I'm Cristiane Machado and I'm here to guide you into a beautiful meditation,
A moment for highly intelligent and creative minds.
They are interested and invested in getting to know themselves a little deeper,
A little bit more in depth of who we are.
For this meditation,
You can choose to stay seated as long as you are comfortable.
You can also be lying down.
We're going to be together for about 20 minutes or so and you're going to be able and invited to do some visualization.
This practice today is an invitation for us to use this wonderful,
Highly intelligent and beautiful mind of ours.
There will be moments where you feel distracted,
Where your mind pulls you somewhere else.
Just know that that's natural,
Especially if you have started this practice and you started this journey into meditation.
If at any time your mind calls you and takes you to old discussions,
To old stories or to your to-do list,
Accept it.
Don't fight it.
And most especially,
Do not judge or criticize your mind.
Your mind is just doing what it does.
As we dive into this world of mindfulness,
We start realizing that we are the ones supposed to be guiding our minds into what to think,
Into what to contemplate,
Making our mind our servant and not the other way around.
So taking that you are finding your comfortable position,
Whatever position that is,
You can always be sitting up,
Resting on the wall.
You can find your favorite chair.
You can be lying down.
You can keep your eyes open,
But you can also close your eyes.
Once you are in that comfortable space,
You're going to start breathing slowly,
Patiently and evenly.
Breath in and breath out through your nose.
Let the length of each exhale breath be at least as long as the length of the inhale.
Settle in on a breath that is quiet,
Comfortable and easy.
As you are here watching and noticing breath,
Notice also how the mind is always at play.
Thoughts will come,
Thoughts will go.
Perhaps some of the thinking bring emotions.
As the thoughts arise and we can let them be,
They will also dissipate and fade away.
Another thought may take its place or maybe there will be just space.
There is any space between the thoughts,
The moments when you are just being,
Watching the breath with nothing to do right now other than pay attention to your breath.
As you are here,
Present with breath,
There is still movement in the mind.
When you notice a thought or the process of thinking,
Watch it as if you are watching it from a distance.
Notice that's the part of you that is thinking.
But also there is the part of you that's watching,
Witnessing,
Noticing the thought.
There is a separation between your thoughts and you,
The thinking,
The thinker and further back behind all that,
There is the you that is awareness itself.
Thoughts and the movement of your mind,
The appearance of your mind like clouds in the sky,
Moving,
Changing,
Coming and going.
They take shape,
They may last for a while and then they dissipate just like clouds dissolving into thin air.
Imagine a beautiful blue sky right above you.
You can even imagine that you are lying on your favorite beach or your favorite grassy meadow and you are looking up to the sky,
Blue,
Open,
Vast.
Imagine that not only you are seeing the sky above you,
But morphing your own self with that sky.
Whenever thoughts arise,
See them as clouds in the sky.
Taking that you are part of that sky,
Making the sky you,
You get to decide the clouds that come and go or if you rather stay in the completely blue,
Open,
Plain skies.
And whenever your mind thinks,
See the thinking as fluffy,
Beautiful sky clouds.
They are simply passing by.
No right,
No wrong,
A simple sense of being,
Being in the vast,
Open,
Blue sky that once in a while receives some clouds passing by.
In case that the clouds get to be heavy or dark,
It is okay,
They will also pass through.
The same for any thoughts that might feel deeply challenging.
You can also choose to see them go by.
In case that those thoughts or those clouds are heavy,
Remind yourself that those clouds can also bring water that refresh,
That cleanse,
That bring abundance through the earth.
You are the sky,
The vast,
Open,
Blue sky.
In case that you lost your breath,
Breathe.
Don't criticize,
Don't analyze.
Simply breathe.
Observant.
Staying with what is for this moment.
Nothing to do,
Nobody to talk to,
Nothing that has to happen.
A simple sense of being.
Whenever your sky gets busy with clouds,
Maybe fluffy,
Pink,
Cotton candy clouds,
And at times heavy,
Dark,
Scary clouds,
You stay as the sky that is immovable,
That is all present,
Not being bothered or worrying about its clouds.
The clouds come and go as they do.
The sky is permanent,
It's there.
And so can you.
Be the sky.
Where did your breath go?
Simply come back to it.
No right,
No wrong.
A simple sense of being.
And from that space of beingness,
You're going to start to return into your physical body.
Knowing that you can always become the sky again.
You can always come back into this place of contemplation,
Of observation.
So you can take a break from the busyness,
From the coming and going of life.
This place they were cultivating that is only yours,
That no one can take it away from you.
This place where you simply are.
Just like the sky is.
Take a few deep cleansing breaths.
Healing up your lungs,
Expanding your torso.
Exhaling with a sense of letting go,
Letting go of the heavy dark clouds.
Filling up with fluffy,
Light,
Ethereal clouds.
Knowing in any heaviness,
That by taking this time for yourself,
You are also creating opportunity for you to be available to others in a more loving,
Compassionate,
And kind way.
It truly starts with ourselves.
And I feel that the best gift that we can give others is to get to know ourselves better.
It truly starts by giving ourselves any amount of time to simply be.
To observe our minds so we can become aware of when we are not being compassionate and kind with ourselves.
So we can reframe and guide our minds into being more acceptant,
Loving,
And caring with ourselves.
You're going to take a few more breaths.
And with those breaths,
You're also going to start bringing some light movement.
Maybe to your fingers,
Maybe to your toes.
You're going to lift the corners of your mouth into a smile.
A smile of gratitude for yourself for taking the time to meditate,
To pay attention,
And to be the sky.
For now we are complete,
And it has been my pleasure to be your guide today.
Thank you very,
Very much,
And stay well.
