For the next 40 minutes or so,
And so commit absolutely that there's nothing else that's more important.
There's nothing to figure out.
There's nothing to solve.
There's nothing to fix.
It's just a matter of being here now.
And so ideally with a straight spine in a comfortable position,
We try to be as still as we can.
And if you haven't already,
I invite you to close down your eyes.
And we're going to move through a few different phases.
The first phase,
We'll just do a releasing emotion exercise,
Which is like meeting the moment,
But we're not going to go around in a circle.
We're just going to do it internally.
And then we'll go into the releasing tension,
Then right breathing,
And then observing the mind.
And our intention is to move beyond that,
To let go of all the practice and arrive at a place of samadhi or awareness,
Just absorption in the energy.
And that is challenging to arrive at if you just sat and attempted to get there.
And that's why we stack,
Can be really challenging to hold your attention still.
If you've got an emotion that's being triggered,
All its attention in your body,
Or if your breath is unsupportive,
If your breath is short and shallow.
So all the things that we do here are preparing us to be able to hold our attention still,
And then eventually move beyond that.
So let's begin,
Just invite you to bring your attention inwards,
And just tune into what you're feeling in this moment,
And we're looking specifically at the emotion that's most alive for you,
And then acknowledge it,
And allow it,
Feel it,
Without going into a story around why it's there.
And then we tune into the next moment,
What are you feeling now?
Once again,
Identify it,
Label it,
And allow it.
Just witnessing the emotion that's arising in the moment for us,
And once again,
What are you feeling now?
One last time,
Tuning in,
What are you feeling now?
And so shifting our attention now to tension,
And so I invite you to bring a subtle tension into your body,
So it's like a gentle activation of the whole body all at the same time.
And so curling your toes a little,
Making gentle fists with your hands,
Pulling on your pelvic floor,
It's like a pulling on of the skin,
But just a gentle activation,
The whole body all at the same time.
And so we're going to hold this for about 20 or 30 seconds.
And why we do this is to over-accentuate the tension that we have in the body.
And so when in a few moments we begin releasing it,
We're able to let go,
And drop through more deeply,
And just continue to hold for a few more moments.
What we learn is a lot of meditation is really letting go,
It's just allowing.
And so now,
The whole body,
All at the same time,
From the top of your head to the tips of your toes,
We're just slowly letting go,
Like a slow unfolding,
We're going to do this over about 30 seconds,
Little bit by little bit.
Like a flower opening to meet the sun,
Or a butterfly opening its wings for the first time,
Just letting go.
See if you can let go even more deeply now.
Slowly letting go.
And so we bring our attention now to the muscles around our eyes,
We often unconsciously hold a lot of tension in the muscles around our eyes,
In our jaw.
And so here we're going to consciously release,
Relax,
Let go,
The tension that we have in the muscles around our eyes,
And allowing that sense of relaxation to flow down through into the jaw,
Letting go.
As it flows up through the face,
And up through the forehead,
And around through the scalp,
Like a wave of relaxation,
Moving through the body,
Across the scalp,
Down the back of the neck,
Down through into the shoulders,
Down through the arms and into the hands.
Really letting go.
Allowing that relaxation to flow back up through the arms,
Into the shoulders,
Into the backs of the shoulders and the chest,
Down through the stomach and lower back,
Through the glutes,
Quadriceps and hamstrings,
Shins and calves,
And down through into the feet.
Pushing any tension,
Any anxiousness,
Any need for this moment to be any different than it is,
Out through the feet and into whatever is connecting you to the earth.
Letting go even more deeply now.
If at any point you find your attention has wandered,
Just gently bring it back,
Recommit,
Refocus.
We make this practice important,
Our time together here important.
Becoming aware of the space that we've created in our body and in our cognition,
As we bring our attention now back to the muscles around our eyes,
And just scanning through the body for any remaining tension or tight spots,
Maybe the backs of the shoulders or the hips.
And then you take your attention into that and just visualize it,
Imagine it releasing,
Letting go.
And if you have a number of them,
Just move from spot to spot,
And if you feel tension arise in your practice,
You can use this to help alleviate it,
So you can maintain relative stillness.
As we move to the final phase of releasing tension,
Which we call melting chocolate,
Imagining yourself as if like a piece of chocolate in the sun,
Melting.
And whilst we keep a subtle tension in the spine to keep ourselves upright,
Allowing everything else to let go even more deeply now,
As if like a piece of chocolate melting in the sun.
It's almost as if we become goop,
Unable to hold thoughts or hold form,
Spilling out across the surface that we're on,
Letting go even more deeply now.
As we shift our attention now to our breath,
And taking a moment just to calibrate the breath moving in and out of the lungs,
Ideally through the nose,
But if that's not possible,
The mouth is fine.
And so we bring our attention to the breath following the flow in and the flow out,
And just deepening the breath.
So as you breathe in,
Watching the air flow down deep all the way down into the bottom of the lungs,
And so the tummy will expand,
The middle,
And then the top chest will expand.
And then contracting from the lower,
Tummy pulls in the middle,
And then the upper,
The chest will drop.
Finding your rhythm with this deep diaphragmatic breathing,
And as you deepen your breath,
We put a count on the breath,
So we could start with four seconds in,
One second pause,
Four seconds out,
One second pause.
And so holding our attention on the breath,
And here we're deepening our focus,
Just holding your attention on that breath,
Four,
One,
Four,
One,
Nice,
Deep,
Long breaths into the diaphragm.
And then see if you can extend the count to five,
One,
Five,
One,
Five in,
One second pause,
Five out,
One second pause.
Five to six breaths a minute is what they call resonant breathing,
Perfect breath.
So giving your full attention to your breath,
And here we're consciously shifting our state,
Influencing our autonomic system from a stress or fight-flight sympathetic state to slow wave rest parasympathetic state,
Which is conducive for deeper meditation.
Holding your attention on your breath,
Find your attention as one to just gently bring it back,
Refocus,
Five,
One,
Five,
One.
With a slow rhythmic breath in the background,
A subtle tension in your spine to keep your body upright,
We shift our attention now to observing the mind.
And the invitation today is to focus your attention,
Your focal point on your third eye,
The place between your eyebrows.
So elevating your gaze internally up towards that third eye,
Which is also known as the spiritual center,
And holding your attention there.
So we give our full attention to our focal point now,
And we hold,
With our gaze fixated at our third eye,
We hold our attention with a quiet determination,
Like this is the most important thing that you can be doing,
Is holding your attention here,
Nothing else matters.
And we hold,
Like a cat at a mouse hole,
Watching with anticipation,
We hold our attention still.
As if your life depends upon it,
You hold your attention still,
Focused on your third eye,
And for me,
I start to become aware of a gentle ringing in my ears,
And if that's not you,
That's okay,
You continue to hold your attention,
I feel an energy wanting to move up my spine,
And at the top of my head,
I start to feel an energy,
An aliveness,
At the same time holding my attention still,
Holding your attention still,
And we continue to hold,
It's almost as if we've got our attention pinned on that third eye,
And at the same time,
Becoming aware of the energy that's all around us,
That's in us,
That is us,
You may experience like an internal vibration,
Or vibrating as you hold your attention,
You may also experience how incredibly crafty the mind is,
At sneaking your attention away,
But we hold our attention still,
And as you hold it,
You might see the mind trying to take your attention,
At which point,
You're outside the mind,
Even if only momentarily,
So holding your attention,
And so we're strengthening this muscle,
This capability,
This doorway,
From thinking mind to knowing awareness,
From thinking to experiential experience,
Holding your attention on your third eye,
And it may be now that it's a more gentle focus,
Or it may be not,
Maybe you need to hold your attention as if your life depends upon it,
So we're not trying to think,
Or feel,
Or do anything,
We're holding and allowing,
We're tuning into our true nature,
Reconnecting to the energy that is us,
We're like a fish in a fishbowl,
We can't get away from it,
It's all around us,
The wholeness,
The joy that we seek is here,
Always,
The fullness of being,
And so for me now,
It feels like,
It's almost like I've got one leg pinned on that third eye,
And then,
Able to just bask in awareness itself,
And if that's not here yet,
That's okay,
Just hold your attention,
The mind will always give up,
If you sit for long enough,
And so as we bask in the energy of being,
Knowing that you are here for a divine reason,
To become,
To unfold and express to your fullest potential,
And it's communing,
Being in communion with this energy that's going to guide you to that,
Not the thinking mind,
Not the conditioned mind,
And your aliveness,
Your expression is different than all other expressions,
And it's unique to you,
And it's how important you and we are,
As part of the greater becoming,
And so you'll be guided by insight,
By knowing,
In love with the fullness of being,
And there's actually nothing to figure out,
There's nothing to solve,
There's nothing to fix,
It's a tuning in,
And then being guided,
And so the wholeness and the love that we seek,
Is already here,
You are it,
You are everything,
Knowing that this sparkly energy,
Aliveness,
Is in every cell of your body,
Limitless energy,
Limitless potential,
So let's take a moment now to send this energy to the people that we love,
And pray for their awakening,
Their communion to the knowing who they really are,
And if there is a question that you have for the supreme intelligence now,
You may be a good time to ask,
And with love and gratitude,
May we be of service to the greater becoming,
The unfolding,
The evolution,
That is driving this reality,
Just feeling the energy,
The power,
The aliveness,
Knowing that this is in everything,
And it just moves through different forms,
And what a gift to be in this reality where you forget,
And then you remember,
How clever are we to play such games with ourselves,
I'm going to leave you for five minutes or so just to be,
You feel you are guided to do,
Through knowing and insight,
And if at any point you need to bring your attention back to your focal point,
If you find yourself thinking or in the mind to recommit,
Refocus,
Otherwise enjoying the love of just being,
Then this might be an opportune time to just set an intention for your day today,
What are you intending today,
With intention comes attention,
Our attention is our power,
How do you want to show up today,
And let's take a few moments to send some love to our brothers and sisters here,
And some appreciation for their energy,
In our communion,
In the oneness together,
And so as we prepare to re-enter the three-dimensional reality,
To becoming aware of the mind,
And thinking,
When you're thinking,
Trying to fix,
Trying to solve,
It's the mind,
And if you get caught in,
Contracted state,
Or you find yourself lost in the thinking mind,
Come aware of your body,
And how your body is responding to that,
Just see the mind and know it as the mind,
And remember that you're not that,
That's just the mind,
And who are you,
Everything,
Something else,
There's lots of stories about what we are,
Truth is what we want it to be,
But there is only one ultimate truth,
You are everything,
Slowly stretching out into your fingers and toes,
Arms and legs,
Stretching out as if like a cat in the sun,
Moving slowly,
So as not to spill the calm that you've created,
And in your own time,
You can open your eyes,
Being very gentle with yourself,
There's no need to think,
Sending you all so much love,
Appreciation,
Thank you for sitting and being here with us all.
