Hello and welcome to the Daily Insight.
My name is Anne-Marie Rowley and I am a meditation teacher in Melbourne,
Australia.
And it's a privilege to be with you here on Insight Timer.
This practice will allow you to step inside your heart and to encourage your mind to rest.
It is said that the longest journey one will ever take in a lifetime is from one's head to one's heart.
We exist in our head,
Especially today.
Our mind chatters constantly,
Expounding all its impressions,
Arguments,
Rationales,
Assumptions,
Opinions and criticisms.
Let us consider this for a moment.
What is your mind telling you?
What you need to do next?
What is for dinner?
Your next purchase?
Where am I going tomorrow?
Why didn't I say that?
Meditation is difficult.
Stopping is difficult.
What you are asking me to do right now is difficult.
But by being at ease,
You can quietly step inside your mind,
As though you are entering a doorway and can see your thoughts flowing in and out of your conscious awareness.
Do this now for a little while.
Enter your mind and explore what it is telling you to do.
Would you say at this very moment your mind is messy,
Constantly sorting through the melee of considerations,
Ideas and sorrows?
Is it confused or unclear?
One big melting pot of scrambled thoughts and ideas.
A plethora of conversations that start but never seem to finish.
On the other hand,
Your mind right now may be quiet,
Calm,
Orderly,
Structured and completely alert.
Or the mind may be somewhere in between.
How is your body feeling about this?
Is it stiff and sore and holding on?
Or is it soft and pliable?
How is it responding to your thoughts?
Do you ever want to scream out,
Stop?
Please thoughts,
Leave me alone.
Thoughts are simply movements in the mind,
Constructed and created from past experience,
Childhood,
Life choices,
Attitudes,
Beliefs,
Systems,
Religion and a compilation of fears.
And of course the inability or indeed the desire to come out of one's headspace into one's body and to settle in the heart.
To come face to face with our authentic self,
To feel,
To truly know a deeper realisation of oneself.
We are slaves to our minds and the opinions and stories that it creates and the thoughts of those around us.
We are slaves to the thoughts and opinions of lovers,
Friends,
Family,
The local priest or gurus.
We hand our responsibility over to others.
We often become fearful that at the slightest hint of doubt we shall totally unravel and leave ourselves vulnerable and raw and tread this world in a state of disrepair and intense pain.
You know we actually believe what our mind tells us and as it happens we believe it is best to ignore our heart.
But what we feel deep down in our heart is our truth.
It doesn't lie.
And as Carl Jung,
The psychoanalyst who famously founded analytical psychology,
Once stated and so succinctly,
The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.
Do we ever end a silence,
The utopia of the heart,
And ask it to shed light?
No.
Generally we question the mind and believe it whether it speaks truth or not.
It is more comfortable trusting the mind.
The pain of trusting our heart is simply too great for most of us to bear.
We need to reconnect with our inner self,
Our spirit.
Call it what you may.
But it exists deep within us.
We need to connect with not only our own heart but to explore deeper,
The universal heart.
It is that place deep within us where all the answers are safely kept awaiting our attention.
It is a place we cannot reach by traveling anywhere.
We do not find it by moving but by being still.
So let us make the journey.
Let us step inside the heart right now.
This time is for you.
Give yourself permission to step out of your mind to divert your trust to your heart.
Your eyes are softly closed.
Breathe with ease.
Release into the heart's core.
Feel its gentle pulsing,
Its gentle call.
Melt into your heart's center as you inhale.
Do this again and again and again.
Count the breaths as you guide your attention to your heart,
Each breath finding a greater depth.
Breathing in.
4,
3,
2,
1,
Rest.
Breathing out.
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Rest.
Breathing in.
4,
3,
2,
1,
Rest.
Breathing out.
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Rest.
Breathing in.
4,
3,
2,
1,
Rest.
Breathing out.
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Rest.
Breathing out.
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Rest.
Breathing in.
4,
3,
2,
1,
Rest.
Breathing out.
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Rest.
Come back to your normal breathing.
And now envisage a picture of your heart.
Sit before you,
Gently pulsing.
Perhaps you can feel its gentle rhythm in the palms of your hands,
Or the gentle rhythm at the crown of the head.
Soft impressions of gentility pulsing throughout your whole being.
Pay attention to the heart.
What is it asking of you?
What does it wish to manifest for you?
What is it that you want to feel?
Forget what the mind is trying to do,
Drawing you away into its quandary.
What are you feeling deep within your heart?
Are you listening?
Slow down.
Pay attention to the pulse of the heart.
Be still within it.
Observe its messages.
Respect yourself.
Be kind to yourself.
Pursue your dreams.
Let go of what does not serve you.
Feel the body,
Mind and the breath merge into one.
Breathe in beauty.
Release.
Breathe in light.
Release.
Breathe in silence.
Release.
Breathe in love.
Release.
As you inhale,
Feel as though energy is flowing from the tips of your toes up and through your entire body.
As you exhale,
The energy recedes back down through your body into a peaceful and calm space.
Allow your awareness to take you on a journey.
Draw your attention to your face.
Unhinge the jaw.
Soften your cheeks.
Feel the air gently crossing the bridge of your nose.
Soften your eyes.
Go deep within the eyes.
Deep,
Deep in.
Deep,
Deep in.
If you find you are bringing judgement into your practice,
Just draw your attention back to the heartbeat or the imaginings of it.
Your mind will play,
But it will soon give up when it can no longer annoy you.
Breathing in.
I am aware of my thoughts.
I am aware of my thoughts.
Observe my thinking.
I observe my thinking.
I release my thoughts.
I release my thoughts.
I pause to rest.
I pause to rest.
Is the mind wandering?
Reach out and catch it and bring it back to the now.
Back to the present.
Draw it back gently to this moment.
Draw it back to your heart center.
I am aware of my body.
I am aware of my body.
Observe my body.
Observe my body.
I am aware of my heartbeat.
I am aware of my heartbeat.
I observe my heartbeat.
I observe my heartbeat.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
I observe my thoughts.
I observe my thoughts.
I observe the sounds around me.
I observe the sounds around me.
I sense the space that surrounds me.
I sense the space that surrounds me.
I pause to rest.
I pause to rest.
I rest.
I rest.
I rest.
I release my opinions.
I release my opinions.
I clear the path.
I clear the path.
I clear the path.
As I observe what unfolds.
As I observe what unfolds.
Observing.
Awareness.
Awareness.
I am at peace.
I am at peace.
I am at peace.
I am at peace.
I am at peace.
I shall remain silent for a little while as you remain in this moment,
Settling in the heart.
Harmony.
Peace.
Quiet.
I am aware of my thoughts.
I am aware of my thoughts.
I am aware of my thoughts.
I am aware of my thoughts.
I release my thoughts.
I release my thoughts.
I pause to rest.
I pause to rest.
I am aware of my body.
I am aware of my body.
I observe my body.
I observe my body.
I am aware of my heartbeat.
I am aware of my heartbeat.
I observe my heartbeat.
I observe my heartbeat.
I am at peace.
I am at peace.
And now gently draw your hands slowly towards your heart and place one over the other.
Scan your body and notice where it is beautifully calm and peaceful.
Can you sense the space in which you reside?
Can you sense the gentle pulsing of your heart?
And once again I quote Carl Jung,
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.
Who looks outside dreams.
Who looks inside awakens.
May your heart be your guiding light and your days glimmer with joy and prosperity.
