Welcome.
I'm so glad you're joining me to explore meditation so that we can grow together and be of better support to those we love and care for.
Let me give you a brief overview of the session structure.
Each session contains four segments.
I will be talking for about five to seven minutes.
You'll be practicing with me for about 15 minutes.
I will talk a little more.
You'll practice five more minutes.
And this time,
The practice will be for the support of the people around you and for humanity as a whole.
These sessions are designed to unfold progressively.
Each one is different from the rest to a smaller or larger degree.
Therefore,
I encourage you to attend as many sessions as you're able to reap the maximum benefit.
There's no need for you to take notes because the practices are experiential.
They're meant to be felt rather than be understood,
Even though understanding will come along naturally.
Everything I will be sharing with you are based on my personal experience.
And they continue working for me.
Some of them I learned from spiritual traditions and spiritual teachers.
One of the primal influences for me is the teaching from spiritual teacher,
Author,
And empathic healer,
Matt Kang.
I lay all these practices before you so that you can experiment with them and come up with your own versions of practice.
The best way for you to receive these sessions would be to relax,
To participate,
And to feel.
With that,
We're diving into the first segment of today's session.
What is meditation?
There are many definitions out there.
One of my favorites is based on the Buddhist tradition.
It is to meditate is to know yourself.
To know ourselves is not finding fault with ourselves.
To look at ourselves and say,
Here's what I'm lacking I need to improve,
Or here are the things I need to work on myself so I can be better.
That's not that at all.
To know ourselves is to know the truth about ourselves.
To know the potential,
The power within ourselves.
To know the inherent dignity,
The worth and value within ourselves.
To access our highest wisdom and to be able to embody that wisdom.
There are many elements to meditation.
Some of them are fundamental,
Others are more enhanced features.
According to my personal experience,
There are four elements that are crucial.
They are breathing,
Listening,
Feeling,
And self-love.
The more expanded elements may include using mantras,
Visualization,
Using co-creative practice,
Open-eyed meditation,
Life meditation,
Giving attention to the body,
And being meditated and so on and so forth.
We're going to explore a whole gamut of these.
Where do we begin?
We begin with breathing.
Why is it?
Because breathing,
Being aligned with our breath,
Is vital to our well-being,
Is vital to our life sustenance,
Is vital for our growth.
Hence,
Alignment with breath is the most fundamental element to meditation.
Now we're going to experiment with breathing.
We begin by sitting comfortably.
Either feet on the ground or take a lotus position.
Eyes can be closed or open,
Whichever is more comfortable for you.
I don't ever recommend meditation in bed,
Because the association with bed tends to lead us to fall asleep.
So now sit comfortably and begin to notice your breath just rising and falling on its own.
Notice the breath rise up and fall away.
Breath rising,
Breath falling,
And receive it.
Receive the breath as it arises and as it falls.
Receive the in-breath and receive the out-breath.
Allow it to go slower and fuller.
Receive the in-breath and receive the out-breath.
Receive the in-breath and receive the out-breath.
Now I'm going to add a little playful feature to this.
So for the next few breaths,
I will ask you to breathe in through the nose,
Breathe out through the mouth.
And in-breath as if you're smelling a fragrant flower.
Out-breath as if you're blowing out a birthday candle.
In-breath we're going to do on the count of four.
Hold for four counts.
Out-breath on the count of eight.
We're going to do that a few times together.
So in-breath through the nose,
Out-breath through the mouth,
In-breath smelling the flower,
Out-breath blowing out the birthday candle.
And the rhythm is four,
And then hold for four counts and out-breath eight counts.
So we begin.
Breathe in.
Hold.
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Hold.
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Hold.
Breathe out.
Now for out-breath,
We're going to open our mouth even bigger,
So it make it a sound of ha,
A greater release.
And in-breath stays the same.
So breathe in.
Hold.
Breathe out.
Ha.
Breathe in.
Hold.
Breathe out.
Ha.
So the past few times we're doing a little more exaggerated breathing.
Now we're going back to receiving that breath.
Just receive the breath.
In and out.
Allow it to be slow and full.
Breathe in and breathe out.
An out-breath can be through the nose or through the mouth,
Whichever way you're more comfortable with.
Just explore that.
The key is slow breath and relax.
While you're breathing,
I'm going to say some words,
Some meditative words to enhance the experience.
So keep breathing.
The breath is my life force.
The breath keeps me alive.
The breath sustains me.
I'm more than that.
The breath is the sign,
The unmistakable sign of my well-being.
With each breath,
Every cell of my body is renewed.
The breath is a healer of my physical health.
The breath is my guide mentally,
Emotionally,
And spiritually.
The more aligned with Breath I am,
The healthier I become.
The more aligned with Breath I am,
The more peaceful I am.
The more aligned with Breath I am,
The calmer I am.
The more aligned with Breath I am,
The safer I feel.
The more aligned with Breath I am,
The more harmonious my relationships will be.
The more aligned with Breath I am,
The more creative and inspired I am.
The more aligned with Breath I am,
The more in harmony I am with all things and all beings.
My breath is the living fountain of well-being.
It's my greatest treasure.
Through this breath,
I am connected to all beings.
The meaning and power of this breath is unfathomable to me.
I'm ready and willing to explore it,
To allow it to be revealed to me.
Continue breathing a few more breaths.
Just feel it.
Feel what is it like to breathe.
Feel what is it like to receive the breath,
The one thing that sustains all living beings.
Feel what is it like to be carried by this breath.
Continue for six more minutes.
Just feel what is it like to be carried by this breath.
Now,
Gently come back to your normal way of breathing.
We move on to our next segment.
These days,
While we're going through this global challenge,
Some of us would wonder,
What can I do to help?
How can I contribute?
Honestly,
There's not a whole lot on the surface that we can do.
We're not health professionals.
We're not fighting on the front line to save people or to make things easier for them physically.
However,
There are at least a couple of things we can do.
Number one,
Which I believe we're doing it already,
Which is we obey the order of self-quarantine.
We take care of ourselves.
Our self-care inevitably contributes to the well-being of everybody due to the law of unity consciousness.
All are united,
So when we are well,
Everybody else benefits from us.
That,
We're doing it already,
Perhaps.
We can do a little better by taking better care of ourselves.
Another thing I am going to introduce is to support others more intentionally and energetically.
We do that by sending a blessing to others,
By setting an intention to our actions.
I'll explain that.
It's ironic that coronavirus attacks the lung,
The respiratory system,
And what we're practicing is breathing.
So by us breathing slower,
Fuller,
And more consciously,
By us being more aligned with our breath,
We are actually assisting those who have trouble breathing to breathe better and to be more aware and accessible to their breath.
Many people in this world are not aware of this relationship with their breath,
So we can set an example and we can,
By our own doing,
Impart those energetic support to those who are being troubled,
Physically,
Mentally,
Emotionally,
Or to those who are in deeper struggle,
Those that are affected,
Those that are struggling in hospital bed,
And those that are transitioning from this life.
So what we're going to do is we're going to say a few words,
And I will say that,
And you can say it silently after me.
And now we're going to go back to receiving that slower breath.
Allow yourself to rest into that slower,
Fuller breath.
We're going to say,
May every breath I take bring peace,
Bring health,
Bring support to everybody that are challenged.
May every breath of mine help to resolve the struggle of those that are being affected.
May every breath of mine support those who are transitioning to have an easier time.
And I'm going to invite you to see if you can visualize with each slow,
Conscious breath you're breathing,
Imagine somebody lying in the hospital bed or wherever they're recovering,
Receiving your support,
Feeling a little better.
Imagine that,
And allow yourself to feel into the state of their well-being as a result of your contribution of breathing consciously.
See somebody's face lights up because you're supporting them with your breath.
Now imagine some of the elderly that are transitioning into another life.
Use your breath to help them release,
To help them release the fear,
To help them let go,
To help them trust.
And continue with this visualization for a few more breaths.
Can they come back from your practice?
This concludes our session for today.
Thank you for your participation.
