Welcome to the Five Gates of Mindfulness meditation.
Before you begin,
Consider your environment as a sanctuary,
A sacred place,
A mandala filled with energies and spaciousness that is conducive to this meditation.
Sit comfortably with your hips level or slightly above your knees.
Ideally,
Sit upright on the front edge of your seat with the soles of your feet flat on the ground and parallel with each other.
Rest your hands,
Palms cupped,
Right palm uppermost,
Resting in the left in your lap with the tips of your thumbs touching lightly.
Now lightly close your eyes.
Notice how you feel right now.
Bring your intention from the beginning,
The intention to help all of us return home to our deepest knowing,
To the love that we truly are,
And to align with that feeling.
Now as you listen to these preliminary instructions,
Allow your intention and attention to align with the technique and its purpose.
The sequence of this meditation begins with cues for posture,
Relaxation,
And positive energy,
Then moves into calm,
Happiness,
Breath,
Awareness to focus attention.
After becoming completely absorbed in breathing,
We'll shift to the instructions for the gatekeeper to guide us into deeper and deeper states of mindfulness.
We will do this five times in the traditional nature and practice of mindfulness of breathing.
The purpose is to raise our vibration to embody the frequencies of peace through mindfulness of breathing.
So this becomes established as the baseline state from which we live our lives and to dissolve limiting tensions of self which interfere with the flow of finer frequencies.
As you follow this meditation,
Practice mindfulness by paying attention on purpose in the present moment,
Non-judgmentally,
Like a curious observer.
If your attention wanders,
Practice the three R's.
Recognize what has grabbed your attention,
Release this,
And return to following the guided cues.
Do this as often as your attention wanders,
As best as you can without self-judgment.
Keep in mind that mindfulness is a skill that improves through consistent practice over time.
To begin,
Focus down into the soles of your feet and feel the sensations of your feet contacting the ground.
Allow your feet to soften and relax,
Imagining as if your feet are melting down into the ground.
Focus into your palms and fingers and feel the sensation of contact with your legs.
Allow your palms and fingers to soften and relax,
Imagining as if they are melting down into your legs.
As your hands relax,
Allow your arms and shoulders to relax down,
Releasing any tension in your shoulders and neck.
Imagine a string attached to the top of your head,
Drawing your spine gently upright,
Giving you a feeling of vertical spaciousness up through the core of your body,
Up through your spine,
Through the top of your head.
Tuck your chin slightly,
Gently lengthening the back of your neck.
Roll the tip of your tongue up to touch the roof of your mouth.
Smile a subtle smile of appreciation and gratitude for this time to consciously relax,
Let go,
And awaken to the mindful awareness.
Allow the feeling of smiling to relax your jaw and eyes,
Release any tension in your eyebrows and forehead.
Allow the feeling of smiling to wash down through your whole body,
Creating a positive inner environment.
Imagine every cell is smiling,
Opening up,
Communicating with every other cell,
And radiating pure positive energy.
Become aware of the sensations of this present moment as a curious observer,
A witness to what is happening right now.
Feel the deep stillness of the body,
Silence of the speech,
And spaciousness of mind and heart.
Look at what you can see in your mind.
You cannot find anything.
You can only find the one who is looking at it,
Your mind.
Look at your mind.
Who is it?
Where is it?
Look closer,
Now closer still.
You cannot find that either.
There is only emptiness,
Spaciousness.
Look closer into emptiness.
It is not just empty.
There is awareness,
Alert and awake.
Pure presence.
This pure presence is luminous,
Pure consciousness.
As you rest here in the union of awareness and emptiness,
You may notice a deep sense of joy arises,
And with it a Buddha smile,
A sense of bliss,
A sense of deep well-being.
This well-being washes through your entire body.
This well-being is right here,
Right now,
In the present moment,
Free of any other focus.
You are awake,
Aware,
And witnessing.
Your breathing is calm,
And happy.
This is the first gatekeeper into deeper states of meditation,
Being a witness and observing with curiosity.
This is the first gatekeeper into deeper states of meditation,
Being a witness and observing with curiosity.
I am aware of the present moment,
Letting go of the past and future,
Calm and happy.
The second gatekeeper is silence.
I am silently aware of the present moment,
Letting go of commentary,
Evaluation,
And judgment,
And resting in just what is.
Calm happiness.
You you you you you The third gatekeeper is the breath.
I am silently aware of the breath in the present moment,
Releasing all other perceptions and thoughts.
Focus down into your lower abdomen and become aware of the sensations of breathing here.
Calm happiness.
As you inhale,
Notice the subtle expansion of your abdomen.
As you exhale,
Notice the subtle relaxation inward.
You you you I'm silently aware of the breath in the present moment,
Releasing all other perceptions and thoughts.
Calm happiness.
You The fourth gatekeeper is the whole breath in every moment.
I am silently aware of the ebb and flow of the whole breath continuously every moment.
Calm happiness.
Equanimity.
See if it's possible to stay present in the whole cycle of your breathing so you notice the moment you begin to inhale.
Follow your in-breath all the way through until you naturally pause.
Then notice the moment you begin to exhale and follow your out-breath all the way through until you naturally pause.
To track your attention,
Count your breaths each time you exhale in cycles of ten.
If you lose count,
Begin again at one.
If you get to ten,
Begin again at one.
If your attention wanders,
It's okay.
Just recognize what grabbed your attention.
Release this and return to counting your out-breaths in cycles of ten.
I am silently aware of the ebb and flow of the whole breath continuously every moment.
Allow your attention to become completely absorbed in the subtle sensations of breathing as if nothing else matters in this moment.
You you you As you continue to count your out-breaths,
Allow your breathing to become subtle,
Quiet,
And soft until the sensation is barely perceptible in your lower abdomen.
You you you you you you you As you continue to count your out-breaths,
The fifth gate is awareness of awareness itself.
Become the witness of awareness itself.
Pure consciousness without content.
Choiceless attention.
Still,
Silent,
Spacious awareness.
Who is aware of this space?
The space itself is aware.
There is only awareness.
Infinite,
Spacious awareness.
Now,
Become aware of the entire space inside your skin.
Slowly half-open your eyes and become aware of the space inside your body within the space around you.
Feel the top of your head,
Your hands in your lap,
And your feet on the ground.
Notice how you feel.
If you could sum this up in a word or phrase,
What would this be?
Consider practicing this meditation twice a day and surrendering to this process to realize the truth of who you are,
A being of still,
Silent,
Spacious awareness,
A being of love,
And part of one life we all share,
One vast and loving,
Spacious awareness.
I thank you so deeply for your practice.
Love and blessings.
Namaste.
