Candle Meditation

In this audio track, listeners are guided through a calming visual meditation focused on gazing at a lit candle. By using the natural visual anchor of a flame, the technique is particularly recommended for those who find traditional closed-eye meditation difficult or prone to a wandering mind. The guide leads the listener through breathing, physical grounding, and examining the shifting colors and reflections of the flame before shifting focus to the candle's fragrance.

Transcript

This is a candle gazing meditation. If you find meditation difficult and when you close your eyes your mind starts to wander a lot, This is quite good because you keep your eyes open for most of it and the anchor, Which is the sight of the flame in front of you, Is very compelling. So, To get yourself set up. . . If you can be in a dark room with a lit candle, That will be a great focus for you. Or if you want to do it during the day, Just closing the curtains or blinds. So, Where you sit, If you can have the candle about. . . Almost arm's length apart from your body and just at an angle that feels comfortable looking at it. So if you get yourself comfortable. Having a straight back. Sitting upright and alert. And just start by really grounding yourself in the present moment. You can do this by focusing on your breath. And just noticing the air coming into your body. And leaving your body. Noticing the air coming in. And noticing the air going out. And you can also do this. By sensing into your body on the chair. How that feels. Your feet on the floor. Those physical sensations. In your body. So just to say, As we're focusing on the candle and the flame. If your eyes become tired, Feel free to just link. Or close your eyes for a short time. It's just really about. . . Just having that focus. So just let your eyes focus on the flame right now. It might be that it's moving a little bit. Or a lot. Depending on the air in the room. You might want to focus at the same point. Or let your eyes move around. As the flame moves around. What do you notice about the flame? Colours maybe. How it moves. Shape it's creating. How bright it is. And how bright it is compared to the rest of the room. So just focusing on any of those aspects. For a short time. And when your mind wanders and you notice, Just bringing it back. With kindness. That's what our minds do, They wonder. So we're just teaching it to come back. To that focus, Which is the flame. And now consider the glass that the candle's in. Just observing. How the wax sits within that space of the glass. And as the flame dances around. The reflections of that in the glass. And how that's different. Every few seconds. Just let yourself get absorbed in that site for a few moments. Notice how, As the flame has melted the wax underneath the wick. How that looks now. Anything else that draws your attention. And now we're going to switch focus. To the fragrance of the candle. The candle I'm using is Velvet Rose and Oud. So just letting that fragrance drift into your nose. Gently closing your eyes. Tune in to the smells. A little bit deeper. Noticing the air coming into your nostrils. Noticing if the fragrance is light. Or strong nice fragrances can really be soothing to us. And if we're stressed can really help to activate our parasympathetic nervous system. Calming everything down. We're just gently opening your eyes again. And just focusing on that flame. Once more. Can you have a dual focus with the fragrance and what you can see? Now, I'm letting go of any effort. Just let your mind do whatever it wants to do as you continue to gaze for a few more moments. And when you're ready, Taking some deeper breaths. As we're coming to the end of the meditation. Just maybe giving yourself a stretch or just moving in a way that feels comfortable to you.