Welcome.
This is a guided meditation or a yoga nidra focused on the energetic layers of the body,
The koshes.
So you can find yourself a comfortable seat.
You can either sit on a cushion,
The floor,
On a chair or if you'd like to you can lie down in a relaxation position,
Shavasana.
But make sure that you feel relaxed but also focused and awake.
And start to settle your body.
You can take a few conscious breaths,
Breathing in deeply through the nose and out through the nose where you can to bring yourself into the present.
And as you breathe,
Just letting go of any tension through the face and the jaw,
The top of the shoulders.
Letting that breath move into a softening belly.
And then allow your breath to settle into a natural rhythm.
And bring your focus to the sounds around you.
The sounds inside this room,
Inside your own body,
The sounds outside.
You might be able to hear birds,
You might be able to hear cars.
Hearing the sound of my voice.
And hearing those sounds without judgment,
Without labeling any sounds as good or bad,
Just allowing them all to be part of this landscape,
The sensation of hearing.
And then start to become aware of your body.
The weight of your body as it rests on the ground or the chair.
You might feel the weight of the legs and the buttocks.
And a sense of that ground pressing back up into you,
Feeling completely supported.
Allow your awareness to start to scan through your body.
Starting from the soles of the feet,
Noticing any sensation you might feel the feet,
The toes.
You might feel temperature,
The touch of air or clothing.
And then start to draw that attention,
Scan it up your body.
So moving up through the legs,
Settling the awareness at the belly and just noticing the sensation right in the center of your body.
Scanning up to the chest,
The shoulders.
Perhaps noticing as you scan the body,
As you bring the light of awareness to different parts of your body.
If there's tension there,
It might soften a little.
Notice the sensations around the neck and the jaw.
Again without judgment,
Just opening to whatever you feel,
Whether it's intense sensation or more spacious.
Notice the space between the eyebrows,
The top of the head.
Just scanning through the body,
If you find that your mind starts to get caught up in thoughts.
Just acknowledge that the mind has been thinking,
Perhaps planning,
Perhaps remembering.
But allow the body to become the focus of the awareness again.
Gently bringing your attention back to wherever the last place you were aware of.
You might scan up and down the body a couple of times,
Noting perhaps sensation might change as you move that awareness through.
You can start to just take the awareness a little deeper.
Becoming aware of the internal organs.
Getting a sense of the organs within the belly and the chest.
If you can't feel the organs,
You might visualize where they are.
The stomach,
The liver,
The kidneys,
Between the lower ribs,
The pelvic bowl,
The reproductive organs,
Digestive organs sitting in that space within the pelvis,
The heart and the lungs within the rib cage,
Brain nestled behind the eyebrows between the ears.
Bringing attention to your breath.
You might visualize as you breathe in,
Allowing more space around the organs.
As you breathe out,
Let them soften.
And as you breathe,
Visualize that breath moving along the pathways of nerves,
Connective tissue,
Cells,
Sending and sharing the life force,
The prana around the body.
As you breathe,
You can take the awareness as you breathe out down to the tips of your fingers.
You might become aware of a tingling or a warmth in the fingertips.
Perhaps notice that that might spread to the palms of the hands.
And as you breathe,
Can you spread this warmth,
This sensation around your body,
From the top of the head all the way to the tips of the toes and the fingers.
Visualizing that breath,
Sending the prana all over your body to every cell.
Again,
If the mind wanders on to thinking,
Continue to bring it back to this sensation of your breath.
You might visualize that breath coming in through the top of the head and drawing down to the center of your body.
And as you breathe out,
Sending that breath,
That prana around your body where it's needed.
Again,
Noticing the sensations in your body as you breathe.
So now as you follow the wave of the breath,
If you become aware of the mind noticing thoughts that might draw the attention away from the breath,
Just allow your awareness to rest on the thoughts and make a gentle note of the thought that's present.
Again,
Without judgment,
Without being carried off by those thoughts,
Allow the same spacious awareness to rest on those thoughts and notice perhaps as they soften and melt away.
Then as you let the thoughts go,
You can come back to the breath again until another thought draws the attention away and then note the thought.
Is it a thought about the future or a thought about the past?
Allow it to pass.
And perhaps as you notice those thoughts,
You might also hold in awareness the heart.
Notice any emotions or feelings that might be present perhaps as a result of those thoughts.
And perhaps notice any sensation in the body from that emotion,
Perhaps the tightness,
Perhaps the spaciousness,
The cold,
Heat.
Again,
Bring that open awareness,
A loving awareness and a tenderness to the sensation that's felt.
Now you can start to become aware of the body as a whole.
Allowing the whole landscape of experience,
The physical body,
Intense sensation,
The subtle sensation,
The breath,
The emotions and thoughts,
The inner and outer experience to be equal.
Let your awareness gently and spaciously rest at the center of it all.
With a mind and awareness as spacious as the sky,
Notice as each experience,
In each layer of your body,
Pulls your attention.
As it does,
Just note it,
Let the light of the awareness settle on it for a moment and then allow it to move through.
Perhaps coming back to the feeling of the breath,
Moving down into your center as an anchor if you need it.
You might notice tension in the face,
You might notice a thought about the past.
A cool breeze on your hand,
A sound in the distance,
A thought about the future,
A tightening of the heart.
Allow it all to rest in your awareness.
A smooth wave of your breath,
Underneath it all.
The sound of the bell,
The sound of the bell,
The sound of the bell,
You can take a slightly deeper breath.
Allow the sound of the bell of my voice to bring a little more wakefulness back into your body.
Come back to the feeling of that body and resting on the ground.
You can start to wiggle your fingers,
Wiggle your toes,
Bring a little bit of movement back into the body.
If you're lying down,
You might like to roll over to one side and come up to a seated position slowly with no rush.
In your seat,
Bringing the palms of your hands together in front of your heart.
Taking a moment to check in with how you feel.
Perhaps dedicating your practice,
Any insights or benefits from this meditation for the benefit of all beings.
And when you feel ready,
You can make your way into the rest of your day,
Your evening ahead.
Thank you.
Namaste.
