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.
For the purpose of this practice it helps to be aware of the difference between thoughts,
Emotions and sensations.
So I will shortly explain them here.
A thought is a stream of sentences,
Calculations,
Songs or videos that plays out in your mind.
For example your inner voice can say,
Ok when I'm done with this I need to remember to buy bananas.
Or perhaps you will get caught up in the mental rehearsal of something you did yesterday and play this scene out in your mind.
An emotion is a strong feeling that is directed at someone or something.
For example you can be angry at yourself for not being able to meditate.
Or you can be happy that today your mind seems to be doing what you want and listen to my voice.
Or you can be anxious about an upcoming presentation.
A sensation is any physical input that is picked up by your senses.
For example you can feel pain somewhere.
You can hear a sound close by.
You can smell oranges.
Or you can feel your heart race.
Please note that any thought,
Emotion or sensation you notice in this practice is ok and all of them are useful tools in your practice today.
You don't need to judge yourself for what comes up.
You're merely noticing,
Recognizing,
Allowing and releasing.
Let's start with the first part of our meditation today.
Learning to notice the bull.
If you haven't already close your eyes.
Visualize your breath to sink into your body.
Now imagine that you are flying over luscious,
Mountainous,
Wild land.
The 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.
Land 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.
This is a natural process that happens to all of us.
We don't have to feel bad about being pulled.
The only purpose you have now is to notice when something has pulled you off your rock.
So let's practice.
And sit.
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.
Find 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.
Remarkable.
Watching everything coming,
Passing and fading.
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.
Becoming a river with its thoughts,
Feelings and sensations.
Just being this ever ongoing river of open awareness.
Allowing the current to pick you up and become weightless.
Allowing the current to pick you up and become weightless.
Allowing the current to pick you up and become weightless.
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.
Perhaps you want to grab a journal and write down any insights about the nature of your thoughts,
Emotions and sensations.
Whatever it is you noticed,
Writing down what happens when we are in open awareness can be a great way to pick up on early signs of your body that there is something that you really need.
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.
