Welcome friends to this mantra based meditation that we are going to do together today.
Before we begin I would like to tell you a story about how a few years ago I blew up my life,
Leaving my teaching career and my marriage of 20 years because I was half happy and completely unfulfilled.
I realized that most of my choices were based on what other people thought about my life more than what I thought.
I wanted to do the right thing,
Never disappoint anyone and escape judgment.
If I could accomplish this I would find and feel the love that I longed for and when the dust settled I found my new path.
It was yoga.
This felt like love.
So in the spring of 2022 I decided I was going to sign up for my first ever public yoga class.
It was being held in a local community park not too far from my house.
After the class I felt so good that I decided to stop for a smoothie and on my way home in the car I declared I wanted to be a person who does yoga and drink smoothies.
This felt like love again.
Shortly thereafter I found a yoga teacher training program online.
I signed up for their intensive six-week summer program.
This was the first place that I had felt so much support and positivity in a very long time.
By the end of the summer I graduated with my YTT 200 and began creating my own offerings and looking for a job at the same time.
But after a few months nothing was panning out.
I felt the frustration setting in and in my car again I declared out loud to the universe I just want to teach yoga and again I could feel that warming sensation in my heart space that I identified as love.
Shortly after that a job popped up from the studio where I had actually taken that first public yoga class.
At first I thought no way I am not ready.
I'm not good enough.
I can't do this.
I also felt the fear in my heart space in that moment.
When I practiced my meditation that evening it helped me to identify my fear and take a leap of faith for something that I truly loved.
And guess what I got the job.
Have you ever felt that you made choices based more on others thoughts and opinions rather than on what you actually thought yourself?
And maybe in that moment it left you feeling unloved.
Practicing meditation has helped me to find the love that I have been searching for outside was within me the whole time.
See lots of times when we're seeking opinions and thoughts and feelings of other people in particular circumstances we're really searching for that outside validation so that we can know what we're thinking and feeling is true.
But I learned that making choices based on others thoughts and opinions left me and it didn't guarantee they would love me or any real connection.
And that I did need to learn how to cultivate my own self-love to feel this love to give and receive love.
I'd like to share with you today this teaching and practice so that you too can feel the energy of love within your own heart space.
Allow yourself to feel love and give yourself permission to make choices from a place of love.
You see there are two core emotions that almost every other emotion that we feel can be traced back to.
They are love and fear.
Fear is designed to keep us safe and often resounds as a loud voice in our minds.
Love on the other hand is what we are created from.
This fills our heart space and generally is a softer and quieter voice.
Take just a moment to see which emotion do you primarily make your choices from?
Which emotion do you want to operate from in your daily life?
Coming from a place of fear breeds self-doubt,
Lack of worthiness,
Mistrust,
Judgment,
And isolation.
It can feel tight,
Constricting,
Hard,
Or shaky,
Or even tense in the body.
But as humans we are designed for connection and community.
But fear can make us withdraw and seek solitude.
You may notice where this feels in your body and how it feels.
On the other hand coming from a place of love will help us to cultivate bliss,
Joy,
And harmony.
It can support a peaceful way of being in the world.
It will come in forms of excitement,
Happiness,
Fulfillment,
And passion.
It will feel open and expansive in the body,
Soft and maybe even flowy and smooth.
Love fosters connections and authenticity and you may notice how and where you feel that in your body also.
Learning to identify the emotions and the physical sensations can help create ways to give these loving emotions to ourselves.
Doing anything that brings us joy like healthy food or exercise or even quiet time.
The list can be endless.
But first let me share a few tips with you that can help us get started.
We can make the choice of which emotion to operate from.
When we're first feeling the feeling we can stop,
Relax in our body,
And take a breath.
Allow ourself to feel the feeling without suppressing it.
While at the same time noticing and observing the physical sensations in the body.
In this moment you can identify specifically where you're feeling this feeling and you may even notice why you feel this way.
What is it connected to?
What is it linked to?
And in that moment you can choose differently.
Self-talk can be very helpful here.
Giving ourselves some words of compassion and love and acceptance along with the permission to feel this feeling and then release it and let it go.
I want to share a meditation practice today with you that can help you identify feelings of love and where you feel that in your body.
We're going to start with what we call the freedom trinity.
Bring our awareness and our attention to our body,
Eyes,
And breath.
First we'll get comfortable in our seats,
Whatever surface you are sitting on.
Allow yourself to be comfortable with an elongated spine,
Finding softness in the shoulders,
The belly,
And the hips.
Be relaxing through the fingers and the toes and the skin of your face,
Allowing yourself to just sink deeply into this space.
Next we'll bring our awareness to our eyes.
I invite you to gently find a soft gaze looking down at the floor or maybe closing them completely if that feels good in your body.
And then we'll bring our attention to the breath.
I'm going to guide you through a three-count breath where we will inhale for three,
Hold for three,
And exhale for three.
But before we begin let's take one cleansing breath in together,
Breathing in through the nose all the way into the belly,
And then exhale.
You may release that breath out through the nose or the mouth.
And then we'll begin.
Inhale for one,
Two,
Three,
Hold for one,
Two,
Three,
And exhale for one,
Two,
Three.
We'll do that again,
Inhaling for one,
Two,
Three,
Hold for one,
Two,
Three,
And exhale for one,
Two,
Three.
Last round,
Inhale for one,
Two,
Three,
Hold for one,
Two,
Three,
And exhale for one,
Two,
Three.
As we begin our meditation,
I'm going to offer you a mantra today.
And I would like you to repeat this mantra continuously throughout the rest of our practice together silently in your mind.
I will keep the time and offer you reminders and guidance along the way.
The mantra we will use today is,
I choose love.
So go ahead and begin repeating that mantra in your mind.
I choose love.
I choose love.
I choose love.
I choose love.
I choose love.
I choose love.
And if your mind has begun to wander or drifted away,
Just come back to your mantra,
Quietly repeating it in your mind.
Choose,
Choose,
Love,
Choose.
Remembering if your mind has wandered or drifted,
Just come back to your mantra.
I'm going to invite you to take a deep breath in and a long breath out.
Just releasing that mantra and letting it go for now.
Allowing yourself to come back into this space.
Taking another full breath in and a nice releasing breath out.
Feel sensations coming back to your body and how you're connected to the earth in this moment.
And we'll take one last cleansing breath in and maybe open mouth exhale out.
And I'd like to take a moment to ask you to notice the sensations in your body after repeating this mantra.
And then finish this thought quietly in your mind.
When I choose love,
I feel.
When I choose love,
I feel.
Trust whatever is coming up first for you in your mind.
And I invite you to bring your hands and place them over your heart center and repeat that feeling in your mind a few times.
Taking another deep breath in and a long breath out to seal that into your being.
And then when you're ready,
You can gently open your eyes,
Coming fully back into your space.
I would encourage you to take a moment to write down what came up for you.
I sincerely hope that you now have a sense of how it feels to choose love,
How that feels in your body and how you personally can identify where it shows up.
This is a space that you can operate from in your daily life to help cultivate joy,
Peace and happiness.
Remembering that when you bring your attention here and taking just a few quiet moments to tap into it,
It can support you moving and choosing from this place each day.
It may even support you in taking leaps of faith that can bring you joy and bliss.
Meditation practices have helped me a lot in making the choices in my life and helping me to answer the questions that I have.
And where do I want to operate from?
A place of fear or a place of love?
Identifying the difference between fear and love and the physical sensations in my body,
Whether it was the tightening in my belly or the lightness in my heart space,
Has really helped me to take these leaps of faith into my love of yoga and bring that into my daily life.
I thank you so much for practicing with me.
I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day.
Namaste.
