Hey everyone.
Welcome to our weekly meditation.
I hope this meditation finds you well.
Join the heat of summer.
It's been really hot in the northwest.
It's cooled off but it still feels hot here.
So we're adjusting to that over here in our corner of the world.
Go ahead and find yourself in a comfortable and relaxed position.
And if you're able and it feels relaxing,
Take in three deep breaths.
I like to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth when I do this just to remind myself what we're doing.
It's kind of just like a little trigger or mental reminder to my body that we're going to go into our meditation.
If you feel like making a large sound or sigh with your exhale,
Feel free.
Sometimes that feels really good.
I want you to feel into your body and just maybe give your head a few rolls gently and slowly.
And take your shoulders,
Roll them backwards,
Forwards.
Just notice where your body touches the floor or the cushion or the earth.
Is it your sits bones?
Is it your thighs?
Is it your feet?
Once your awareness has made contact with the ground,
Just allow your mind to create a visual that goes from that point of contact down through the layers of your house,
Your furniture,
Into Mother Earth.
And with each exhale,
You're just going to let your body recalibrate.
You're going to ground off any negativity.
So it's simply an intention that with each exhale,
You're going to release any aches and pain from your body,
Any feelings of shame or unworthiness,
Old programming,
Defensiveness,
Anything that doesn't serve you and your highest potential for this body in this lifetime.
You're just flushing it down,
Sending it down the laundry chute,
Recycling it.
It's really nice to use the exhale on that because you're just letting gravity do its thing.
You're letting gravity help you.
Let's also take this moment in time during our meditation to just set the intention that you're here in present time.
I'd even like to say the date,
The time,
And the year.
And in doing that,
It's almost like bringing your energy back from all the other places and people,
Basically calling your energy back to yourself and resetting in present time.
It's like you're bringing your energy back to yourself so that you have it for all the other things you're going to do later this week,
Later tonight.
And to do it,
It's just a simple recall.
You can just intend that you call your energy back from other people,
Other places,
Other times.
Reset in present time,
Your love and affinity for yourself.
The Buddha reminds us that there's no one more deserving of our love and compassion,
Our tenderness,
Than ourselves.
So we're just carving out a little bit of time today for ourselves.
I'm going to gently practice silent meditation for the next five minutes.
Now that we've come into present time,
We've grounded off negativity,
We've reasserted our love and affinity,
Our love and compassion for ourselves.
We're going to pick one anchor for our meditation.
So it could be the sensation of the breath.
It could be the sounds that you're hearing.
It could be a place in the body,
Like that point of contact,
Your thighs,
Your feet,
On your cushion.
Whatever it is,
Just make a decision to choose your anchor.
For the next five minutes,
You're going to focus all of your attention on that anchor point.
When your mind wanders,
Which it will,
You're going to gently come back to your anchor.
If you've lost your focus,
Simply come back to your anchor.
Again,
If your mind has wandered,
No problem.
The practice is simply coming back to your anchor point.
In a few moments,
We're going to come out of our meditation.
I invite you to remember just the comfort and the calm that comes from taking a few minutes to yourself,
Bringing your energy back,
Clearing out the space in your mind,
And resetting in present time.
Have a beautiful week.
