Open Heart And Inner Child Meditation

This practice is an abriged version of the full death meditation that should be uploaded somewhere in the next few weeks. This practice has a few parts that are designed to calm the mind, and open the heart. We will explore the relationships in our life and connect energetically with love and compassion to those in our life that have been influential roles for us. This is a meditation for those of us who are wanting to dive deeper into the hearts of their loved ones.

Transcript

Welcome to our inner child meditation today.

This meditation will have a few different parts.

We'll start with some breath work to calm the nervous system,

To relax our defenses and our heightened fight or flight experiences of the day.

We'll relax the body and the mind and enter into a state of a deeper tranquility.

And from that state we'll enter into a deep gratitude meditation for those around us,

For ourselves,

For the little inner children that live inside of each and every one of us.

Even though today will be an abridged version of the deeper hour-long death meditation,

We may have the space to enter deeply today.

And so just taking time for yourself,

Making sure we're in a safe and quiet space,

There's nowhere else to be,

Nothing else to do.

Allowing the body and mind to arrive into the present moment,

Like a train that reached its destination.

We can sit up tall,

If we feel like laying down we can do that as well.

If we're sitting up we can place something under our sitting bones,

We can roll the shoulders open and spine elongates,

And finding a calming breath washing over the body.

As if someone is pouring life force from the tailbone to the head,

Or from the head back to the tailbone,

This energetic field runs through us.

We'll take two deep breaths,

Inhale and exhale.

Deep inhale and exhale.

Ah,

Welcoming.

Welcoming beings seen and unseen into the space.

Welcoming our ancestors and our lineage.

Recognizing the land underneath our sitting bones.

And asking this beautiful land for protection,

For healing.

That as we reside on this land,

May we walk in peace with all beings.

And we'll begin our breath work.

I'll have you sit up tall,

Tall,

Tall,

Roll the shoulders back,

The spine is long,

But settling into the body.

And first we'll introduce a vibrational breath.

We'll be using this throughout the practice.

And the way that sounds is you'll take a deep inhale and audibly exhale.

Ah.

Let's do that one more time.

Inhale.

Ah.

Letting go of everything during the day.

One last one.

Deep inhale.

Ah.

And start to notice the effects of that sound of the vibration on our body and settling into the body.

Noticing the mind pour out the back of the head.

The mind can be quiet.

Letting any thoughts go anywhere we have to be,

Anywhere that we've been,

Can place those in bed and let them go.

That right here,

I'm present.

Right now,

I am present.

We'll start today's practice off with pranayama,

With breath control.

We'll slow down the heart rate and activate our rest and digest nervous system,

Our parasympathetic nervous system.

So the way this breath will work is called stair step breathing.

So we'll inhale for a count of six and exhale for a count of seven.

Inhale for a count of six,

Exhale for a count of seven.

We'll do that twice.

Then we inhale for a count of seven and exhale for eight.

Inhale eight,

Exhale nine,

Etc.

So let's take a deep vibrational breath.

Inhale.

And exhale.

And we'll inhale for six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold to the top.

Exhale seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale six,

Five.

If at any point the count is too fast or slow,

Go on your own breath.

Two,

Hold.

Exhale seven,

Six,

Emptying everything out,

Everything out.

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale seven,

First the belly,

Then the chest.

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold.

Exhale eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Everything out slowly.

Two,

One.

Inhale seven,

Six,

Five.

If you need to be on your own count,

That is totally fine.

Finding your own rhythm.

Hold.

Exhale eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Slowly.

Three,

Two,

One.

Let's take a vibrational breath.

Inhale.

Ah,

We'll inhale for eight.

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold.

Exhale nine,

Eight,

Slowly.

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale eight,

Seven,

Six.

Deep breath.

Big,

Big.

Expand the chest.

Two,

One.

Hold.

Exhale nine,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale nine,

Eight,

Seven.

First the belly wide,

Wide.

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold.

Exhale ten,

Nine,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale nine,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold.

Exhale ten,

Nine,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

We'll do one last ten,

Nine,

Eight.

Big breath.

Expand.

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three.

Deeper,

Deeper,

Deeper,

Deeper.

Hold.

Hold.

Vibrational breath.

Exhale.

Let's take one more vibrational breath.

Inhale.

Everything out.

Everything out.

Taking a moment and noticing in the last five minutes any effect on the body or the mind.

Any subtle changes,

Sensations.

Just in the last few minutes.

Taking note of any peacefulness in the mind.

Any movement.

Letting go of any tension,

Any tension.

Let's take a deep vibrational breath.

Inhale.

Letting go of everything.

Ha.

And I want us now to imagine.

Imagine sitting in front of you.

Someone that you love very dearly in your life.

Maybe it's one person or maybe it's many.

These smiling faces in front of you beaming at you.

Maybe it's a parent or a sibling or a lover or a friend or all of them smiling,

Smiling up at you.

And you can make eye contact with them if you feel.

And if you'd like you can give them a hug.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you.

And we can say to them in our minds,

I wish you love in your life.

You deserve love.

I wish you peace in your life.

You deserve peace.

I hope all of your dreams and wishes come true.

And you learn to dance through life.

You deserve to dance.

And thank you for being with me in this life.

You'll never quite know just how much I love you and how important you were to me.

Thank you.

And we can take a minute to smile and maybe give them a hug.

And as they dissolve into the background,

We'll take a deep vibrational breath.

Inhale.

And exhale.

And I want you now to imagine,

Imagine sitting in front of you as someone that you just happened to pass today.

Maybe on the street,

At the supermarket.

Someone that you don't quite know but just happened to pass you.

And they're sitting here in front of you,

This beautiful face,

Smiling.

And we can thank them for being here with us today.

Thank you.

If we feel comfortable,

We can hug them.

Or maybe just bowing.

And we can let them know that I may never know you.

I may never meet you.

But I wish you love in your life.

You deserve love.

I wish you peace in your life.

You deserve peace.

I hope that all of your wishes and dreams come true.

I hope you learn to dance through life.

You deserve to dance.

And while I may never know you,

Thank you.

Thank you for being a part of this human experience with me.

For being alive.

For loving like I do.

For having fears like I do.

Thank you for sharing this human experience.

And if we'd like we can give them a hug.

Or we can just bow or place our forehead on their forehead and thank them for being here.

And as they dissolve into the background,

We'll take a deep vibrational breath.

Inhale.

And exhale.

And I want you now to imagine.

Imagine sitting in front of you.

As someone in your life that may have hurt you very deeply.

Maybe a parent or sibling or an old lover.

Maybe it's more than one person.

Someone that we struggle with.

Or that has hurt us or perhaps we have hurt.

And we can look at them and welcome them in a way that feels good for us.

As they sit there peacefully in front of us.

And we can say to them,

I hope you know that this may be very hard for me.

But I wish you love in your life.

You deserve love.

And I wish you peace in your life.

You deserve peace.

I hope that all of your wishes and dreams come true.

And that you learn to dance through life.

You deserve to dance.

I'm sorry if there's ever been anything that I've said or thought that might have hurt you.

I would never want to hurt you.

And I may never know why you hurt me or I felt hurt by you.

But I now understand that you were very hurt yourself.

And you were just sharing that with me.

And I would never want you to be hurt.

I would never want you to hurt.

And while we may never be okay,

We may never talk,

We may never be able to spend time together.

But I will do everything that I can to send you love.

You deserve that love.

To send you peace and quietness.

You deserve that peace.

I will do everything that I can to forgive you.

And I hope you can forgive me.

I forgive you.

And if we'd like we can give them a hug or send them love to wherever they may be.

And as we embrace we can take a deep vibrational breath.

And exhale.

We'll do one more.

Inhale.

And exhale.

I want you now to imagine.

Imagine sitting in front of you.

This little version of yourself.

This little being.

Smiling.

Or maybe they're scared or lonely.

This little person,

Maybe two years old,

Maybe five,

Maybe eight.

Sitting here in front of you.

And we can give them a hug or place our forehead on their forehead.

Or bow.

And let them know,

Hey little one,

I wish you love in your life.

You deserve love.

I wish you peace in your life.

You deserve peace.

I hope that all of your wishes and dreams come true.

You deserve to dance through life.

I hope you get to dance.

I'm so sorry if there's ever been a time where I wasn't there for you.

I know you get scared sometimes.

I get scared too.

And I know you feel lonely sometimes.

I get lonely too.

And I just hope you know how much I love you.

And I will do everything that I can to show you that.

To hold your hand when you get scared.

To step up and give you a hug when you need it.

To send you love even when you're scared.

To encourage you when you need it.

I will do everything I can to be here with you.

I'm sorry if I haven't.

And I've missed you.

I hope you know that everything will be okay.

Everything will be okay.

And if we feel comfortable,

This little person can run up and hug us.

Or climb up onto our shoulders or we can place our foreheads together.

We'll take two deep vibrational breaths.

Inhale.

And exhale.

Inhale.

And exhale.

Maybe for the remainder of the meditation we keep this little person sitting next to us or on our laps.

Holding them close.

And with this little person sitting in our laps,

We can hug them tight.

And as we close down our meditation today,

We can invite this little being into our lives.

Into our hearts.

Into our minds.

We can bring our hands to heart center.

And slowly bow.

Bowing to this inner child within us.

To this little being.

To our little guide through this life.

To the light in our life.

Allowing the wisdom of our inner child to guide us through this life.

To continue to see the magic in this life.

And to welcome the playfulness,

The innocence,

And the pure divine love that exists in each and every one of us.

The enlightened in me sees and honors the enlightened in each and every one of you.

The inner child in each and every one of you.

Namaste.

Reviews

Such a beautiful meditation so gentle and beautifully guided

Thank you Bodhi! You are my favourite teacher on insight timer. Next level from everyone else. Tara Brach used to be my number 1. Inspiring, calming, healing and I learned new perspectives. Thank you!

that was such a powerful meditation. the teacher’s intonations are so beautifully fitted with the ideas and meanings behind the loving kindness statements said to others. it was so cathartic, sobbed throughout. thank you from the bottom of my heart. i will be returning to this meditation.

Really helpful. This meditation helped me give space and attention to the young part of me that is sweet, innocent and defenseless, who's voice and space is often overlooked and squashed out through the busyness and noise of life. Thank you ❤️

Wonderful! I cried when I met my own little version! Very powerful! Thank you! Namaste!✨🪷🙏🏼

Wauw 💖💖....this was very emotional. The breathwork made me feel very light and relaxing 🙏. Definitely one of my favourits now

Thank you, I have never found metta meditation easy but I could really connect to my dear ones, the stranger and my foes with your words and support. With my heart gently massaged opened I was able to meaningfully embrace and comfort my inner child.

Definitely one of my favorite meditations now! Thank you so much for creating this✨💖

Very nice meditation today. I don’t know if anyone else has expressed this, and the breath work made me feel not just relaxed. It made me feel as if all of the atoms in my body we’re just a little further away from each other almost as if I was stepping in to becoming a vapor it’s hard to explain, but I liked it a lot. Thanks again for the meditation.

I found this to be deeply emotional. I cried. Thank you so much.

I don’t even know how to begin to share how much this meditation moved me. Thank you.

Another perfectly balanced meditation from one of my fav teachers. Loved the time to reflect on the people in my life and especially the part about deserving to dance through life. Thank you 💛

Wonderful! I felt so connected to my little one after this- I’m very grateful. 🙏🏻

Unexpected tears. This is a beautiful meditation. Thank you.

Such a powerful meditation. As soon as I met my inner child I couldn’t stop crying which was really unexpected. Beautiful! Thank you 🤍

The inner child piece brought me to tears.
Thankyou so very much 🙏♥️

Wow thank you thank you thank you for this meditation, you have a wonderful gift, please continue to shine your light brightly, sending you so much love 🙏🏻 x

Loved this meditation 🙏 so much peace was felt throughout this, thankyou 🙌

This is the best meditation I went through. I meditate daily from 4 years and this one was the most important one. Tears, forgiveness, love, and thankfulness all in one. Thank you so much. You have changed my life ❤️🙏🏻

Such a loving practice. I feel wrapped in a blanket of kindness.