The Cinema Inside Advanced

This is a fast paced practice designed for the workplace for those of us with busy minds or busy days who need extra help to slow, quieten and halt the babble of thoughts that drag us along all day. This advanced version of The Cinema Inside allows us to go one step further into being at one with the calmness that exists in us all.

Transcript

This practice is called the Cinema Inside Advanced.

It contains some visualizations to help guide you.

In mindfulness practice we use visualizations to help take yourself to the now.

That simply means we suggest a scenario in your mind's eye to lead you to yourself in the present moment,

Right here,

Right now.

It may seem a bit peculiar at first,

But you'll get used to it.

It's also important to remember at this juncture that practicing mindfulness is about non-striving.

We are not straining and stressing to do these practices.

We are letting go without judgment or striving,

And with acceptance,

Trust,

Patience and a beginner's mind.

So,

Let's get going.

Sit nice and comfortably,

Place your hands on your thighs,

And allow your arms to hang naturally from your shoulders.

Notice the way your arms just dangle like they do.

Notice the air swirling around your body.

Notice your feet on the floor,

The contact with your hands and your thighs,

And the contact of your bum on the seat.

Notice how your head just stands up all by itself.

Consciously relax all the parts of your body,

One by one.

Many people hold tension in their shoulders,

So consciously drop your shoulders.

Others hold tension in their jaw,

Their tongue,

Their neck,

Their back or other places in the body.

So,

Go through the major parts of your body and really let them go.

Now breathe through your nose.

Breathing through your nose connects you instantly with your brain via the olfactory nerve.

And by engaging your diaphragm in a focused way like this,

You tap into your wandering vagus nerve,

Thereby connecting you with your lungs,

Heart,

Gut and back again to your brain.

Don't just take any old breath.

Take a nice,

Big,

Deep breath and really feel the air entering your nose,

Going down your windpipe,

Into your lungs and filling every inch of them.

When you exhale,

Take the time to really feel the air leaving the boundaries of your body too.

Really get into your breath.

Feel it coming in.

Feel it going out.

Lengthen it.

Deepen it.

And slow it.

If you haven't done so already,

Allow your eyes to fall shut.

In your mind's eye,

Picture your favourite cinema.

If you've suddenly got a hundred cinemas going through your head,

Just pick the first one.

Go up to the counter and buy a ticket.

Walk across the foyer and grab everything you need from the concession stand.

Popcorn,

Drinks,

Sweets,

Whatever.

When you've finished at the concession stand,

Walk up to the usher at the entrance to the auditorium and give him or her the ticket and walk into the auditorium.

Now this auditorium is a little different.

This auditorium is inside your head.

Take a seat anywhere in the auditorium and make yourself comfortable.

When you feel ready,

Allow your attention to be distracted by the screen flickering on.

Enjoy the distance that you have between yourself and the screen for a moment.

Now without striving,

Relax and let yourself have as many thoughts as you like.

Let each thought exist just long enough to note what it is.

And once you've noted it,

Let it go and let the next thought come.

One by one,

Let them come,

Let them be,

Note them and let them go.

One scene at a time.

Beginning,

Noting,

Letting go.

Beginning,

Noting,

Letting go.

Now I'm going to leave you in peace doing this for 60 seconds.

So let the cinema inside run.

60 seconds,

Here we go.

Thank you.

Now let's try something a little bit extra.

I want you to notice that in between the moment that one thought is let go and the next thought begins,

There is a little gap.

Bit by bit,

Allow your thoughts to slow down so that this gap gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

As one thought ends and before another thought begins,

You can see the space growing in between.

Keep allowing the pace of your thoughts to slow until the gap gets big enough to enjoy on its own.

Take a nice deep breath and I'll leave you for another 60 seconds to see if you can slow your thoughts down so much that you're essentially looking at a blank screen,

Focusing occasionally on your breath as necessary.

Your breath is always with you,

So enjoy.

Thank you.

Okay,

Great.

Take a nice deep breath,

Allow the credits to roll,

Get up from your seat in the auditorium,

Walk out of the auditorium and across the foyer.

By all means say thank you to the ticket seller.

Walk out into the street,

Open your eyes and come back to clock time.

You can wiggle your fingers,

You can wiggle your toes,

You can come back quick,

You can come back slow.

There's no rush here.

Really stretch and really feel yourself stretch.

Some of you will have found that practice helped you to slow down and even stop your thoughts.

Some of you may have found your mind going completely blank from the beginning and not even being able to have any thoughts.

To the first group,

You have just begun to go to the place where your body and your mind are in awareness together.

To the second group,

You have discovered that your consciousness works well with a reverse psychology effect and you have also perhaps inadvertently discovered the space between your thoughts,

The place where your mind and your body are still in awareness and wholeness together.

Whichever group you fall into and even if you found you still couldn't quite quieten your mind to the extent that you were saying nothing,

Remember that daily practice makes you rapidly better.

It needn't be as long as 12 minutes,

It could be a simple pause like the one we started this album with.

Just keep doing the one you feel comfortable with and when you feel confident enough to move on,

Try the next one.

Reviews

This was a good practice...I had several things that came forward...I would need to deal with each cinema seperately...deep hurts are there..thinking I let them go...but I haven't...you are very good at this...I used deep breathing to go on...I will try it again..taking a scenario from past one at a time... I liked this..it helped.
Blessings & Hugs 🫂
Donald James Dodge

Effective way to return to center, quite the mind, and clear the clutter, from this infinite present moment. Thank you!

Thank you for that, I needed the reminder that I can slow down and remain effective and productive

Movie could have been a little bit longer. Loved the experience 😊

Really helpful I'm letting thoughts go. I'll be doing this session more often.

In the past I have experienced only the merest flickers of awareness of my thoughts as phenomena to be observed. My default is to identify with them, feeling that I am my thoughts. This approach is new to me, and I had several seconds of simply observing my thoughts. Thank you so much.

thank you for this. surely is my new daily meditation

One of the best meditations I have ever come across in my few years of meditating. Your pacing, clarity and instruction are outstanding man!

Very nice concept and pleasing tone and pace of voice

Like a real life, mindful cinema experience. Thank you. Such a treat. Thank you AJ

Thank you! Was very interesting to note that the moment I went into the cinema my mind went blank and I fell into the 2nd group. It really helped slow down my thoughts.

thank you ...Namaste

I needed this at this exact moment! Thank you!

Powerful meditation and visualization techniques; even though I was not able to visualize all the way, I'm sure I'll get better with time and practice!

Yes, you are good! I wonder if you can slow down the pace just a bit so that the non english speaking people can enjoy it fully. Guess it is supposed to be a gift to the world 🌳

I found this strategy for observing thoughts and cultivating that gap between them to be very useful. Sometimes I think I try to hard, so in a way, the idea of expecting the thoughts takes some pressure off. The imagery also helped me to get into more of an observer role and get caught up in the thoughts less. Thank you!

Thanks AJ, it was really beneficial.

Great to know it’s ok not to have anything on your screen! Reverse psychology works for me 😂

Thank you. This was a great introductory meditation and so fun!

Thank you for this great meditation at the cinema. I liked IT a lot.👌✨
Merci merci 🙏🙏