Welcome,
My name is Yelia Roberts and I'm the founder of the Biomedical Institute of Yoga and Meditation.
Today we're doing a meditation to bring you into the new year,
To create positive intent,
A sankalpa,
That is both words and also a feeling above now that you create in your body.
And so we're using the science of psycho-neuro-endocrine immunology to do this.
So this means your mind affects your nervous system,
It also affects your hormonal system and your immune system.
And the way your body feels,
As you would know,
Affects your mind.
We have terms for this.
Top-down processing where we use intent and our mind and our brain to cultivate how it is we wish to feel.
So we can create anxious thoughts or we can create joyful thoughts.
We can create a sense of peace by the way we choose to use and cultivate our mind.
This is called top-down processing or we can use bottom-up processing where we use our body to cultivate a feeling,
To be in touch with a heartfelt desire.
And this feeling or heartfelt desire changes our psychology,
Our way of thinking.
It cultivates a different state of mind.
This is called bottom-up processing.
So move deep into your heart space.
And see if you can observe a sense of heartfelt connection.
An awareness of how it is you wish to feel on a regular,
Daily basis.
A moment-to-moment basis.
Choose some words,
Positive,
Short statement that brings you into this feeling,
That cultivates this feeling.
This is your sankalpa.
And I want you to visualize yourself feeling this feeling every day throughout the year to come.
Allowing this feeling to have a cascading effect on your mind,
Your emotional psychology,
Your nervous system,
Your hormonal system and your immune system.
And as you observe this feeling in your body,
See what effect it has on your breath.
Cultivating this heartfelt desire,
This feeling,
The words that might be attributed to your intent.
See what effect it has on your facial muscles.
And your eyes,
Your eye muscles,
The muscles behind the eyes,
Which affect the heart rate.
Perhaps you can link the two.
Your body links them by the ocular vagal reflex.
So really withdraw tension from behind the eyes,
Softening the heart space.
Drawing yourself deeply into the relaxation response.
As you cultivate this heartfelt desire,
Your sankalpa,
Your intention,
Your feeling,
Your bhavana,
When we refer to the Indian Sanskrit terminology.
Just see and observe how the effect of your intent,
Your cultivation of this feeling,
Affects your muscle tone.
And observe your muscle tone as you cultivate this feeling within your body.
And then from there observe your digestive system.
So move deep into the belly.
And as you cultivate this intention,
Feeling and with words.
Just notice the effects on your digestive system.
Perhaps there's a sense of softness and ease in the torso.
This is attributed to vagal tone.
And as you come to meditate,
The brain and the biome are inherently linked.
So we know that mindfulness meditation and the relaxation response practice on a regular basis will shrink the size of your amygdala,
Diversifying your biome.
So really allow the digestive system to do as it might wish to.
Rest and digest.
Cultivating and harnessing its power by the relaxation response.
And a soft and long gentle out-breath.
Allowing the communication between brain and biome via the vagus nerve.
Come back into the heart space and center your awareness fully in the heart.
And as you come to meditate fully now in a deep state of consciousness,
See if you can feel fully into your heart's design.
And let the heart cultivate this feeling and spread it around the body.
Noticing all the cascading effects on your nervous system,
Your endocrine system,
Your musculoskeletal system,
Your immune system,
Even your digestive system.
And visualize the year ahead.
See yourself cultivating this experience on a regular daily basis.
This feeling.
This awareness of being.
This intention,
Peace.
Compassion or joy,
Whatever it is for you.
See yourself cultivating it on a regular daily basis.
Just observe the time of day.
Is there a particular time of day or does it happen regularly throughout the day and how do you cultivate it?
Are you with others?
Are you on your own?
How do you cultivate?
Your sankalpa,
Your bhavana,
Your intention,
Your feeling.
Your heartfelt desire.
And as you continue this visualization,
I want you to notice the ripple effect that this feeling that you cultivate,
This heartfelt desire,
Has on all those that you care about.
All the people around you.
Perhaps even the environment.
All living beings.
Really feeling,
Seeing,
Visualizing,
Observing how this cultivation of your heartfelt desire,
Your intention,
Your feeling,
Has on all those around you.
All living beings.
Just observing those ripple effects.
And for the new year,
I wish you deep peace and happiness.
Good intention,
Good health,
Joy,
Good relationships,
Peace,
Steadiness,
Ease,
Compassion.
I wish you well.
Happy New Year.
