I would like to offer you this meditation that came to me one evening during a medicine night.
As I was laying still on my mat,
My consciousness no longer anchored to this plane and the only thread keeping me connected to the material world was the breath.
The breath is our most constant connection with our environment,
Tich Nhat Hanh,
The Vietnamese Zen master once said,
Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness,
Which unites your body to your thoughts.
With every breath in,
A part of the world enters me.
With every breath out,
I return that microscopic dust to the universe but now,
Colored with my own light.
In this guided meditation,
I will invite you to cultivate your connection to life,
To explore how it supports you every second through this golden thread of oxygen,
To notice how when you breathe,
You are inviting life into you and maybe in doing so,
All life breathes through you.
In this guided meditation,
I will invite you to feel that you are also a vessel through which the great oscillation,
The great expansion and contraction of the universe can happen through you,
Thanks to you.
So I invite you now to enter into deep,
Deep stillness.
This is a meditation you can do seated or lying down.
Consciously slow down your breath and your heartbeat.
If you are lying down,
Feel how fully your body is supported by the ground.
Let go of all micro-movements.
Not in tension but with the awareness that in this precise moment,
Absolutely no movement is needed.
The only thing moving,
Barely perceptible,
Is your chest and abdomen rising ever so slightly.
Your nostrils flaring just a tiny bit.
Maybe even the fine hairs of your nose or moustache gently bending with the rhythm of the air.
Connect with your breath.
It is your gateway inward.
It is your gateway to a universe within yourself,
To another level of your being.
You are there,
Just behind the quiet and steady attention to your breath.
Stay here.
Now that you are in the presence of this connection,
Now that you are in direct contact with your soul,
I will guide you to nourish it and infuse it with the wonders,
The flavors and the colors that our world holds.
Keep your attention gently fixed on the breath.
Now take an inhalation through your nose,
A bit deeper,
A bit more deliberate,
A bit fuller.
And exhale slowly,
Softly through your mouth,
Extending your breath.
Now take another inhalation,
But this time visualize a stream of multicolored flower petals blending with the oxygen,
Becoming the oxygen.
Inhale and all the air particles are like petals.
Repeat this visualization several times.
I breath in roses,
Poppies,
Lilacs,
Lindens,
Tulips.
I breath in their freshness,
Their scents.
All the fragrances of nature,
I take them inside me.
I let them soak into every part of me.
They flow like a river of plants entering my being.
And once I've received this divine breath,
I give it back to the universe.
I released it.
I share it with the world and I feel how these petals leaving my nostrils are infused,
Filled with my light,
With my own medicine.
I exhale the petals,
They rise into the sky.
With each exhalation,
Let your medicine travel into the world.
Let the trees,
The plants,
The stones and the animals receive this breath of consciousness.
You are returning to them.
You are massaging the air.
You are alive,
My friend.
You are life and as such,
You are playing your full role in this cosmic symphony of the living.
We will now gently bring this guided meditation to a close.
And I invite you to slowly reconnect with your physical sensations while continuing to carry the awareness of your breath.
May you continue to cultivate this very quality of presence in the hours and the days to come.
And remember,
Through your very existence,
You are contributing to the celestial movement of the universe.
