Hello and welcome to this guided meditation.
To get started,
I'll invite you to find yourself a comfortable position for the meditation.
You're more than welcome to get into some sort of seated position on the floor or a cushion or on a chair,
But consider as well the laying down position.
These days when I'm meditating I prefer to be on my back,
Sometimes with my feet,
My lower legs elevated on a chair or the bed.
But whatever position you prefer in this moment,
Just settle in and get comfortable.
Feel free to turn off the notifications on your technology if you haven't done that already.
And once you're settled into your position,
Just start with a couple of really deep breaths,
Breathing in through your nostrils and letting go,
Exhaling through the mouth.
Couple more of those really deep inhalations and dropping the fullness of your breath on the exhale.
Give me one more deep inhale.
And just like sailing,
Feel free to sigh it out if you want.
So to begin meditating,
All that we're really being asked to do here is to simply be present.
To be present to anything that you observe in and around yourself.
You may have experience with forms of meditation where you're following your breath,
Tracking the inhalation and exhalation,
Noticing the sensation of your breathing,
Wherever it's most prominent.
You may have experience with other forms of meditation where you're repeating a mantra to yourself silently in your head or any other form of meditation.
So I'll invite you to let go of any ideas you have about meditation coming into today.
And what I'd like to invite you to do is to simply play with your breath today,
Making the most subtle adjustment you could possibly make with the sole intention of making the breath as pleasurable as possible.
All too often meditation can become stuffy and serious.
So today I invite you to really enjoy this meditation and particularly enjoy the sensations of the breath.
And so you have a whole bunch of variables or levels or levers at your disposal here.
The depth or shallowness of your breath,
The texture,
Whether you're inhaling or exhaling through your mouth,
Through your nose,
Some people claim to be able to breathe through the pores of their skin.
So if that's your thing,
That's the tool at your disposal potentially.
The rhythm,
The speed of your breath,
All of these things are tools that you have and you can play with and experiment with in order to create the most pleasurable breath sensations today.
And so I'm going to give you some silence and some space here to simply immerse yourself in your own breath,
The sounds,
The sensations,
The energy.
Once again,
The sole intention of enjoying the breath,
Of making the breath as pleasurable and relaxing as possible.
And I'll be back in about two or three minutes here to guide you into the next chapter of this meditation.
If you find yourself getting distracted at any point in time,
Just gently bring your awareness back to the breath without any judgment or condemnation.
Again,
If you notice your mind drifting off or if you notice yourself getting distracted by other ideas or sensations or sounds,
Just note what's happening and gently but firmly bring your awareness back to the pleasurable sensations of breathing.
How can you make this breath 2% more pleasurable?
Just begin.
Very good job.
Another practice that I enjoy integrating with my meditations is simply thinking thoughts of goodwill towards myself and towards other people.
And so I'll invite you to start by wishing yourself goodwill.
You could do this in any way that suits you.
One common set of phrases is,
May I be happy?
May I be healthy?
May I be free from danger?
May I live with ease?
Whether it's those four phrases or your own,
You can just simply repeat those thoughts of goodwill in your mind.
As long as you'd like,
As often as you feel,
May I be happy?
May I be healthy?
May I be free from danger?
May I live with ease?
Really sincerely wishing those things for yourself,
Sending yourself love and thoughts of goodwill.
Then you can turn your attention once you've done that for some time towards others.
It's easiest to start with the people we love,
The people that we're closest to.
You can even imagine the face,
The image of someone who you hold dear to yourself.
As you envision that person,
You can say,
May you be happy?
May you be healthy?
May you be free from danger?
May you live with ease?
Again,
Repeating these thoughts of goodwill as much as you'd like.
And over time,
As you may practice this more and more,
You'll find that you're able to share these thoughts of goodwill with an increasingly expansive scope of people.
Not only can you wish goodwill to your loved ones and the people that are closest to you in your life,
But you can extend that circle beyond into your peers,
Your colleagues,
Into your community,
The people that live near and around you.
And eventually to all people,
Even people that may frustrate you or challenge you,
Perhaps even people who have hurt you in the past,
Recognizing that everybody at the core is searching for the same sort of things.
And that perhaps if they had access to happiness,
Health,
Freedom from the fear of danger and more ease in their lives,
That they might not be quite so abrasive to you.
That if you had those things,
You might not be so abrasive to them.
And so there it goes.
We expand our sense of self,
Our sense of identity to encompass an increasingly broad scope of humanity,
Wishing wellbeing thoughts of goodwill to everyone.
And so I will leave you now.
You're welcome to continue to sit here in meditation,
Continuing to send thoughts of goodwill to yourself and others,
Or focusing on your breath and creating a sense of pleasure and contentment and relaxation in your own body and mind through that simple mindfulness breath meditation.
And I'll leave you with my wishes for you.
May you be healthy.
May you be happy,
May you be free from danger and may you live with ease.
Stay curious.
