Hello and blessings,
My name is Brayden McKenzie and welcome to Into Stillness.
Before the start of our meditation today,
I would like to recommend a setting of the mood in your space.
Using anything you have readily available like candles,
Incense or a warm blanket to wrap around you.
Anything to promote a feeling of calm,
Warmth and safety in your environment.
To begin our practice let's start by finding a comfortable meditative position.
One that provides us with minimal distractions from the body.
Whether seated on the floor,
In a chair or laying down,
Slowly move into a feeling of love physically and mentally.
Loving yourself physically by finding a comfortable position that your body needs and loving yourself mentally by just taking this time to spend in stillness,
Looking inward and listening.
Awareness now to the breath,
Arguably our most consistent support system.
Place both hands over your heart.
Here we begin to cultivate a full embodied breath by breathing through the nose into your abdomen,
Allowing it to gently expand and then move into your hands.
Feeling them lift lightly.
Pause at the top and then reverse this pattern.
Chest falls,
Ribs dry in and the navel pulls towards the spine pausing at the bottom.
We repeat this breath pattern for the next couple of minutes.
Inhale abdomen ribs and chest pause.
Exhale chest falls ribs dry in,
Navel pulls towards the spine pause.
All the while feeling the connection to two vital parts of our everyday life.
The flow of the breath and the beating of the heart.
These two sensations together have an extraordinary ability to relieve stress and connect us to the present moment.
Feel free to keep the hands over the heart if that feels right to you or gently let the hands land wherever feels most comfortable.
Located in the center of your chest at heart level is Anahata,
The heart chakra.
Whether this concept resonates with you or not,
The energy of love and compassion Anahata is tied and associated to allows us to recognize that we are part of something larger,
That we are interconnected within an intricate web of relationships extending through life and the universe.
Connecting with this energy means living your life with loving kindness and compassion towards yourself and others.
It means opening your heart to yourself and others and doing your best to create a safe and supportive environment for yourself and others.
To love others you must first love yourself.
You probably hear this statement all the time and for good reason.
One of the truest ways to seeing and feeling love for the whole of the world is to first find that love within yourself.
To quote Martin Luther King,
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.
That same force Dr.
King speaks about is found within you and all human beings.
Whether some choose to find it is a different matter but you have the choice to reach for it.
You have the choice to embody love and compassion for yourself and everyone else in the world.
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.
This introspection into the self allows you the opportunity to see everyone as an extension of you.
For down to the smallest building block we are all created from the same thing and yet there is infinite diversity in who we are and that's an incredible thing.
Human connection is beautiful.
We are all beautiful.
You are beautiful.
I hope this practice found you well and I truly thank you for allowing me to share this with you.
Until next time and with love,
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti,
Namaste.
