If you're meditating seated,
If you are using a wall,
If you're sitting against a wall,
You want to make sure that your spine is supported by the wall,
But you want your head to be free of the wall.
Don't lean your head against the wall.
If you're lying down for meditation,
Make sure you place a bolster under your knees.
Sway you're more stable in your meditation and make sure that your heels are touching the floor if you're lying down on your back.
If you're seated,
You want to come to a comfortable meditative seat that can be cross-legged,
It can be stretching your legs in front of you,
Whatever position that you're comfortable in,
Whatever seat that you're comfortable in,
So your mind is not trying to modify,
So your mind is not staying busy reminding you that you're uncomfortable,
Because this way you'll never be able to meditate.
So you want to take all the time you need to find that comfortable seat that you can hold for about 20 minutes.
If you'd like to add a mudra to your meditation,
Go ahead and either bring your index finger to the thumb,
Or simply don't add an actual mudra,
Don't bring any finger to the thumb and choose to have your palms down or up with your wrists resting on your knees or thighs.
Close your eyes if you can and allow yourself to simply go inward with a breath,
As if you're riding the breath inside of your own body.
So let the first few breaths be your tool to survey your body,
To check for any blockages,
Any shadows,
And breathe through those blockages,
Breathe through those shadows,
Releasing them,
Letting them go,
Reminding yourself of your source that is pure consciousness,
Pure awareness.
So a few more inhales and exhales to survey,
To check,
To assess what's going on with the body,
Make sure the seat is comfortable,
Make sure you're stable in your position,
You're not moving,
There's no need to move.
And if you need to,
Before we start the meditation,
If you need to move the torso back a little bit,
Do it now,
Notice.
The reason why you're surveying the body is to make sure you're not leaning forward.
For example,
If you're seated,
You want to make sure that you move the torso back,
Let it sit comfortably on top of the hips.
Make sure your chin is not tucked in,
It's not also,
It's not lifted upwards,
So the neck is neutral.
The chin is parallel to the floor,
As if there is a force,
As if there is an energy lifting you upwards from the crown of the head.
And at the same time,
You feel the earth pulling you towards it from the tailbone,
From your hips,
From the base of the spine.
In today's meditation,
We're going to focus on the mantra Aum.
It's a sacred mantra that encompasses all mantras.
If you think of Aum as having four parts,
The A that comes out when you start,
When you open your mouth to start the Aum,
And then the M at the end,
And a few sounds in between,
It will sound like Aum.
You don't want to forget the silence after Aum,
Because that's where the meditation happens.
So in your head,
Repeat Aum,
Any way it sounds to you,
Any way your mind plays Aum back to you.
And see if you can vibrate with Aum at the base of your spine.
And see if you can feel that vibration travel all the way up to the crown of the head.
And then see if you can feel that vibration travel all the way back down from the crown of the head to the tailbone,
To the base of the spine.
And now feel the vibration travel sideways from the base of the spine to the hips.
And feel it vibrate upward from the hips,
From the tailbone to the navel.
Feel your whole pelvis vibrating with the sound of Aum.
Now feel that vibration rise all the way to your solar plexus.
Your entire abdomen is vibrating with the sound of Aum.
And now let that energy rise all the way to your heart center and your chest and your rib cage.
You're feeling Aum,
Aum,
Aum throughout your chest,
Throughout your abdomen,
Your hips,
Your legs,
Your knees,
Your shins,
Your calves,
Your ankles,
Your feet,
Your toes.
You're vibrating and you're getting heavier,
You're getting more solid on the ground.
You're totally supported by the earth underneath you.
And now rise with the energy,
Fill up the shoulders,
Fill up the arms,
Fill up the elbows,
The forearms,
The wrists,
The hands,
The palms of your hands,
The fingers,
The finger bones,
The fingertips.
Feel the entire body now vibrate with the sound of Aum.
And now let the energy rise even more.
Fill up your head with the sound of Aum.
Feel the lips vibrate with Aum,
The chin,
The jaw,
The cheeks and the cheekbones,
The temples,
The ears,
The earlobes and the space behind the ears.
Feel your eyes fill up with Aum,
Your eyebrows,
The center of your eyebrows,
Your forehead,
The crown of the head and the back of the head,
Your entire scalp,
All your skin,
All the pores,
Everything in you is vibrating Aum.
As you feel the body buzzing with the sound of Aum,
The sacred sound of Aum,
You might start visualizing Aum.
You might see the sign itself,
Aum.
You might see colors.
You might see lights.
You might see elements,
Any one of the elements,
Earth,
Water,
Fire,
Air,
Ether,
Anything at all that shows up for you.
Just allow yourself to feel it,
To be in its presence and then maybe be it.
Now gather all this vibration from all the pores,
From all around the body,
Gather all the Aums that you can find and direct them all towards your heart center.
So you're focusing the sound of Aum,
You're focusing the image of Aum at your heart center.
That's the space between the two breasts,
The side of your palm,
The size of your palm or the size of your fist.
This is the cave of your heart,
Allow it to vibrate with Aum.
See if you can enter the sound of Aum,
See if you can feel its different levels.
And if you picture the A sound as being the awake state of being,
See if you can picture the U sound,
The U sound as your dreaming state of consciousness,
Of awareness of being.
Enter that state and then slowly but gently enter the M state of consciousness,
The deep sleep state.
And again gently,
Slowly,
Confidently enter the silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum might look to you like a void as you're looking through a window and you're seeing nothingness,
Emptiness,
Darkness.
You'll notice that this emptiness,
This void is very familiar to you.
All you need to do is trust and allow yourself to journey into the silence,
Journey into this stillness of Aum.
If thoughts bubble up again,
Just return to your heart center and re-enter that silence.
Re-enter the void.
Don't allow yourself to get too stressed about it.
Mind will play tricks on you all the time.
And now that you're here,
All you have to do is just redirect your attention to the heart center and re-enter the silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Silence after Aum.
Very gently start returning to the physical breath.
And start returning to movement in your body.
Release your legs.
Wiggle the toes.
Rotate your ankles and rotate your wrists.
Squeeze your hands.
Stretch your arms all the way overhead.
If you are lying down,
You can stay there and take another Shavasana.
If you're seated,
Please take a Shavasana before you return to your activities.
I thank you for being here with me today.
