Bhāvāna Meditation

We have a natural ability to sense what our body, mind and spirit needs. Bhāvanā meditation allows us to tap into that quality of being, so we can feel healed, whole and deeply satisfied.

One essential technique from the meditation traditions is that you can just ask yourself: what is a quality or set of qualities I would like to cultivate? Then let a word, two words, three words, arise in your awareness. This technique of cultivation is called bhāvāna. This is an instinct that everyone has, to merge with what we crave and need.

Use this meditation when you need a dose of love and inspiration.

Transcript

If you're open to sharing in the chat, Just how you are right here right now. How you are, What are you aware of? Right here right now I feel like I'm making a transition it's been a one of those sort of back to back days. I've been like moving around the neighborhood because the. . . The gardeners, When the gardeners are here, It's really loud and loud. A neighbor friend that I can go and work from his space. So I've been like a movement and sharing already inside of these sort of spaces. So I'm excited for another opportunity to practice and and make these intentional transitions. This is something that is a skill set that I am so grateful for that I've learned from instinctive meditation. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Also in a transition, Feeling like a busy mind, So looking forward to a mindful rest. Yeah. I know the music piece, I think the technology is, I like said it's coming soon because I do love the music in the background. Do you know this? But the music that see that I might recommend you, I really love this today in particular, In my practice, I was listening to Chantarese Seba. The Light Healing album. Chantera Seba light healing album. There's four songs on that and then, Um, You could just have it on repeat and have it start over again. I think it's about 15 to 18 minutes, Those four songs. I really like those ones. So I would use things like that today. That's probably what I would play for us if I could play music. Awesome! I'll just briefly speak to the. Theme, The idea. That I have for today and then just getting my notes up here. And then we'll do about, Yeah, 15, 20 minute practice and I'll transition us out of the practice. You hopefully feel. Available to be present with whatever's coming next for you. So. . . The second session here, Meditation, Is, And again, I'm looking at my notes here, This call it like a natural doorways meditation, Or it's sometimes called a bhavana meditation. So. . . This is based on this sort of inquiry. Around this question of like, What do we love so much? What's really easy for us to spend time with? Like naturally easy for each of us individually to spend time with under the notion that when when we're immersed in something that we generally like or when we feel safe or content. When we're in love with something. I'm just looking at Jaya like it's like, Oh, When I spend time and I just like hug her up to my. You know, My face and I just like smell her. Breathe her in, We just have our sweet little moments. Like I'm pretty immersed in that moment, You know? Like I could have some other awarenesses going on, It's just how our attention moves, But that moment is like really special and sweet. And I want to be there. It's kind of like a non-issue to be there present with it. So we could think of. Recalling, Remembering, Spending time inside through our mind's eye, Through our capacity to remember. Inside of this meditation space, You know replaying remembering sort of some experiences like that and then. The holding this interest and now how does that affect my nervous system? How does that affect my physiology? What? Subtle and maybe profound state changes can I experience if I befriend something, If I'm like loving something through my memory and just continue to expand and expand into it. To luxuriate in it, To enjoy being there with it. Hey, Sally, Welcome to the space. We're just jumping into this meditation. So I'm just giving a little brief theme for the meditation and then we'll we'll dive in. So we'd love to have you stay if this time resonates. I like to think of things as experiments. Let's go into this experiment of using bhavana or again this natural doorways meditation to support as a technique to kind of support this inner inquiry, This sense of maybe resetting, Refreshing our body, Mind, Soul, Heart. So we can feel maybe just a little bit more available, More capacity to be with whatever's coming next for you. So let's enter. We mentioned earlier, I generally have music playing in the background but the technology is not quite here yet with you want to have your own music playing in the background. I'm also in Costa Rica and every once in a while. The Starlink like slows us down. So if there's a little bit of techie glitchiness, I apologize, But I just asked for some grace in that as we enter here. And. . . Let's begin. I'm going to set my timer because I tend to I can journey. Far and wide. So keep us in this 15-20 minute time frame today. All right, So the first five minutes, About five minutes, We're just gonna make a transition into the space, Into your space. You can, In this time, I'm just gonna give a variety of ideas about how you could be in this like five minute transition time. So this notion that just because we said we're gonna like sit, Lay down or keep moving to meditate, Doesn't mean that like our mind just like goes blank. Especially in the middle of the day, There's potentially a lot of aliveness, There's a lot of movement on the inside. We welcome that. What is the movement? What am I aware of? What's the pace of my thoughts? Even the energy moving through my body, Do I actually need to move a little bit? Does sitting still feel really challenging? It's like, Then don't do it. Right? Permission to yoga, To stretch, To pace. Or if you're really exhausted, This was this has been me the last few days. Like I've just been so excited to get to my practice and just lay down. And close my eyes and like. . . Give in to the exhaustion. So maybe that's, If that's true for you, The permission for that. From me to you, You to yourself. So we're befriending, We're learning time and time again how to meet. The different thoughts, The emotions. Different inner characters. Senses that are more alive and apparent. There's no need to force ourselves to. Force quieting down. It's like the opposite of what we're doing here. The quieting down and the spaciousness, The relaxation will naturally come. When we cooperate with our inherent, Instinctive, Intuitive, Rhythmic nature. We naturally go through cycles of rest and then action and rest and action and rest and action. So when we cooperate with ourselves. We befriend how our energy is naturally moving. We give ourselves an opportunity for that rest to feel more effortless. For that parasympathetic response to come online. We're just observing that happening. From not resisting what's here, What's right here right now. So let's just track together. Different sensations you're aware of. That could be inside of your body, Or if that feels a little pokey to be with. You might extend your attention. Out into your environment. What am I hearing? All the way around my body. Oh yeah. And this is for all of us. We can perceive space both the internal space and the external space choose one to track and spend some time with space around you. Maybe it's a feeling of spaciousness developing within you as you your breath. For a few rounds together. Let's And let's enjoy our breath. What would that be like? To enjoy this ongoing rhythm, To get more intimate. Curious. Is there anything enjoyable about this breathing process? A rhythm, A pulsation, An expansion and release that we can feel. Maybe it's a reminder of softness, That really like the soft air coming in and out of the nose. Maybe the breath today, A reminder. There's always movement. Appreciate. Thank goodness, There's always, Thank goodness I'm not always sad. Or even thank goodness that I'm always happy. Maybe that's a stretch. Thank goodness I have people and things I care about so much. And that brings me into this pulsation of grieving and love. Let's remember that embrace. This practicing the skill of embracing. When there's lots of activity on the inside. You notice the opposite, Maybe the shoulder starting to drop or the body getting a little more relaxed. Not favoring one over the other. Embracing the next movement and the next movement. Thank you. Thank you. So, It's just a matter of time. Good, And let's bring our attention from the head. Down into your heart, Head to heart. Or wherever you were, If you were down below, You can bring it up into the heart and just see if we can sense, Feel, Maybe you bring your hands here, Invite some subtle motion to this area of the body. Ah, The space of the heart where everything meets. As if we were remembering and seeing through. Seeing through the heart, Remembering through the heart. Using our capacity to remember what are these moments in life the life you've lived up to this moment. There are some memories that you would go back and you would just spend a little extra time there. Lingering in that. Beauty of that particular environment. Surrounded by a certain person or people. Replaying. Parts of this life that you really adore, That you love. There is a sense of peace, Of creativity. Your way. Contentment. Maybe moments where you felt very connected to spirit. Universe. Be all that is. That's a good question. And in these memories, Can we be with the senses, The textures? The emotions. The sounds. Yeah, I would like to see that one. Thank you. With one sweep of attention. Gather in the whole universe and remember it as your body. Of bliss. The deep rhythms of life pulsating. Stir an ambrosia flowing and overflowing everywhere. Drink the nectar of all pervading joy. From the radiant cup that is this very body. Gather in the whole universe and remember it as your body of bliss. Memories, Your memories. Drinking the nectar of that particular type of joy, Peace, Love, Safety. Connection. Every cell giving a little splash. Splash of that energy. As if every cell receptive, Open, Receiving. Receiving from replaying. Parts of life that you love. And that's what we're going to do next. Drink the nectar of the all-pervading joy from the radiant cup that is this very body. That is Sutra 42 from the Radiant Sutras. This deep gratitude, Dr. Lauren Roche, For his rendition of the Vyana-vairava tantra. This way, We begin this slow, Luxurious transition, Taking about four minutes. We'll see you in a moment. You. Noticing the head and the heart. The base of the spine, Down through your legs, Down to the earth. That connection right here right now. This earth, This home. Your roots. The center. Your spine from the base up to the crown of the head. From the center extending out to that space surrounding your body, Becoming aware once again. 360 degree awareness. Gentle reflection, Reflecting, Noticing me. Any shifts in state, Anything that's there to write down or to remember before entering the rest of your day? This is a great time to. Just add some gentle movements. I'm ready. I always like to tend to take a sip of tea or water or whatever I have nearby. Refresh. Kind of reawaken to the day. Hmm. It's so easy. Transition times are. Very, Very important. Say one of the most impactful. Parts of studying with Warren. Dr. Lauren Roche and his wife, Camille. Maureen when I first started studying this. It's like revolutionary for me to consider the first part of a meditation practice and the last part as these transition times and to make sure there's enough Time weaved into the timeline of a practice to allow for that. It's something very kind we do for our brains, Our nervous systems, I think for our relationships as well. So when we enter whatever's next, Relationally speaking, Whether that, I mean really if that's an email or a person, Text message, Usually with people or animals that were like We're not in the in-between space. It's just, I call it, I'm like fully back. Sometimes we can only learn that by not doing that and realizing like, Oh, I'm still a little in between. I've had to definitely learn the hard way. I think I had to learn the hard way because no one ever spoke about it. No one ever spoke about these transitions until I met Lauren, At least to me. I tend to feel like I'm. . . Have more of like a global awareness of my whole body and the environment. At the same time and like any of the subtle sensations for me personally everyone's a little different in this but that I feel maybe more free or opening or buzzy sort of in my head, It's like that. But it shifts down and it kind of disperses out. That's how I know when I'm. . . Yeah, More available. Sure, I could try to be more more language to that. But really, It's not about my mind. It's really you getting to know yourself in that. How do you know when you're. . . Back and ready for whatever's next. All right, Curious for those few of you that are here live, If you have anything you want to share in the chat box, I'm happy to hear. Yeah, So happy you both were able to show up live. Really cool. Hmm, Okay. Just wishing you a wonderful rest of your day. Whatever day that may be for you if you're listening later. I'll be back next week, Another time, Another doorway, Another technique. Yeah, Lots of love.