This is a 10 minute guided meditation of sitting and being present to the Holy Spirit.
So I invite you to comfortably sit in a chair or maybe on a cushion on the floor or lying down whatever is most comfortable and works for you most easily for this practice today.
And as you settle in,
Notice the feelings and sensations of your body making contact with whatever is beneath you,
Chair,
A cushion,
Floor,
Or maybe your bed.
Now drawing your attention very intentionally to your breath,
Noticing where it's easiest,
Most organic,
To anchor your attention and breath.
Maybe it's noticing the life-giving air moving in and out of your nostrils.
Maybe it's the slight rise and fall of your chest,
Lifting and lowering as you inhale and exhale.
And maybe it's the slight expansion and then deflation of your belly as you just very naturally breathe in and out.
We're not asking our breath to do anything unique or different.
We're not asking it to slow down or speed up.
We're simply turning our attention to what already happens in our bodies as we breathe.
When we notice that the mind drifts away from the breath,
It becomes this wonderful opportunity to notice,
Ah,
I've left the breath.
Then we can very kindly,
Gently,
Firmly invite the attention back home to the breath.
So the mind when it drifts is just simply being a mind.
It's not making any mistakes.
It's simply doing what a mind does,
Just like a heart beats,
Just like our lungs breathe in and out.
Our mind loves to move.
And so when we notice that it has moved away from the breath,
We can very kindly,
Gently,
Firmly bring the attention back home to wherever it's easiest,
Most organic,
To anchor the attention in breath.
We may do this over and over again through this 10-minute sit,
Just allowing ourselves to notice when we drift,
Coming back home,
And being with the breath.
As a person of faith,
One of the great discoveries I've had in meditating and practicing mindfulness throughout my days is that whenever I return to the breath,
I'm also returning to the presence of the Holy Spirit in my midst.
Instead of falling asleep,
I fall awake to this presence,
This holy divine presence that is always here,
Present,
Supportive,
Nurturing,
Encouraging.
So every time I come back to the breath,
There's an opportunity to fall awake once again to the presence right here,
Right now.
One of the ways that we think of the Holy Spirit is breath.
So as we focus on our breath,
There can be a broader experience of breath in general.
The breath of the Holy Spirit entwined in our breath,
Offering life-giving support.
As we just naturally breathe in and out.
More and more allowing this presence of the Spirit to pour life-giving energy into us that sustains us,
That gives us what we need to do the next right thing.
Maybe we already had the energy to do the next right thing.
Maybe the breath of the Spirit broadens our capacity to find joy,
Peace,
Wonder.
Wherever we are and whatever we will do next.
For the last four minutes of this meditation,
Just allowing yourself to be with the present moment.
If your mind wants to take you to what will happen next,
Let that fall away.
If your mind is drifting to something that happened earlier today or yesterday or last night or last week or a year ago,
Allowing that to fall away.
Continuing to come home to the breath which anchors us in the present moment,
Which is the easiest place,
The most organic place to find and experience the breath,
The presence of the Holy Spirit,
The loving God.
So as you so gently breathe this life-giving air in and out,
Noticing what your body does all by itself.
We find that we are at home with the Holy Spirit,
At home with the loving God,
Aware that we are never truly alone.
This benevolent presence is always breathing with us,
Moving in and through our being,
Offering nourishment,
Sustaining us with the source,
The breath,
The life.
And in the last moments of this meditation,
You may want to take a deep inhale in and blow it out either through your mouth or your nose.
You might want to do it again one more time,
In and out.
And you may want to offer just a moment of prayerful gratitude for taking the time to allow all the stress of your life to drop away and to come home once again to the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit moving in and through you.
May this time be a blessing to your current moment and may it have positive ripples through the rest of your day.
Amen.
