Ikigai - Who Would You Like To Be?

I have designed this adapted version of the Ikigai Meditation to help you reflect on who you are today and what possible changes you'd like to make. Please, have some blank papers and a pen at hand if you like to write things down or you may prefer to make mental notes. We start with a relaxing body scan. Then, we answer five questions that help to get clarity.

Transcript

Just make sure you're in a comfortable position and then gently close your eyes.

And we'll start by focusing on our normal breath.

Breathing in and out through the nose.

And find a place where you can observe your breath.

This could be at the nostrils,

Where you may feel cold air going in and warmer air on the exhale.

Or maybe an easier place is the lower belly.

And to assist yourself in your observation you can place a hand on the belly.

Just feel the rise and fall.

And after observing your normal breath,

Then consciously slow down.

Lengthen both the in and exhale.

And make sure they match.

And the matching of the length of both in and exhale is the most important.

So even if you would feel you cannot deepen,

Lengthen,

Then just focus on making in and exhale equally long.

And while you continue slowing down,

Equalizing,

I'll briefly explain what we'll be doing.

This is a different version of the Ikigai meditation,

And Ikigai means finding your purpose,

Your calling in life.

But today I want to change the focus.

And my question is more,

Not what should you be doing,

But who would you like to be?

And later on I'll be asking you a number of questions.

And please note your very first response,

Basically the response before you start actually thinking about the question.

Try to separate that response from all your thoughts,

Feelings,

Opinions,

Judgments,

Anything that may kick in later.

But take note of all of it,

Because this could help you disentangle what's happening and why you still may like to make some changes,

And what your barriers may be to do so.

Withdraw your attention from the breath.

Feel your mouth,

Tongue,

Jaw and lips,

And make it soft.

Maybe gently let your jaw drop.

Open the lips slightly.

Smooth out your cheeks and all the small muscles around the eyes.

Make sure you close your eyes in a very gentle way.

And if you're not comfortable closing your eyes,

Just look at one point in front of you.

And again make your gaze soft.

Smooth out your forehead,

Like ironing it out.

Facing yourself of any wrinkles,

Worries,

Overthinking.

Imagine a warmth from this ironing that then flows down across the eyelids,

The cheeks,

Mouth and chin,

Neck and throat,

Shoulders,

Both upper arms,

Lower arms and hands.

Let it back up through the arms to the shoulders.

And then through the torso,

If you can,

Simultaneously through chest and belly and the back,

Starting from the top.

Let the warmth,

The relaxation ripple through your body.

The hip and pelvic area.

And again,

Simultaneously through both legs,

Upper legs,

Front and back,

Knees,

Lower legs,

Feet.

And then release the warmth through your toes into the floor.

Now if you would like to take notes,

This is the moment to open your eyes.

If you are only taking mental notes,

You can keep your eyes closed.

I'll give you around two minutes for every question.

This is kind of meant to avoid you from overthinking.

So my first question,

What kind of people does the world need right now,

Today?

Note that first intuition.

And then your response to the intuition.

The ifs,

The buts,

The pros,

The cons.

Does your mind immediately think about possibilities,

Realities?

Or are you able to let yourself dream?

What does the world,

What kind of people does the world need today?

Start wrapping up your thoughts for this question.

If you are listening to the recording,

You can pause if there is much more to write.

Or you can continue with the meditation and come back later to the questions.

You may have different insights.

And then we prepare by letting go of the first question for the second question.

And this one is more personal.

What kind of person would you love to be?

And this is not a judgmental meditation.

Maybe you already are this person.

Maybe not yet.

Maybe you have been this person.

By being utterly honest to ourselves,

We can be grateful for who we are.

Or we can realize that we would like to make our way back to who we once were.

Or we are still working towards the kind of person we would love to be.

And there is absolutely no shame in not being who you would love to be.

I think it applies to all of us.

On one days more than others.

Complete your physical or mental notes for this question.

And now we will look more at who we already are.

What do you appreciate about yourself?

What are you good at?

In your role as a human being?

And please don't be modest.

It's between you and yourself.

Be proud.

And if you would struggle to answer this question,

It may help to ask the question to people close to you.

It is important to know what we should value in ourselves.

And people may sometimes surprise you.

They may have noticed positives that you were not even aware of.

So even those who are good at answering this question,

Maybe still ask someone else.

Up to you.

If you have finished,

Gently breathe in and out.

If you feel a bit stuck,

Just let yourself return to the question later.

For now finish up.

Take a deep breath in and out.

For the fourth question.

In preparation consider the answers you have just given for this question.

How can I contribute more to the well-being of myself,

Others,

The world?

Make a connection between the first three questions.

How can I contribute more to the well-being of myself,

Others,

The world?

Last thirty seconds for this question.

If you have finished,

Put down pen and paper and close your eyes.

Leave the questions behind.

All the thoughts and feelings that arose.

And don't worry that there may be anything you have missed.

If it's important,

It will come back to you.

Today,

Tomorrow or even next month.

I have one final question.

And for this one you may want to bring your attention to the third eye,

Which is located between the eyebrows.

This is your house of intuition.

And it's a simple question.

What do I do differently tomorrow?

Return to your normal breath,

Bring the attention to the breath.

No need to change anything.

We are almost at the completion of the meditation.

After I say my goodbyes,

Please complete your notes.

And maybe mark them as first responses,

Thoughts,

Barriers,

Enablers,

Opinions.

And put it all aside.

And you may want to revisit again in a couple of days.

If you decided to only take mental notes,

Just see what comes back to you,

What you remember most.

It's probably the most important thing.

Taking a final breath in and out together before I say goodbye.

Thank you and Namaste.

Reviews

Very powerful lovely experience. I need to keep doing what I'm doing, spreading calm and peace wherever I am. Thank you for this. Xoxo

This was just what I needed to hear today I am grateful to you for your service to me and to all who listen to your words
Namaste

This was an awesome reflection exercise! Thank you for sharing it with us

Very helpful, both the gentle body relaxation and the writing prompts. Thank you!

Very calming. The depth of the meditation is wonderful. Lots to work with.

Beautiful practice. I also liked options you gave. Thank you 🌸

Loved it ❤ I enjoyed the meditation journaling approach would love more tracks like this. The answer to my final question is a revelation I am sure will help me. Thank you 🙏

Loved this. Thank you.

Fantastic questions.

I loved this meditation. So helpful!

Interesting. Thanks for posting

Beautifully timely for me and exceptionally helpful. Thank you for the guidance, your compassion, and these excellent questions. Namaste 🙏🏼💞