Sitting in a comfortable position with your back straight,
Hands in your lap or down by your sides,
Pressing your feet down into the floor,
Just grounding down,
Being here in this moment.
Taking a few deep breaths through the heart for compassion in and out.
Breathing in through the back spaces of the heart between the shoulder blades,
Pull the air through the heart energy center,
Filling that space,
Really expanding through the chest.
Inhale it out,
Feel your heart lift as you inhale once more,
Expanding,
Creating space and then exhaling down.
Let your body settle into this present moment.
In our meditation today,
I want to talk to you about Samambonam.
Samambonam is a Latin phrase from Cicero which means the highest good.
Samambonam,
Good for all.
There's been a lot of debate among translators,
Historians,
To what the Stoics meant,
These Roman philosophers,
What did they mean by Samambonam?
What is the highest good?
To the Stoics,
To these Roman philosophers that came up with this term,
It's virtue.
It's choosing to do the right thing even when it's not easy.
It's choosing to do the right thing even though it may not make you the most popular person in the room.
This isn't always easy.
It's not always easy to honor the highest good for all.
Notice it's not the highest good for you specifically but the highest good for all and that's what we want for this world that we live in.
In the world,
Politics,
Unethical behavior,
Viruses,
So much fear.
In this meditation,
We're going to focus on virtue,
Samambonam,
The highest good.
And while we may have different definitions of what the highest good is or what is virtue,
You surely have an answer to that within you.
So in our meditation,
Allow yourself to get quiet enough,
Put judgments aside,
Put politics aside,
Put personality aside.
And let's meditate on the highest good for all of humanity with the hope that united we can bring Samambonam through us and outward.
Thinking on what that means to you.
Peace of mind,
Vibrant health,
Abundance of resources,
Peace among your neighbors,
Peace among your neighbors,
Love for your brothers and sisters.
Walking on this earth,
We're all here together.
Thank you.
As we come back to the body,
I want you to visualize space.
And in the black open space,
There's a blue and green sphere,
Spinning,
Rotating.
As you get closer,
The greens and blues separate into continents and oceans.
You see clouds gathering and dispersing around.
The spinning slows down.
You exhale sigh of relief,
Wishing this earth,
Samambonam,
The highest good.
I'd like to close this meditation today with the closing mantra,
The Ashtanga Yoga tradition.
When you hear this the first time,
It might sound a little weird.
But after sharing the Sanskrit,
I will share the English translation.
It starts with Om and ends with Om if you would like to join me.
Inhale for Om.
Swasti Prajyabhya Pali Paliandam,
Maneya ma kenamahi ma himsha.
O Brahma Nebhya,
Shuva maschunicham,
Dokha samasta sukhino bhavantu.
Shanti Shanti Shanti.
May prosperity be glorified,
May rulers of the world rule with law and justice.
May divinity and profound knowledge be protected and may all beings of this world be happy and free.
Om,
Peace peace,
Perfect peace.
Namaste.
