and on your next out breath,

Traveling your awareness down the length of your torso to your pelvis,

Hips,

Buttocks and thighs,

All the way down your legs.

And when you reach your feet,

Just resting there for a moment,

Allowing your awareness to gently spread through both of your feet,

Almost like dipping them into a warm pool of water.

Perhaps from deep within the bridges of the feet,

You can feel that warm water spreading all the way out to the tips of the toes,

Maybe across the back of the heels,

Sensing that loving,

Warm sensation spreading into each and every skin cell of your feet,

Between each toe to the balls of your feet.

Maybe you can feel or sense the ankles spreading and releasing,

Responding to your loving awareness and connection to your incredible feet that take you everywhere you go,

Connecting you up to the sky and sun's energy as they also connect you down to the earth.

Just for a moment now,

As you breathe out,

Just spreading your loving awareness to the skin of the feet,

Feeling the feet being held as if in loving hands,

And through this simple gesture of paying loving attention and connecting your breath to the skin of your feet now,

For the next few moments.

And in your own timing,

Just taking this connection between your breath and skin to any part of the body now that calls for loving attention and awareness.

You might even like to just stay with the feet.

Just allow your body to dictate where it wants that loving awareness to be held,

Breathing into that place and building a bridge of understanding,

Appreciation,

Connection,

And coming home into the body with each connecting breath.

And now letting the practice go and simply enjoying the effect of tracing this relationship between your outer and inner worlds,

Just bathing for the next few moments in the resonance of that interconnection,

Letting go,

Releasing and relaxing into your own sense of being.

And now allowing in your own timing,

Your breath to gently open and deepen,

Feeling the surface of your skin once again,

Or perhaps sensing the back of your hands,

The palms,

Maybe your face,

Reconnecting with the sounds around you,

Taste and smells within,

Maybe feeling your inner and outer worlds connected or harmonized.

And perhaps you can just sense the feeling of having tuned these spaces with your awareness and knowing at any time you can come back to this practice,

To this dance between the inner and outer,

To generate your sense of self,

Your expression in the world.

And giving yourself time now to take three conscious breaths,

And tuning into your natural breath,

And beginning when you're ready to move the body,

Wriggling your fingers maybe and toes,

Waking them up,

Becoming present into the space and moment in front of you.