Releasing Next To The Fire

The practice begins with a quick body scan to help you relax, and then I will guide you through the process of pausing to witness your thought, see them as an object, and place them into a burning fire - where they can be reincarnated into life-giving warmth.

Thoughts arise, as is their nature. This meditation gives you a safe space to allow them to rise to your consciousness, acknowledge them, and let them go.

Some experience with mindfulness/catching your thoughts might be useful.

Transcript

Welcome to your guided meditation,

Letting go,

Releasing into the fire.

So to begin,

Just make sure you're comfortable in your seat or if you're laying down,

Maybe give yourself just a little wiggle,

And just to sort of find yourself in your body.

Meditation is oftentimes a practice of bringing the body and the mind into the same place at the same time.

As you find your right spot,

Just take a couple of deep cleansing breaths,

Breathing all the way in,

And on the exhale,

Just releasing with a slight sigh.

When you're ready,

Just begin to close your eyes.

For this meditation,

I'd like you to place yourself in a comfortable room,

In a cabin,

In the woods.

This is a really safe place for you.

You know you won't be interrupted.

Nobody is watching.

This is you in your inner world.

And in this room,

In the center of this room,

Is a large contained fire.

Just begin to feel the warmth of that fire.

The surrounding you.

Feel the warmth,

The temperature of the air in your skin.

Feel the heat,

The colors of the fire.

Just gently dance in front of your closed eyes.

See if you can feel the comforting warmth in the feet,

Feeling into the toes,

Into the heels,

The top of the foot,

Around the ankle.

And the heat surrounds you like a warm hug,

Moving up the shins,

Around the calves,

Up to the knees,

The large muscles of the thighs.

And feel some comfort come into the hips as you relax,

Letting your lower back just melt into the ground.

And feel the warmth move up the torso now,

Along the rib cage,

Into the shoulders,

Stretching down the arms and the wrists and the flesh of the palms to all the fingers.

And back up now,

Feeling the heat relax the muscles in the neck and down along the jaw line.

Watch for any tension you're storing in the jaw as you feel into the expansion of the tongue.

Just accept the warmth coming from the fire,

Touching gently on your face,

Illuminating it.

See if you can get a sensation of smiling from the inside,

Allowing the light of the fire in now to the caves of the inner ear,

Letting the light illuminate inside the skull.

Let it shine into all the corners of the skull.

Feel into the right side of your brain and the left side of your brain and the interior front of the skull and the interior back of the skull.

And bring your awareness now back to the face,

Feeling into the cheeks,

The warmth of the cheeks.

And up the bridge of the nose,

Just touch into the right eyebrow and the left eyebrow and the whole forehead.

And come to a resting place in a spot right between the eyebrows.

Just commune with your breath for a moment,

Watching the fire.

Notice that as you breathe in,

The flames of the fire shrink slightly.

And as you breathe out,

Watch as the flames grow and size.

Follow the breath now for a few breaths,

Feeling into when it pulls in through the nostrils,

Down the throat,

Past the legs,

And into the eyes.

And as you breathe in,

Watch as the flames grow and size.

Down the throat,

Past the lungs and lands in the belly.

And on the exhale,

Try to extinguish all of the air from the belly and the lungs,

Pushing it back out through the throat,

Out the nostrils.

And as you follow this rhythm,

Again,

Watch as the fire shrinks in size on your inhale and expands and grows on your exhale.

And we'll now begin the practice of releasing.

So to start,

Let's pick something seemingly neutral.

I'd like you to remember getting dressed this morning.

Pull that memory up into your mind's eye and just witness it.

Watch the scene like you're watching a play on a stage.

What characters are there?

What colors?

Are there any smells?

What kind of sensations are in the body?

Are there any feelings?

So as you're watching the scene,

I'd like you now to practice pausing it.

And as you pause it,

Begin to pull back from the thought and watch as it begins to turn solid.

And what would you call it if you only got one word?

In this case,

Maybe we call it dressing.

Pull back further now from the thought,

Watching as it solidifies completely.

It has a name.

It has substance.

And reach for it now.

And place it over the fire.

And release all of the muscles in your body.

And drop it now into the fire.

And this practice takes no effort.

Your only task is to watch the flames dance in the fire of your safe and protected inner world.

Let the music play through your heart.

And let what comes up arise.

Heat rises.

It's rising because it wants to be returned home.

Keep your focus on the breath.

As you breathe in,

Watch the flames shrink in size.

And as you breathe out,

Watch as the flames expand and grow,

Increasing the heat and the comfort in the room.

And just follow the breath,

Watching the flames.

And pause for a moment.

What was pulling your attention away from your breath?

Begin to witness what story you were telling yourself.

And again,

Watch the scene like you're watching a play on stage.

What kind of colors?

Were there characters?

Feelings?

Tons of sensations in the body?

As you pull back from that thought,

Watch as it starts to turn solid.

And what would you call it if you only got one word?

Watch for it now and place it over the fire,

In the safety of your cabin,

In the woods,

Your sacred inner world.

And release all of your muscles in the body as you drop it now into the fire.

And watch as the flames engulf,

Grow,

Consume,

Digest it.

It no longer serves you.

And when you let it go,

It's transformed into life-giving heat.

And again,

Find your breath.

Watch as the flames shrink on your inhale and grow on your exhale.

And again,

Just pause.

Had your mind been distracted just then?

What was coming up for you?

Just witness the thought.

Watch it like you're watching a play on a stage.

Just identify any feelings,

Sensations,

Characters,

And begin to pull back.

And what would you name it if you only got one word?

And place it over the fire.

Release all of your muscles in your body as you drop it now into the fire.

And then,

As you release it,

Just sit over the fire and release all of your muscles in your body as you drop it now into the fire.

Perhaps you can add,

I release,

Or I let go of.

And just watch as the fire consumes and you rest back,

Finding again your breath and watching the flames shrink on your inhale and expand on your exhale.

And pause.

What details can you pick out when you witness the memory or the thought?

Pull back,

Give it a name.

Place it in the fire and relax all the muscles as you let it go.

Watch it combust and transform,

Becoming something new.

To surrender is not to abandon but to relinquish what was,

What no longer serves us.

Allow it to reincarnate.

And as you feel the warmth of the fire,

Gently on your face,

Just melt and relax back.

And then,

As you release,

Just let it go.

On your face,

Just melt and relax back further into your body,

Feeling lighter,

Feeling relief.

This fire in your inner world,

In your sacred cabin in the woods,

Is always there for you.

When you need to release,

You can come back here at any time.

It's your birthright to come back here.

It's your inner world.

It's your safe zone.

And just like the memory of getting dressed this morning,

Moments are supposed to be transient,

But sometimes we hold on to them or we resist them because we're human.

So this fire burns internally in order for us to release what we didn't.

And feel yourself coming back into the room now,

Feeling the temperature of the room on your skin,

Feeling the points of contact between your body and the floor.

And just place your heart on your hand and say thank you.

Thank you.

And when you're ready,

Smile from the inside and open your eyes.

And thank you for joining me today.

Reviews

Wonderfully relaxing ☺️

May You Be Happy
Be Healthy
Be Safe
May You Be Loved By All
Namaste 🙏🏼

Very Nice!! Thank you so much for this excellent practice. 🙏

Great. 🔥

What an Exquisite and Powerful meditation! Thank you for a very useful and tangible practice.

Such a creative and effective way to honor yet release thoughts that don’t serve us. Thank you!! 🙏🏻💫😊✨

A very powerful meditation. I will use it again for thoughts that are difficult to manage. Thank you.
Namaste🙇‍♀️