Let Go Of Thought And Return To Inner Stillness

In this spacious meditation, you’re invited to gently return to the quiet presence beneath thought. Through soft awareness of body and breath, you’ll explore the truth that stillness is always within you, unchanged by the busyness of the mind.

A compassionate reminder that peace is your natural state, already here, already whole.

Transcript

Welcome.

As you prepare to embark on this journey,

Allow yourself to land softly and gently in this moment.

Allow yourself to create a truly spacious,

Peaceful and nurturing environment for your inner experience.

This is a dedicated time specifically for peaceful exploration,

For quiet presence and for a compassionate and profound reconnection with the deepest stillness that resides within you.

There is absolutely no need to rush any part of this practice,

No need to force any particular feeling or outcome,

And certainly no need to push yourself beyond what feels genuinely comfortable or safe for you right now.

You are simply and unconditionally invited to be here,

Exactly as you are.

Be here with all that is present within you,

Whether it be ease or discomfort,

Quietness or noise,

Clarity or confusion.

You don't need to change a single thing about it.

Allow yourself to settle into the most comfortable position you can find,

Whether you're lying down,

Reclining gently or seated upright with ease.

Find a posture that feels truly supportive to your body,

One that allows for a deep sense of ease and surrender.

Feel the support beneath you,

The gentle embrace of the earth,

The soft cushioning of your bed,

Or the steady surface of your chair holding your body.

Let go of any need to hold yourself up,

To maintain a specific posture or to brace against any sensation,

Whether that's physical discomfort or emotional stirring.

Take a deep breath now,

In and out.

Deep into the belly.

And now just allow gravity to take the full weight of your body,

Gently releasing it down into the unwavering support beneath you,

Letting your bones feel heavy and your muscles soften.

Take a gentle,

Unhurried breath in,

Feeling the air expand your lungs fully,

Feeling the air make your belly rounded.

Experience this nourishing and life-giving intake that brings fresh energy and spaciousness.

And then a soft,

Complete breath out,

Allowing everything to release,

A quiet and profound sign of letting go,

Releasing the day's accumulated tensions,

Worries and efforts.

Inhale and exhale.

And now just let your breath find its own natural,

Effortless rhythm,

Without any conscious attempt to alter,

Deepen or control it.

Simply notice that you are breathing,

And that life is flowing through you,

Continuously,

Effortlessly and perfectly.

This breath is your immediate,

Ever-present anchor,

A direct pathway back to this very moment,

Always available,

Always constant.

As you continue to breathe,

Allow the simple act of noticing your breath to be your soft cue,

Your gentle invitation to shift your attention fully into presence.

Let your breath anchor you here,

In this sacred moment,

In this body,

Where the truth of your being resides.

Each inhale brings you more fully into the now,

Drawing your awareness deeper,

And each exhale helps you to release anything that might be distracting you from it,

Softening your grip on thoughts or concerns.

Now,

Let's gently normalize mental busyness without judgment.

In our modern,

Fast-paced lives,

Our minds are almost constantly engaged,

Planning,

Remembering,

Analyzing,

Worrying,

Problem-solving,

Creating.

This ceaseless activity,

While often productive,

Can frequently lead to a feeling of mental overwhelm,

A sense of being perpetually on,

Drained,

And overstimulated.

If your mind feels busy right now,

If thoughts are racing,

Circling,

Or stubbornly persistent,

Please know with absolute certainty that this is a perfectly normal and profoundly understandable human experience.

It is not a flaw in you,

It is simply the mind doing what it is designed to do,

That is,

To think.

You don't need to feel frustrated by a busy mind or judge yourself harshly for not being able to turn it off on command.

This mental activity is impersonal.

It's the momentum of thought energy,

A kind of universal hum of consciousness flowing through your system.

It doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong,

Or that you're somehow failing at meditation or even at life.

The invitation here is not to make a futile attempt to stop thinking by force,

But to compassionately change your relationship with your thoughts.

Let's point gently to a liberating truth.

Thought is not personal or permanent.

Can you notice now the thoughts that arise in your mind and pass through?

These thoughts that are not necessarily your thoughts in a deeply personal fixed sense.

They are impersonal thought energy,

Constantly flowing through universal consciousness,

Like a river of energy that momentarily manifests as your thoughts.

They appear,

They shift,

They change,

They sometimes gain intensity and they dissolve.

Just like clouds in the sky,

They are transient,

Fleeting,

And impermanent.

They are not fixed truths about you,

Your worth,

Or your ultimate reality.

You are not who you are at your core.

This is a profound and liberating insight.

What you experience as your thinking is simply the creative power of thought in the moment,

Bringing fleeting experiences to life,

Sometimes vividly,

Sometimes subtly.

You are the awareness that notices the thought.

You are the vast,

Open,

And unchanging space in which the thought arises and dissolves.

You are the boundless sky,

Not the fleeting cloud.

You don't have to attach to these thoughts or follow them down their familiar paths.

You don't have to believe them as absolute truth or do you have to reject them.

You can simply allow them to float in your awareness,

Witnessing their movement with a soft,

Non-judgmental gaze.

Step now into this process of compassionate observation.

Step back a little and observe your thoughts rather than stepping into engagement or suppression.

Allow their momentum to naturally slow down,

Like a spinning top gradually losing its speed.

Now,

Let's allow ample space for you to feel into the quiet that exists beneath the noise of your thought.

This isn't a quiet that you have to actively generate or create.

It's a quiet that is always present,

Inherent in the very nature of mind itself.

Imagine the vast surface of the ocean during a tumultuous storm,

Waves crashing,

Winds howling,

A lot of intense activity and apparent chaos.

But deep,

Deep beneath that surface,

The ocean is always still,

Profoundly calm and utterly undisturbed by the surface commotion.

This deep,

Unwavering stillness is within you,

Always accessible,

Always constant.

As your thoughts continue to flow,

Or as they naturally begin to settle,

Gently rest your attention in the quiet spaces between them.

Notice the subtle pause between an inhale and an exhale.

Notice the quiet,

Spacious gap between one thought and the next before another arises.

This is a glimpse of the vast,

Inherent stillness within.

There's no need to strain or search for it.

Simply soften your focus,

Release any mental grip,

And allow yourself to gently fall into this inherent quietude,

This inner spaciousness.

This is a profound returning to a state of being where you are simply aware,

Without the constant need for mental activity or interpretation.

Feel your breath,

Continuing its gentle,

Effortless rhythm,

A steady and reliable anchor in this emerging stillness.

As you breathe,

Imagine yourself sinking deeper and deeper into this quiet,

Spacious realm.

Each inhale drawing in more tranquility and vastness,

Each exhale releasing any lingering tension,

Mental grip,

Or emotional residue.

Allow your body to feel increasingly heavy,

Deeply supported,

And completely at ease,

Further grounding you into this present moment.

The sensations in your body can also be subtle cues for this stillness.

Feel the quiet hum of your system,

The subtle pulsations of life,

The simple,

Undeniable fact of being alive in this very moment.

This is the truth of you,

Steady,

Peaceful,

Whole,

And deeply connected to life.

This calm is not something you have to earn.

It's not a reward for good behavior or for being able to be perfectly quiet in your mind.

Or for achieving a state of enlightenment.

It's your inherent birthright.

This is the natural default state of the human system to return to a state of equilibrium and peace.

Those moments when the mind's activity settles.

You don't have to work for it.

You just have to remember that it's always there,

Waiting to be uncovered beneath the layers of thought,

Conditioning,

And perceived problems.

Allow yourself to fully rest in this profound understanding.

You don't need to do anything to achieve this state.

It's already here.

Perfectly intact.

You don't need to think differently to experience this profound quiet.

It's your natural way of being,

Simply remembering itself.

The peace you seek is not outside of you,

Hidden in external circumstances,

Or waiting for you in some distant future moment.

It lives vibrantly and continuously within you.

An ever-present,

Unwavering resource.

As we gently bring this practice to a close,

Close with a soft yet powerful reminder that stillness is not outside.

It is within.

You don't have to seek it in external circumstances,

In perfectly controlled environments,

Or in the absence of all challenges and difficulties.

The profound stillness,

The unshakable peace,

And the unwavering clarity that you are connecting with now,

Resides inherently and eternally within you,

Always.

It is your deepest nature.

Your true home.

This inner sanctuary,

This calm presence,

Is always accessible.

It's not something that can be taken away by external events,

By the actions of others,

By the intensity of your emotions,

Or by the busyness of your mind.

It might be temporarily clouded,

Like the sun on a cloudy day.

But the sun itself never actually stops shining.

The stillness within you never ceases to be.

It is the fundamental ground of your being.

Always there.

Always reliable.

You are not broken.

You are not flawed.

You are not damaged beyond repair.

You are not doing anything wrong.

You are simply remembering.

Remembering your innate wholeness.

Remembering your inherent capacity for peace.

Remembering the profound wisdom that resides deep within you.

This truth was never lost.

It was just temporarily obscured by the illusions of thought,

By the stories of separation,

By the constant and often overwhelming stream of mental activity.

And with every breath,

With every moment of gentle awareness,

You are steadily and surely returning to it.

Allow this sense of profound stillness,

This quiet knowing,

To gently permeate and saturate your entire being.

Let it be the guiding principle as you move forward into your day,

Your interactions,

And your life.

You are deeply loved.

Inherently whole and capable of profound peace and clarity no matter what arises.

Thank you for being here.

For choosing to pause,

To listen,

And to remember the profound truth of the stillness that resides eternally within you.

May you carry this quiet strength,

This unwavering peace with you.

Knowing it is your true and constant hope.