So that's okay,
There will be the lion dance coming afterwards.
But before all of the excitement,
Now is the time to calm down.
So now if you would like to close your eyes and to close the mind as well to the future and the past and to relax the body first of all.
So this is our meditation time,
A time that we set aside from all the other duties,
Excitements,
Celebrations and stuff just to be quiet.
The greatest wisdom will always come from silence,
Not from reading,
Not from listening to talks but just from being.
Being in this moment,
Being here and understanding how you relate to this moment.
At the beginning when you close your eyes,
You become aware of your body.
This vehicle in which you live,
Sometimes we pay it so little attention,
You become sick,
Injured and now we're just aware of our body,
Giving it kindness,
Relaxing it,
Giving it a bit of TLC,
Tender loving care,
So your body can get relaxed,
Peaceful and re-energized.
Relaxing the body causes it to become healthy.
So have a look in your body,
Are there any parts which are tense?
If you notice any tightness anywhere,
See if you can adjust your posture to relieve that physical tension.
If you need to cough,
Cough,
Sneeze,
Sneeze,
Scratch,
Scratch,
Be kind to your body,
Don't be a control freak.
If there's anything inside your body,
Any tightness,
Tension or pain,
Put your awareness there,
This ability to know and will that part of your body to relax,
To lessen the tightness,
To relieve the tension,
To expand anything which is knotted and compressed.
And your mindfulness which gives you feedback will tell you that the body is relaxing.
It feels easier,
More comfortable and you should know that this is where healing happens,
With a relaxed,
Easy body through which things can flow freely.
And as your body relaxes,
Can you notice the pleasure,
The happiness of a body at ease,
Simply sitting down with hardly any tightness or tension or pain,
Comfortable,
The happiness of relaxation.
David?
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.
.
.
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Once the body is relaxed as much as you can,
See if you can let it go and put your attention on your mental world,
The realm of thinking,
Of anxiety and worry about what happened in the past.
And to relax the mental world,
First of all,
Let go of the past and the future.
To do that,
I like to keep guiding you on the two shopping bag method.
Imagine you are carrying two heavy bags,
One in your left hand,
One in the right hand.
And the bag in your left hand has the letters PAST written on the outside.
It represents your past,
All of those memories,
Both good and bad,
Which you keep carrying around with you.
And just like a real bag tires your body,
Carrying the bag of the past tires your mind.
It weakens your heart,
It stops you being free and healthy.
And then you look at the bag in the right hand,
That also has letters on the outside,
FUTURE,
It represents your future.
And that too is full of so many things,
Anxieties,
Fears,
Hopes,
Worries,
Dreams and plans,
Which again you've been carrying around far too long.
And that also weakens your heart,
Stops you being free and happy in this moment,
Stops you enjoying being here,
As you're carrying these two heavy bags,
The past and the future.
In this exercise you focus on the bag in the left hand first of all,
The past.
You imagine yourself leaning to the left,
So that you can lower that bag,
That heavy bag containing all your memories,
Both good and bad.
You can lower it onto the ground.
When it meets the floor the weight vanishes.
And then you move your hand away from the handle,
So you fully let go of the burden of what's happened to you up to this point.
You've let go of the past.
And then you focus on the other bag in your right hand,
Your hopes,
Fears,
Your future.
That too is so heavy,
You don't need to carry it around all the time.
Lower that to the ground.
When it meets the ground the burden is gone.
You move your right hand away from that bag until your right arm,
Like your left,
Is hanging loosely by your side.
You've let go,
Put down the past and the future,
Just for this period of meditation.
You deserve the rest.
It helps you carry those bags easier afterwards.
And now you imagine yourself standing between the past and the future in this wonderful place of freedom called the present moment,
Just now.
You're free,
Just to be here and enjoy this moment with no guilt or anger about what happened,
With no fear or anxiety about what's coming next.
Just in this moment,
Free,
The place of peace right now.
In this moment,
Relax.
Relax with the now.
NO DIALOGUE.
.
And in this moment you find you can't think of too much.
Most of your thinking is about the past or something to do with the future.
Right now has already arrived,
It's here.
There's nothing much you can say about it,
Just experience it as fully as you can.
And don't try to understand it or work it out.
This is not a philosophy class.
This is a place we respect silence.
Just the same way that you are not speaking with your mouth,
See if you can stop the speaking in the mind.
Just pause the inner conversation.
And know without giving anything a name.
Listen,
Feel rather than thinking about it.
Great rivers flow silently,
Small streams make all the noise.
Be a great river.
And listen,
Feel rather than thinking about it.
And listen,
Feel rather than thinking about it.
And listen,
Feel rather than thinking about it.
And listen,
Feel rather than thinking about it.
And listen,
Feel rather than thinking about it.
And listen,
Feel rather than thinking about it.
And listen,
Feel rather than thinking about it.
And listen,
Feel rather than thinking about it.
And listen,
Feel rather than thinking about it.
And listen,
Feel rather than thinking about it.
And if you want to focus on your breathing,
As a way of focusing on this moment and being silent,
Just know your breath as it comes in.
And as it comes in say,
Breathing in peace.
As you breathe out,
Breathe out,
Let go.
As you breathe in,
Say peace.
Breathe out,
Let go.
Breathing in peace.
Breathing out,
Let go.
Just those two words,
Peace and let go,
For the in and out breath makes the breathing important.
You need peace,
So breathe it in.
You need to let go of so many burdens,
Physical and emotional.
As you breathe out,
Let go of all the pain,
All the hurt.
Breathe in peace,
Kindness,
Love.
Breathe out,
Let go.
And as you do this,
Just feel the body and the mind relax.
Become bright,
Relaxed and comfortable.
Breathing in peace,
Breathing out,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Let go.
Breathing in peace,
Let go.
So it's getting close to the end of the meditation now.
How do you feel?
How far have you come to peace,
To stillness,
To this beautiful joy of just being here?
How close have you come?
What does it feel like now?
Just being here,
Becoming a human being,
Not a human going,
Not a human thinking,
Not a human complaining,
Just a human being,
Being here.
I will now ring the gong three times as usual.
At the end of the third ringing of the gong,
You may open your eyes to end the meditation after the third ringing of the gong.
Very good.
So those who want to come in,
Please find a space,
Some spaces up the front as usual.
