Once again,
We return to the Samatha practice,
The practice of cultivating a calm,
Clear,
And focused mind.
And in this meditation session,
We'll be using the Savasana posture in our meditation to help establish a basis in relaxation.
The Savasana posture is where we are lying flat on our back,
Either on our bed or on a soft cushion,
Keeping the feet slightly apart,
The arms slightly away from the body,
And the palms facing upward.
So you can pause the recording now,
And once you're in this position,
Well,
You can then continue the recording.
Allow your awareness to descend into the body,
Right down to the ground,
And simply become aware of sensations where your body is touching the bed or the cushion.
Now allow your awareness to rise up and fill the entire space of the body,
And simply become aware of sensations throughout the body.
And if you notice any tightness or tension in any part of the body,
Then use the out-breath to relax and release that tightness or tension.
And then allowing your awareness to come to the area of your face,
And soften and relax all the muscles in the face,
The mouth and jaw,
Soft and relaxed,
And all the muscles around the eyes,
Soft and relaxed.
And in this way,
Allowing the entire body to become completely relaxed,
Completely at ease.
And relaxing more deeply with each out-breath.
Allowing the breathing to settle into its natural rhythm,
Not trying to control or regulate the breath in any way.
Simply allowing it to flow naturally and effortlessly.
And with each out-breath,
Letting go of any thoughts that may have arisen,
Happily releasing them.
And allowing the mind to come to rest in the present moment.
And simply becoming aware of the rhythm of the breath.
Noticing if it's long or short,
Deep or shallow,
Slow or fast,
Without trying to modify it in any way.
Simply following the rhythm of the breath.
Simply following the rhythm of the breath.
And with each out-breath,
Letting go of any thoughts that may have arisen.
And with each out-breath,
Letting go of any thoughts that may have arisen.
And if you get distracted from the breath,
The first thing to do is simply relax.
And then release the distraction and very gently return to the rhythm of the breath.
So relax,
Release and return.
Simply keep coming back to the breath again and again,
Patiently and happily.
And with each out-breath,
Letting go of any thoughts that may have arisen.
And with each out-breath,
Letting go of any thoughts that may have arisen.
And with each out-breath,
Letting go of any thoughts that may have arisen.
And using the out-breath as an opportunity to release any tension in the body and to release any thoughts that may have arisen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Maintaining a gentle flow of mindfulness of the rhythm of the breath.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And allowing the meditation to slowly come to a close.
Now a good way to get up from this Shavasana posture is to first bend the left knee,
Then roll over onto your right side,
And then you can use your hands to help you to get into a seated upright position.
And just a few closing comments.
If you normally have a lot of tension in your body,
Then you can experiment with using this as your normal meditation posture,
Because this can really help with relaxation.
Or if you're physically tired and sitting upright to meditate is difficult,
Then experiment with this posture.
And you can also use this practice as a transition to sleep.
If you have a hard time to get to sleep,
Then you can do as follows.
Get into bed and adopt this Shavasana posture,
That is lying flat on your back,
Feet slightly apart,
Hands slightly away from the body and palms facing upwards.
And then simply follow the rhythm of the breath,
Just connecting with the rhythm of the breath.
And releasing any tension in the body on each out-breath,
And releasing any thoughts on each out-breath.
And do that until you start to get drowsy.
And when you start to get drowsy,
Then mentally note that your meditation is now finished,
And then physically move out of that posture into your normal posture for sleep.
And so this can really help us to transition to sleep.
And also if you wake up in the middle of the night and have a hard time getting back to sleep,
Then you can use the same procedure as well.
