Welcome to this balancing lung and large intestine meridian meditation.
In ancient Taoism,
It was observed that our lung and large intestine meridians have a big role in our immunity,
Our breath,
Particularly our exhalation,
The moisture balance in our body,
Our vocal expression and our nourishment.
Emotionally,
The lung meridian is associated with feeling grief,
Sadness and yearning.
The large intestine meridian is associated with feeling dogmatic,
Stuck and blocked.
When our lung and large intestine meridians are balanced and in harmony,
We are courageous and reverent.
We experience wonder and awe with ease.
We are able to let go of what no longer serves us.
We are able to let go of what is unnecessary and unhelpful,
And we can recognize and honor impermanence.
So let's nourish these meridians together.
Please take a few moments to find a comfortable position.
If you're sitting,
Sit open and upright.
If you're lying down,
Lie balanced and symmetrical.
Palms open wherever they're resting.
And I invite you to start with a big face stretching yawn and gift yourself an audible release as you exhale.
This audible release helps you to let go that little bit more.
So let's try that together.
Allow the muscles in the face to soften.
Draw your shoulder blades in and down your spine to help open through the heart space.
And take another delicious deep belly breath.
Relaxing,
Awake and alert.
And please remember,
There's nothing you need to achieve or accomplish during this guided meridian meditation.
This is your time.
And you might like to follow my words,
Or you might like to just let them sit gently in the background.
And I invite you to begin to draw your attention to the space in front of your closed eyes.
It's like a field of darkness,
And perhaps there's some muted shapes or colors there,
But we're not looking for anything.
We're just simply resting our attention in this space with relaxed eyes and a soft gaze.
And I invite you to begin to draw your attention towards sounds now.
Starting with sounds coming from outside.
And just listen with a gentle curiosity.
Allow the sounds to come and go without resistance.
And begin to draw your attention to sounds coming from inside the room.
And perhaps you can begin to listen to sounds coming from inside your body.
Your breath,
Digestion,
Heartbeat,
Just listening.
Allow the sounds to help call you into the present moment.
And I invite you to begin to draw your attention further to the breath now.
Not only the subtle sounds of the breath,
But also any sensations associated with your breath.
Feel the slight movement of your chest and your belly,
Rising as you breathe in,
And falling as you breathe out.
Notice the gentle softening of your body as you breathe out.
And feel the flow of air passing by your nostrils.
Cool on your in-breath and warm on your out-breath.
Just your natural breath.
Let your breath breathe with you.
Allow the breath to help anchor you into the present moment.
And I invite you now to draw your attention to your body,
To the muscles of your shoulders.
Feel into the muscles of your shoulders,
Noticing any sensations there,
Subtle or strong.
Is there a tightness,
A looseness,
A numbness,
A warmth?
And as you feel into the muscles of the shoulders,
Feel the flow of your breath.
Allow yourself to soften the muscles of the shoulders,
That little bit more with each out-breath.
And I invite you to begin to remember the ancient meridian lines of the lung and large intestine.
Visualize the external meridian of the lung,
Starting just below the outer edges of your collarbones,
In that little hollow in front of your shoulders.
And from here,
The lung meridians flow up to each shoulder,
Curve,
And then flow down,
Down the inside of your arms,
All the way down the arms,
Through the wrists,
And down to the tip of your thumbs.
Visualize energy flowing freely all the way down to the tips of your thumbs.
And then there's a little internal connecting branch from our thumb tips to our index fingers.
And this is where our external large intestine meridians begin.
So visualize energy at the tip of each index finger,
Flowing freely back up the arms,
Back up along the outside of the arms,
Over the elbows,
Up to the shoulders,
Up over the tops of the shoulders,
And flowing along the sides of the neck,
Over the middle of the chin,
Flowing up towards the mouth,
Circling above your top lip,
And crossing over the midline above the top lip,
And then coming to end at the edges of the nose.
So let's visualize this energy as a bright white light.
White is the color that nourishes our lung and large intestine meridians.
So visualizing a bright white light starting again at the external lung meridian,
Just below the outer edges of the collarbones,
That little hollow in front of the shoulders.
This white light starting this little hollow in front of the shoulders and then flowing freely up towards the shoulders,
Curving down and flowing down the inside of the arms,
All the way down the inside of the arms through the wrists,
And down to the tips of the thumbs.
Perhaps you can begin to feel a warmth or a tingling.
Visualizing this bright white light flowing from the thumbs,
Connecting to the tip of our index fingers,
The beginning of our external large intestine meridians.
And visualizing this bright white energy flowing freely from the index fingers,
Flowing up the back of the arms,
Flowing over the elbows,
Flowing up to the shoulders,
Over the tops of the shoulders,
Flowing up along the sides of the neck,
Flowing over the chin,
Towards the mouth,
Crossing just above the top lip,
And then flowing freely over to the edges of the nose.
And again,
For the third time,
Starting at the lung meridians,
This bright white light flowing freely down each arm to the thumb tips,
And then this bright white light flowing from the index from the index fingers,
All the way back up the back of the arms,
Over the shoulders,
The sides of the neck,
Over the chin,
Crossing above the top lip,
And coming to the edges of each nostril.
And as you feel this subtle sense of energy,
This subtle sense of aliveness flowing through these ancient meridians,
Through the shoulders,
Arms,
Hands,
The neck and the face,
Feel the flow of your breath.
Allow each exhalation to help you let go and soften that little bit more.
Can you allow your body to let go of muscle tension?
With each out-breath,
Allow your muscles to relax and release,
All through the arms,
The shoulders,
The neck,
The head,
And let that relaxation flow out to the whole body.
Allow your mind to let go of any thoughts clamoring for your attention.
Let go of your to-do list,
Let go of any roles or habitual patterns that no longer serve you.
With each out-breath,
Letting go and releasing that little bit more,
And feeling into that subtle sense of aliveness flowing through the lung and the large intestine meridians.
And if you notice your mind wandering or becoming caught up in a stream of thought,
That's okay,
That's what the mind does.
Just gently and kindly redirect your attention back to your body,
Back to these ancient meridian lines of the lung and the large intestine.
Draw your awareness back to the space in front of your closed eyes.
Notice sounds,
Notice your breath,
Just your natural breath,
And allow your breath,
Your exhalation to help you soften and release.
And as we come towards the end of our practice together today,
You might like to join me in dedicating its value and its virtue and sending some kind thoughts.
So as we breathe in,
Say silently to yourself,
May I release and let go.
And as you breathe out,
May you,
May others release and let go.
As you breathe in,
Allow your heart to fill with this intention.
And as you breathe out,
Send these kind thoughts out to an individual or to a group of people.
Breathing in,
May I release and let go.
Breathing out,
May you release and let go.
May we all release and let go of that which no longer serves us.
May we all be courageous and reverent.
May we all be filled with wonder and awe.
Let us slowly start to reactivate and re-energize the body now.
Perhaps a little wiggle of the fingers,
A little wiggle of the toes.
If you're lying down,
You might like to give your knees a squeeze and gift yourself a little low back massage by slowly rocking side to side.
We can all wrap our arms around ourselves and gift ourselves with a loving hug.
And then when you're ready,
We can come together in a comfortable seated position.
And once seated,
Let us bring our palms together in front of our heart with a slight bow of the head and then draw your thumbs between the eyebrows to the third eye center as a gesture of honour,
Respect and the deepest of gratitude to ourselves,
To each other and to the practice we have shared together today.
Namaste.
Thank you.
