Tonight.
I invite you to gently reopen a door that life may have taught you to close.
Have you ever noticed?
After a disappointment or a sorrow.
Your chest closing like a fist.
And found yourself keeping others at a distance.
Out of caution.
Out of weariness.
Out of fear of being hurt again.
The Heart.
When it has suffered.
Learns to protect itself.
It surrounds itself with a shell.
Closes in on itself.
And sometimes ends up forgetting that it was made to open.
But this closing.
However understandable it may be.
Eventually cuts us off from what we most need.
Tenderness.
Warmth.
Connection.
A heart does not heal by remaining closed.
It heals by slowly reopening.
In safety at its own pace.
We are not going to force anything or tear away any protection.
We will simply create around your heart a climate so gentle.
So safe.
That it will choose by itself to open.
Petal after petal,
Like a flower opening to the light without ever being pulled.
For this opening to fully bear fruit.
I invite you to listen to this meditation for 30 consecutive nights.
30 nights during which your unconscious will slowly learn to trust again.
To love.
And to allow itself to be loved.
And if you fall asleep while listening.
That is perfect.
It is even the sign that everything is working.
You're unconscious for its part.
Continues to hear every word and carries on the work until morning.
Now settle in for the night.
If you can.
Gently bring a light blanket.
I feel it.
A throw over your chest.
And feel this tender weight resting just above your heart.
Like a reassuring presence.
Like a benevolent hand placed there to watch over you.
Feel the gentle warmth of this contact.
The safety it brings.
Let the rest of your body surrender around this protected center.
And when you feel safe.
Let your eyelids slowly lower.
As a flower folds its petals at nightfall.
So it can open them again.
Take a first slow breath.
And bring all your attention to your chest.
Where the blanket rests.
This is where we begin tonight.
Feel your ribcage rising gently as you inhale.
And falling as you exhale.
Like a quiet time.
With each breath.
Imagine a very gentle warmth settling in the center of your chest.
Just behind the breastbone.
At the exact place of your heart.
Alive.
Patience.
Let it grow a little more with each breath.
And let your heart slow down.
Reassured by being watched over in this way.
From this warm center.
The heat now begins to spread through your whole body.
It rises towards your shoulders.
Which lower and loosen.
Glides down your arms to the tips of your fingers.
But grow heavier.
It moves up into your neck.
Your jaw loosens.
Your forehead smooths.
Your eyelids become heavy and warm.
Then the warmth flows down from your chest to your belly.
Which relaxes deeply.
To your lower back.
Pelvis.
Hips.
Where all old tension dissolves.
Pours into your thighs.
Your calves.
Down to your ankles and the soles of your feet.
Your whole body now radiates from this warm hearth at the center of your chest.
As if your heart were warming every part of you.
With each exhalation.
You sink a little deeper into the support beneath you.
And with each inhalation.
The warmth of the heart blossoms more fully.
It is in this safety.
That your heart can finally open.
And this is where I am going to take you.
Now imagine that you are floating on the surface of a peaceful lake.
In the moonlight.
But this is no ordinary lake.
Its entire surface is covered with broad green leaves.
And sleeping water lilies.
Whose white and pink flowers are closed in the coolness of the night.
The water is warm.
Calm.
And carries you without the slightest effort.
The moon round and full.
Lays a silvery glow on each petal.
And its reflection dances gently on the water around you.
The air is filled with a delicate,
Aquatic.
Sweet fragrance.
That of flowers asleep.
The silence is total.
Broken only by the very soft lapping of the water against the leaves.
And the distant song of a night bird.
You are perfectly safe here.
Rocked!
With nothing to do but breathe.
No hostile shore.
NO GAZE No expectation.
The lake welcomes you like a cradle of warm water.
And you could stay here for hours.
Simply carry it.
Feel the water supporting your neck.
Your shoulders.
The small of your back.
Your legs.
Without you having the slightest effort to make.
It hugs every curve of your body like an immense.
Gentle palm.
From time to time,
A lily pad brushes the tips of your fingers.
And a night dragonfly lands for a moment on a flower.
Before leaving again without a sound.
Everything around you breathes the same peace.
The same surrender.
And as you float like this,
You notice something at the center of your chest.
There is a lotus bud there.
Closed.
Peaceful.
Its pedals still pressed tightly together.
This is your heart.
And it has waited a long time.
In the half-light.
For this moment of perfect safety.
Do not pull on anything.
You do not have to open this lotus by force.
Any more than you would force a flower to bloom before its time.
Simply watch.
With infinite patience.
Offering it only your presence and your safety.
For the moon.
Above.
Now lays its silvery light directly on this lotus bud at the center of your chest.
This light is gentle without demands.
Without haste it warms the closed petals as the first morning sun warms a flower still asleep.
And under this caress of light.
Slowly.
Without any effort.
The first petal begins to come away from the others.
It opens just a little.
And already you feel in your chest an infinitesimal release.
A small liberation.
Like a sigh long held back.
Than a second petal parts.
And a third.
Each opening is accompanied by a wave of gentle warmth.
That spreads through your entire chest.
And by a feeling of relief.
As if you were finally setting down a burden.
You no longer even knew you were carrying.
The lotus opens at its own pace and as it opens,
Your heart grows lighter,
Wider.
And breathes.
Let each petal open when it is ready.
Some unfold quickly.
Others take their time.
And that is perfectly fine.
There is no hurry.
With each petal that uncurls.
An old wound loosens.
A protection that has become unnecessary relaxes.
And a little more warmth can circulate.
Perhaps you feel for a brief moment.
The memory of an old sorrow.
A lost love.
A disappointment rising to the surface.
Do not push it away.
Let it pass through your open chest and watch it dissolve in the light of the moon.
Carried away by the water of the lake.
Enlighten.
Forgiven.
Each pedal that opens frees you a little more from what you are carrying.
You feel your chest becoming vast.
Luminous.
And at the heart of the lotus.
Now fully open.
You discover a gentle golden light.
That has been there all along.
Simply hidden beneath the closed petals.
This.
Is your capacity to love.
Intact.
Alive.
Ready to give and to receive.
Suffering has never been able to extinguish it.
It only covered it.
Stay here.
Bathed in moonlight.
And let this light from your heart shine out onto the water.
Softly illuminating all the other water lilies around you.
Which open in turn as if in response.
As if your simple opening were enough to give others permission to open as well.
You are no longer closed.
The whole lake now sparkles with a multitude of blooming flowers.
And you float at the center of this field of light.
Your heart wide open.
Perfectly at peace.
Your open heart naturally calls tenderness.
And tenderness will come.
For an open heart is a heart that life loves to fill.
Let the water lilies blur.
Gentle glow.
Until it is nothing more than a softness behind your eyelids.
You keep only the sensation of this opening at the center of your chest.
This blossomed warmth that breathes on its own.
The boundary of your skin slowly dissolves.
And the light of your heart.
Flows out of you.
Spreads into the warm water.
Mingles without resistance with the reflection of the moon.
You no longer really know where your chest ends and where the sleeping lake begins.
Long kept closed for protection.
Finally agrees to remain open.
Because it finally feels safe.
The world is holding you tonight.
You have no pedal to force.
No protection to rebuild.
No wound to watch over.
Everything opens at its own pace.
And all is well.
The lake is watching.
The moon is watching.
The flowers are watching around you.
And your heart can finally rest in this new openness without fearing.
It will have to close again in the morning.
A tender warmth flows from your blossomed heart to the rest of your body.
Petal after petal.
In slow,
Rounded waves that dissolve into the water.
You descend into this opening.
Level after level.
And each level is softer than the one before.
The light of the lotus does not go out.
It becomes inner.
It folds back to the center of you.
Like a gentle ember beneath warm ash.
Everything becomes distant.
Muffled.
Without edges.
The petals continue to open.
One after another.
More and more slowly until opening and rest become one and the same.
There is no more wait.
No more edges.
No more protection.
Only a slow.
Blissful flowing.
And you are now drifting as clear water flows between the leaves of a lake.
Falling asleep.
As the last petal unfolds in the cool of the night.
Towards the deepest and most restorative sleep of your life.
And if you are not yet asleep.
I invite you to let the following affirmations carry you into sleep.
Your unconscious will then take over.
My heart opens in safety.
At its own pace.
I am safe and I can allow myself to be loved.
My capacity to love is intact and alive.
I released the old wounds that had closed me.
My heart heals by opening.
Never by closing.
I no longer need to protect myself from tenderness.
Each breath opens my heart a little more.
Suffering has never extinguished my inner light.
I allow myself to trust again.
My open heart naturally calls love.
I release protections that have become unnecessary.
I am worthy of gentle and sincere tenderness.
The more I open.
The lighter I feel.
I welcome the love that comes to me without fear.
My heart is a lotus blossoming in full light.
I forgive the past.
And I free my present.
The warmth of my heart radiates and touches others.
I feel at peace with my vulnerability.
Loving no longer puts me in danger.
Loving nourishes me.
I let tenderness flow freely within me.
My heart knows how to reopen after each sorrow.
I open to receiving as much as to giving.
Each night.
My heart heals a little more.
I am exactly where I need to be tonight.
A benevolent gentleness watches over me at every moment.
My sleep extends this opening of the heart.
I now drift towards a deep sleep.
Gentle.
And restorative sleep.
My heart opens in safety.
At its own pace.
I am safe and I can allow myself to be loved.
My capacity to love is intact and alive.
I released the old wounds that had closed me.
My heart heals by opening.
Never by closing.
I no longer need to protect myself from tenderness.
Each breath opens my heart a little more.
Suffering has never extinguished my inner light.
I allow myself to trust again.
My open heart naturally calls love.
I release protections that have become unnecessary.
I am worthy of gentle and sincere tenderness.
The more I open.
The lighter I feel.
I welcome the love that comes to me without fear.
My heart is a lotus blossoming in full light.
I forgive the past.
And I free my present.
The warmth of my heart radiates and touches others.
I feel at peace with my vulnerability.
Loving no longer puts me in danger.
Loving nourishes me.
I let tenderness flow freely within me.
My heart knows how to reopen after each sorrow.
I open to receiving as much as to giving.
Each night.
My heart heals a little more.
I am exactly where I need to be tonight.
A benevolent gentleness watches over me at every moment.
My sleep extends this opening of the heart.
I now drift towards a deep sleep.
Gentle.
And restorative sleep.
My heart opens in safety.
At its own pace.
I am safe and I can allow myself to be loved.
My capacity to love is intact and alive.
I released the old wounds that had closed me.
My heart heals by opening.
Never by closing.
I no longer need to protect myself from tenderness.
Each breath opens my heart a little more.
Suffering has never extinguished my inner light.
I allow myself to trust again.
My open heart naturally calls love.
I release protections that have become unnecessary.
I am worthy of gentle and sincere tenderness.
The more I open.
The lighter I feel.
I welcome the love that comes to me without fear.
My heart is a lotus blossoming in full light.
I forgive the past.
And I free my present.
The warmth of my heart radiates and touches others.
I feel at peace with my vulnerability.
Loving no longer puts me in danger.
Loving nourishes me.
I let tenderness flow freely within me.
My heart knows how to reopen after each sorrow.
I open to receiving as much as to giving.
Each night.
My heart heals a little more.
I am exactly where I need to be tonight.
A benevolent gentleness watches over me at every moment.
My sleep extends this opening of the heart.
I now drift towards a deep sleep.
Gentle.
And restorative sleep.
My heart opens in safety.
At its own pace.
I am safe and I can allow myself to be loved.
My capacity to love is intact and alive.
I released the old wounds that had closed me.
My heart heals by opening.
Never by closing.
I no longer need to protect myself from tenderness.
Each breath opens my heart a little more.
Suffering has never extinguished my inner light.
I allow myself to trust again.
My open heart naturally calls love.
I release protections that have become unnecessary.
I am worthy of gentle and sincere tenderness.
The more I open.
The lighter I feel.
I welcome the love that comes to me without fear.
My heart is a lotus blossoming in full light.
I forgive the past.
And I free my present.
The warmth of my heart radiates and touches others.
I feel at peace with my vulnerability.
Loving no longer puts me in danger.
Loving nourishes me.
I let tenderness flow freely within me.
My heart knows how to reopen after each sorrow.
I open to receiving as much as to giving.
Each night.
My heart heals a little more.
I am exactly where I need to be tonight.
A benevolent gentleness watches over me at every moment.
My sleep extends this opening of the heart.
I now drift towards a deep sleep.
Gentle.
And restorative sleep.
My heart opens in safety.
At its own pace.
I am safe and I can allow myself to be loved.
My capacity to love is intact and alive.
I released the old wounds that had closed me.
My heart heals by opening.
Never by closing.
I no longer need to protect myself from tenderness.
Each breath opens my heart a little more.
Suffering has never extinguished my inner light.
I allow myself to trust again.
My open heart naturally calls love.
I release protections that have become unnecessary.
I am worthy of gentle and sincere tenderness.
The more I open.
The lighter I feel.
I welcome the love that comes to me without fear.
My heart is a lotus blossoming in full light.
I forgive the past.
And I free my present.
The warmth of my heart radiates and touches others.
I feel at peace with my vulnerability.
Loving no longer puts me in danger.
Loving nourishes me.
I let tenderness flow freely within me.
My heart knows how to reopen after each sorrow.
I open to receiving as much as to giving.
Each night.
My heart heals a little more.
I am exactly where I need to be tonight.
A benevolent gentleness watches over me at every moment.
My sleep extends this opening of the heart.
I now drift toward the deep.
Gentle.
And restorative sleep.
My heart opens in safety.
At its own pace.
I am safe and I can allow myself to be loved.
My capacity to love is intact and alive.
I released the old wounds that had closed me.
My heart heals by opening.
Never by closing.
I no longer need to protect myself from tenderness.
Each breath opens my heart a little more.
Suffering has never extinguished my inner light.
I allow myself to trust again.
My open heart naturally calls love.
I release protections that have become unnecessary.
I am worthy of gentle and sincere tenderness.
The more I open.
The lighter I feel.
I welcome the love that comes to me without fear.
My heart is a lotus blossoming in full light.
I forgive the past.
And I free my present.
The warmth of my heart radiates and touches others.
I feel at peace with my vulnerability.
Loving no longer puts me in danger.
Loving nourishes me.
I let tenderness flow freely within me.
My heart knows how to reopen after each sorrow.
I open to receiving as much as to giving.
Each night.
My heart heals a little more.
I am exactly where I need to be tonight.
A benevolent gentleness watches over me at every moment.
My sleep extends this opening of the heart.
I now drift towards a deep sleep.
Gentle.
And restorative sleep.
My heart opens in safety.
At its own pace.
I am safe and I can allow myself to be loved.
My capacity to love is intact and alive.
I released the old wounds that had closed me.
My heart heals by opening.
Never by closing.
I no longer need to protect myself from tenderness.
Each breath opens my heart a little more.
Suffering has never extinguished my inner light.
I allow myself to trust again.
My open heart naturally calls love.
I release protections that have become unnecessary.
I am worthy of gentle and sincere tenderness.
The more I open.
The lighter I feel.
I welcome the love that comes to me without fear.
My heart is a lotus blossoming in full light.
I forgive the past.
And I free my present.
The warmth of my heart radiates and touches others.
I feel at peace with my vulnerability.
Loving no longer puts me in danger.
Loving nourishes me.
I let tenderness flow freely within me.
My heart knows how to reopen after each sorrow.
I open to receiving as much as to giving.
Each night.
My heart heals a little more.
