6 Phase Meditation (Adapted From Vishen Lakhiani)
This guided meditation is a secular practice adapted from Vishen Lakhiani that "allows you to go into your mind and optimize the very act of being human." The practice includes 6 phases: connection, gratitude, forgiveness, creative visualization, intentions for the day, and opening to trust in life.
Transcript
Six phase meditation.
I want you to take a deep breath and as you exhale gently feel your body sinking into a relaxed state of mind.
Use any regular meditation deepening or countdown you've used in the past to reach a deep level of mind.
To help you go even deeper I will gently guide you through a relaxation of your physical body.
Feel your scalp relax.
Feel this feeling of relaxation gently flow down to your forehead.
Now your arms.
Feel your eyelids relax.
Feel that sensation of relaxation in your eyelids.
Feel that flow gently downwards throughout your body.
Move the feeling to your face and your throat,
Your neck,
Your shoulders.
Feel them sink into deep relaxation.
Now your upper arms,
Your hands,
Your chest,
Your abdomen,
Thighs,
Your knees,
Your calves,
Your feet.
Feel that feeling of relaxation flow all the way down to your toes.
You're now in a deep relaxed state of mind.
We will now begin the six phase meditation.
The first phase is to draw your attention to your consciousness.
Focus on your consciousness.
Feel that consciousness expand now to encompass your entire body.
Picture as a white light emanating from your head surrounding your entire body in a white bubble.
Now picture this light emanating further surrounding and encompassing the entire room and anyone who may be in that room.
A peaceful,
Gentle,
Loving light.
See it expand even further and now encompassing your entire home.
Feel the feeling of peace,
Love,
Joy resonate from you to anyone who might be in your home.
Feel this light expand further.
Imagine it now encompassing your entire neighborhood.
Know that at a subtle level you are connected to every creature,
Plant,
Animal,
And human in this neighborhood.
Feel the light expanding even further and now encompassing your city,
Your town.
See it expanding further encompassing your state or region,
Now your country,
Now the continent.
Feel this light emanating from you encompassing the entire planet.
Feel yourself connected to the planet.
See yourself for what you are,
A piece of consciousness directly connected to every other life form on planet earth.
We now move on to phase two.
Gratitude.
Bring to mind between five and ten things that made you grateful,
Joyful,
And happy in the last 24 hours.
If you can't think of enough incidents in the last 24 hours,
Extend to the last three days or the last week or the last month.
Think about things that happened at work and in your career,
Things that happened while you were traveling,
On your free time,
Things that happened in your family life or with loved ones.
It could be something big or it could be something small,
Like a nice warm cup of coffee you had in the morning.
Express gratitude,
Bring that to mind,
A feeling of joy and the emotions you felt when these incidents occurred.
As you imagine and bring to mind these incidents and moments,
Make them as vivid as you can.
Incorporate all five senses,
Taste,
Sound,
Touch,
Smells,
And images.
Most important,
Incorporate emotion.
Bring back to the best of your ability your feeling of joy or happiness when you experience these moments.
Notice where you feel them in your body.
I will give you a minute to remember and reenlighten these moments in your felt experience.
Feel that feeling of gratitude vibrate throughout your body,
From your head to your toes.
Know that when you express gratitude for beautiful moments in life,
You open the way for these moments to repeat themselves and grow in terms of their magnitude.
We now move on to phase three,
Removing negative charges.
A negative charge is any negative feeling you might have towards a person or an incident.
Bring to mind someone,
Someone who has caused you harm intentionally or unintentionally.
It could be a waiter who rubbed you the wrong way,
A co-worker you had a disagreement with,
Or a family member you fought with.
It could be something big or it could be small.
See that person in front of you about six feet away.
See their face or see their entire body,
Noticing the details of the person's appearance,
Noticing what feelings arise for you as you bring that person to mind.
When you are ready,
Begin to offer that person forgiveness,
Saying to the person in your mind,
Using that person's name,
I forgive you.
I forgive you for the ways you have harmed me intentionally or unintentionally.
I forgive you.
I forgive you.
Repeat at your own pace a few more times as before,
Trusting yourself to forgive in a way that feels right for you without getting lost in the content of the story of whatever may have happened.
When you're finished expressing forgiveness to this person,
Ask them to forgive you.
Tell them that you apologize for any wrong that you brought to them.
Know that at a deeper level,
We are all one and we are all connected.
And any negative charge towards any other living person,
Creature,
Or life form is in a way a charge against yourself.
And that is why we must rid ourselves of these charges.
Imagine them forgiving you.
Imagine that forgiveness moving toward you,
Straight to your heart,
A feeling of calm and peace as you recognize that forgiveness is easy.
When first starting out,
You might want to practice this forgiveness exercise with situations where forgiveness is easy.
Repeat with as many people as you can.
And then move on to phase four,
Visualizing your perfect future.
For the next two minutes,
Simply visualize different aspects of your life as they would unfold in the future.
Take a three-minute break.
Take a few deep breaths.
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And now I'll give you a minute to let this daydream move on and to take it into any direction you wish.
Remember to incorporate all five senses.
Sound,
Smells,
Taste,
Visions,
And touch.
Make the daydream as vivid as possible.
As you wrap up,
Gently tell yourself,
Let this or something better unfold in my life.
And as we now move on to phase five,
In phase five you will visualize your perfect day.
Ask yourself to let all the beautiful things I daydreamed come to me three years from now.
What would I be doing today?
How would my perfect day unfold?
If you're doing this exercise in the morning,
Visualize your perfect day when you leave the house today.
If you're doing this at night,
Visualize your perfect day starting in the morning when you wake up.
See yourself having an amazing breakfast,
A wonderful commute to work.
See your workday unfolding.
See friends and family coming into your life.
See yourself having an amazing dinner with someone special,
Reading a good book,
Watching a movie,
Working on a creative project,
Doing your nighttime routine,
Going to bed,
And having perfect sleep.
I will give you a minute to visualize your perfect day from the time you wake up to the time you go back to sleep.
Unfolding in pure perfection in a way that will make you happy,
Grateful,
And let your daydream of your ideal self three years from now come to you with ease.
Begin now.
Be sure to incorporate all five senses.
Make it as vivid as possible.
Bring in emotions of joy,
Excitement,
Gratitude as you see your day unfolding.
Bring yourself towards the end of your day.
See yourself winding down,
Brushing your teeth,
Engaging in your nighttime routine,
Maybe doing a meditation or some journaling or reading.
See yourself going to bed and see yourself going into a deep,
Comfortable,
Rejuvenating sleep,
Ready to start the next day and to make that next day amazingly wonderful too.
We now move on to phase six.
In this phase,
Call upon any higher power that you believe in,
Maybe a god,
A saint,
An avatar,
An angel,
A guide.
It may just be the force of life that permeates the entire world,
Or it may be your own inner strength.
Your religion,
Your beliefs in atheism or spirituality do not matter here.
You're simply calling upon a higher power,
Externally or internally,
That you believe in.
Ask this higher power to bless you,
To give you luck,
Energy,
Support,
And to help you craft your perfect day,
To make your dreams for the next few years unfold,
Because only when you are happy,
Only when you are contributing to humanity,
Can you provide happiness and can you contribute to others.
Feel that support coming down on you.
Feel a beam of light touching the scalp of your head and gently flowing downwards throughout your entire body,
From your skull down your spine,
Emanating throughout your torso,
Your chest,
Your arms,
And your legs.
Feel this protective energy embracing you.
Know that luck is on your side and that the universe has your back.
See if you might connect to a felt sensation of trust throughout your body,
Welcoming that experience and felt sensation of trust.
I will give you a few moments to feel this energy surrounding and supporting you.
We will now come out of this meditation.
I am going to count from one to five.
At the count of five,
You will open your eyes,
You will come out of this state of meditation,
And you will be ready to see your perfect day unfold.
One,
Two,
Three.
At the count of five,
You will come out of this meditation feeling wonderful,
Rejuvenated,
Positive,
Optimistic,
Ready for that perfect day and ready to see your life unfold in beauty and success for the next three years.
Four,
Five.
You have now come out of the six phase meditation.
You know that your day is about to start in a wonderful way and that all of your wildest dreams and visions for the next three years are coming to you.
