Welcome to today's meditation.
In this meditation we're going to give thanks for something or a situation that we desire,
An outcome that we would like to see in our lives but which hasn't yet materialised.
My recommendation is that you come to a comfortable seat,
Either sitting on a chair with your feet flat on the ground and your back upright,
Or if it's comfortable sitting with the legs crossed,
You can always have some support under the sitting bones or under the knees.
The idea here is to bond the sitting bones to the support beneath you and become aware of the base of the body,
Just relaxing into the hips,
The knees across,
Getting the knees settled downwards.
Having a sense of the body beginning to really soften down into the floor or the chair,
So that with every breath out you just relax a little bit more,
Bringing that attention,
That awareness inside so that you can tune into this body and it's softening.
When you've made those adjustments in the seat of the body,
Try to let the spine lift just gently,
Drawing the spine and vertebrae upwards away from the pelvis,
At the same time relaxing the shoulders down the back,
Getting a sense of the back side of the skull drawing ever so slightly back in line with the back side of the spine.
And just allow your face to relax,
Allow the belly to soften and have the hands lightly resting in the lap.
If you wish you can turn the palms upwards to gesture towards openness and receptivity.
So feeling the body here,
Sitting here in this space,
In this moment.
You might be dimly aware of some sounds around you,
The taste in your mouth,
The brush of air against your skin or your clothing on your body.
Just let yourself relax for a few more moments into the present,
Aware of this space,
The room that you're in.
And of course we notice as we become still and quiet just how busy the mind is,
Just how many distractions or hooks it likes to hang from.
But we can notice too that these thoughts are,
They're like water currents or waves on the surface of the water.
And they come and go and come and go and ultimately what we're doing is we tune into that deeper place of quiet,
Is observing how the thoughts can just run through,
Just like water.
We're not over identifying them,
We're not getting attached.
Instead we're just coming back to that place of becoming centred with ourselves,
Settling here.
So here now let's begin to just consciously deepen the breath,
Nice long inhale through the nose.
And opening the mouth to sigh the breath away.
And the body is ready,
Let it draw in another full breath.
And then gently long sigh out.
And this final inhale,
Imagine a light going on inside the body as you breathe all the way into the edges of your body and beyond.
And exhaling just letting go of that breath gradually,
Slowly and completely.
And just allowing a natural rhythm to take up in the breath of its own accord.
And allowing the whole body to stay relaxed here,
That's the key.
I want you to draw to your mind's eye and your heart,
For they are often the same thing,
The same source of creation.
Draw to these places an image of an outcome that you strongly desire in your life.
It might be a scene from a home that you're longing to live in with a particular person.
It might be something that you long to buy,
To own that would make you feel a certain way.
It might be a particular job or a move to another country.
Or a partnership that you desire and truly long for.
It could be all of these things at once,
There's no limits.
But as you relax into the vision of this outcome,
I want you to begin to see in full colour what this scene looks like.
So who's there with you?
What are they wearing?
What is the light like in this space?
The weather?
What season is it?
Let your fantasy,
Let your imagination fill in as many details as you can.
Noticing how the weather makes you feel,
What you're wearing,
How it contributes to the mood.
Notice if there is a conversation that's being had or whether it's silent or filled with music.
And is there movement or is this a static scene?
See if you can animate it with some movement.
Bring it really to life so that you can see,
Feel,
Hear,
Taste and touch this whole scenario.
Continue to allow your body to soften and relax as you let your imagination run wild on the details.
What are you eating?
How does this make you feel?
What's on the walls?
Or what is nature doing outside?
So in this way,
By adding details,
You can move around this scenario,
Just guiding yourself as if you are in a virtual reality.
Looking around you,
Pausing,
Taking it in.
And as you do so,
Allow the whole face to soften and bring a smile if there isn't already one to the corners of your mouth.
And feel being here in this dream scenario.
Feel it.
Your feet on the floor,
The air on your skin,
The smell of the space or the wind.
All of the details,
All of the sensory,
Real time details.
And let that all be felt within the body,
Within the heart.
You may even have noticed that the heart and the body have begun to really soften into this.
They're in a state of openness and receptivity.
And they're enjoying this exact scene in real time as if it is happening right now.
That's the feeling that we're aiming for.
Because as we feel into the richness of our imagination,
We make that reality real for ourselves.
We draw that scenario closer.
And in our final part of our practice here,
Really importantly,
We're going to give thanks for that which has not yet manifested,
But which is on its way.
This scene that we've created from our mind's eye is the seed that we have planted in the fertile soil of the heart.
And like a letter sent out to the universe,
It makes up a prayer for what it is that we desire.
We have made it real by bringing it into our minds and our hearts.
And it's simply a matter of time before it materializes on the material plane.
So stay soft in the body and the face.
Keep smiling.
And bring your hands together in a prayer position at the heart center.
And know gratitude.
Feel gratitude deeply.
Feel gratitude deeper still.
Feel gratitude deeper yet.
Be gratitude.
And then be grateful for gratitude itself.
You can thank yourself.
Thank the universe.
And use a few simple phrases to support your onward journey from here,
Which you like to mentally repeat to yourself.
I am thankful and I have faith.
I am thankful and I have faith.
I am thankful and I have faith.
And so it is.
Namaste.
Thank you.
