So good morning and welcome to today's virtual meditation on the lawn presented by the University of Virginia's Contemplative Sciences Center.
My name is Anthony DeMauro.
I work for the Contemplative Sciences Center as the Associate Director of the Dalai Lama Fellows Program.
And today I'll be leading a visualization meditation,
What I might call some light work.
And what this is going to involve is I'm going to ask you to imagine or connect with a little light somewhere within you that you know is there.
And this light is going to represent some quality,
Maybe a value or an intention.
Perhaps it could be love,
Resilience,
Healing,
Justice,
You know,
Something like that.
And you're going to find that light inside and connect with it.
And then through some breath work and some visualization or imagination,
We're going to allow that light to expand.
So first throughout your own body and then into the space around you.
And then further and further,
You know,
Your neighborhood,
Country,
The planet out into the universe as well.
Okay.
So I'll be guiding us through that process.
And what I might invite you to do now before we begin is maybe just think about what that light could represent.
I'm imagining there's lots of values and qualities that live inside of you.
But for now,
Just pick one.
And like I said,
Take a moment to do that now so that you're not trying to like figure it out as we're practicing.
And the next thing I would like you to do is find your comfortable meditation posture.
Feel free to close your eyes if that puts you at ease,
Allows you to turn inward.
If not,
You're welcome to keep your eyes open.
But I might invite you to simply lower your gaze a bit to limit the distractions around you.
And then let us begin by taking a few deep breaths.
And then after you take those deep breaths,
You can just allow the normal pace of your breathing to return and continue throughout the practice.
And so the first thing I'm going to invite you to do is find that light somewhere within you.
So take a moment to locate it somewhere in the body.
And then once you find it,
Take a few moments to connect with it and to get familiar with it.
So maybe just exploring or getting curious about that light.
Perhaps it has a certain color,
A certain maybe texture or quality.
Perhaps it's warm,
Soft,
Or maybe it feels powerful,
Full of vitality.
Again,
Just get familiar with it.
Take a few moments to begin connecting with that light wherever it may be inside of you.
And then what we're going to do next is gradually invite that light to expand,
To grow a bit.
And you might allow that light to expand with each exhalation.
So you breathe in and then exhale and that light just expands a little bit more.
But if that feels like too much,
You can just gradually,
You know,
Each few seconds or so,
Just imagine that light expands a little bit more.
And so first with this breath,
Maybe that light just expands a little bit,
Maybe a few more cells or a few more spaces in your body.
With the next breath,
Just a little bit more.
And then further.
With the next few breaths,
Imagining that that light is expanding throughout your body,
Just filling it up with light.
And then with the next breath,
It begins to expand beyond your body into the space around you.
Maybe this is sort of a visual imagination or maybe it's a felt sense of expansion with that light.
Whatever works for you.
And with the next few breaths,
Imagine that that light is expanding all through your home and out into your neighborhood,
Your state,
Your region,
Your country.
And with the next few breaths,
Allowing it to expand even further,
Wrapping around the entire Earth,
Maybe even permeating the core of the Earth as well.
And further out into our solar system,
Our galaxy,
And maybe even into the whole cosmos.
That is steeped in that light.
You are a part of that light,
A part of that fabric of light that is creating this cosmos.
And let us maybe take just a few moments to abide here,
Just hang out.
And then I'll invite you to just gradually,
Just gradually,
Again,
Begin to now come back.
Come back to maybe the solar system,
The Earth,
Your country,
Your city,
Your home.
Back into your body and noticing that that light is still there.
So taking a final moment to again connect with that light,
Abide in that light.
Remember that it is always there,
It is a part of you and a part of this cosmos as well.
And then as you're ready,
You can slowly begin to come out of the practice,
Maybe just bringing some gentle movements to the body.
Opening your eyes when you're ready if they were closed.
But seeing if you can maybe just maintain a little bit of that sense of connection to that light,
Into these moments after the practice and perhaps even into the rest of your day.
