Hello,
Angels of Earth,
And welcome to today's meditation.
We're going to be practicing visualization as a means of returning to the present moment.
So first,
Get comfortable,
Find your seat,
Maybe you're reclining or walking around.
This meditation is for you.
Take what serves you and leave the rest.
Let's start with your eyes,
A gentle focus on something in front of you.
Maybe it gets a little blurry as you let your eyes flutter closed.
Now without changing it,
Can you notice how your breath feels?
Where does it rise and fall in the body?
Is it up in the throat,
Down in your belly,
Or in your ribcage or your chest?
Is it shallow or is it deep?
Is each breath short or is it long?
Now imagine for a second what you would like your breath to feel like.
How deep,
How long,
How full.
And then see if you can replicate that in your body.
Now that we're settled in,
Let's begin our visualization.
The first thing we're going to do is we're going to allow ourselves to fall into the past.
So I want you to find a moment that you're ruminating on from the past couple of weeks or days.
And don't work too hard here,
The memory that serves you will come.
So you've got it.
I want you to do something that sounds counterintuitive for meditation and that is to let this memory consume you.
What happened?
Who was speaking?
What was the sound like?
What was the temperature?
What position were you sitting in or standing in?
Let yourself relive this moment.
And most importantly,
Answer this question.
How did it make you feel?
Were you nervous,
Excited,
Disappointed?
Maybe you were full of joy.
Name as many emotions as you can here.
And then notice,
Are these emotions that are pleasant for you or are they unpleasant?
And either way,
Allow yourself to feel these emotions again.
As much as they will show up.
Now here's the important part.
It's the coming back to the present moment that we're practicing here,
Right?
So let go of the image,
But keep those emotions.
Allow your body to continue to feel them strongly as you let the image of the scene fade away.
Your attention is coming back to your breath.
Now,
Whether these emotions were pleasant or unpleasant,
I want you to breathe in and feel these emotions fully.
And at the top,
We're holding for a count of five.
Hold on to them for one last moment and make peace with them here.
Exhale.
Let those emotions release back into the world.
They no longer belong to you.
And if you're still feeling strongly repeat this as many times as you need.
You can even take a moment to pause this recording if you need to and repeat this practice of inhaling those emotions,
Holding to make peace with them and exhaling them back into the world.
Take a few breaths here,
Wherever here is,
And allow your mind to refocus on your breath.
Notice if it's any different from when we started this practice.
Let's do one more.
I want you to imagine your future,
Your ideal self.
Where in the world are you?
What are you learning?
What challenges are you facing and more importantly,
How are you overcoming them?
Who is important to you?
Focus here on cultivating pleasant emotions.
When we envision our future we want to manifest situations that are clearer and more positive than our pasts were.
And once you've started cultivating these pleasant emotions,
Start to name them.
Are you feeling joy,
Hope,
Peace,
Groundedness?
Name as many as you can and allow yourself to really feel these emotions in your body.
Now we're going to let these emotions go the same way we did it.
For the past visualization.
So allowing the emotions to live.
Inhale.
Let these emotions peek inside of you.
Notice where they're living in your body and start to make peace with them as you hold at the top.
And then exhale,
Release them back into the world.
Maybe you need to take a moment to repeat this.
Maybe the emotions,
Though pleasant,
Are still very alive inside of you.
Let them go.
They're not about now.
So here we are,
Back in the present moment.
What is your breath doing?
Now that you've allowed yourself some indulgence in moments of the past and the future,
Take a few moments here to feel at peace in the present.
It's just you and your breath.
Where are you?
Begin to let your breathing normalize.
Start to hear the sounds around you and feel the textures on your skin.
And as you're ready,
Start to blink your eyes back open.
Join the world around you once more.
As you go forward throughout your day,
Remember,
Now is now,
And it is plenty.
.
