Day 16: Mindful Loving Awareness

Welcome to Day 16 of the Mindful Mornings Challenge. Today, Jack Kornfield guides you through a mindful loving awareness meditation. The focus of this practice is to start your day with loving attention by extending gratitude and compassion to your heart and mind.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to day 16 of the Mindful Mornings Challenge here on Insight Timer.

My name is Jack Kornfield and I've been teaching meditation for 45 years.

I was asked to talk a little bit about your morning routine and mind and why mornings are so important for setting the mind and heart up for the day ahead.

And this is true,

To have a morning rhythm and routine can be enormously beneficial.

But truth to tell,

I'm not a morning person and I tend to do my meditations later in the afternoon and in the evening.

So with this I also want to say that while meditation is a kind of an inner science with precise instructions and great neuroscience behind it in the modern way that we've looked at it,

More than a science it is also an art.

And you become the artist to find the right time of day and the right rhythm that helps you do the practice.

And even a universal practice like mindfulness of breathing,

Which is good for so many,

May not work for some of you if you have a history of trauma with your breath and breathing for example.

And there are so many fine practices then you could do a body scan or a practice of loving kindness or compassion or listen to sound.

It doesn't matter when you do the meditation as much as the fact that you do it.

That having a regular and dedicated practice will open and nourish and steady you in all kinds of wonderful ways,

Open your heart and mind and let you connect to the world from a deeper place of presence and love.

So now let us do ten minutes of a practice together.

Let yourself find a way to sit that's stable and steady,

Both alert and yet also gracious at ease.

Allow your eyes to close gently and take a couple of deep breaths just to release whatever holding there is in this moment.

And sense yourself seated here halfway between heaven and earth in this human form.

Feel the weight of gravity and imagine that you have roots that go down from your body deep into the earth like a great tree.

You are like a great tree and the winds can blow through the leaves,

The storms and the rain and the rainbows and sun and you are rooted in the earth.

Feel the steadiness and deep connection.

And now with loving awareness,

Mindful loving attention,

Notice how your body breathes itself.

It has its own natural rhythms,

Taking in the sea of atmosphere that we swim in and breathing it out together with all breathing creatures and relax with each breath.

Rest in the change like the waves of the ocean.

And now expand this mindful loving awareness,

Your presence,

To feel the whole of your body,

The field of sensations and energies that you've been sensing in the breath,

But even more the whole sense of your body.

Tingling vibrations,

Warm and cool,

All the energies of aliveness in the areas of tension and pain you carry,

In the areas of ease and pleasure.

And as if you could wrap your arms of kindness and compassion around your whole body,

Just as you would hold a child who'd gone through some difficulty and take them in your lap and hold them kindly.

Wrap your body with compassion and kindness for all that it carries.

And sensing this extraordinary and tender human body you've been given,

Held in compassion,

You can say,

Thank you.

Thank you for caring so much for me.

Thank you.

I'm okay just now.

You can relax and feel your body respond to the acknowledgement and gratitude of thanks and how it can relax when you feel here and now that you are okay amidst it all.

Now bring this same mindful loving awareness to your heart.

Your heart carries so much,

Fears and longing,

The grief and pain of losses,

Especially in this past difficult year.

The love and vision and connection,

The joy that was born into you as a child of the Spirit.

The heart carries anger and hope,

Tenderness,

Trauma.

And again as if you could wrap your arms around your heart with compassion.

Hold your heart with gratitude and compassion and a tender loving kindness.

And let it be just as it is,

As if you could bow to it and say thank you.

Thank you dear heart for carrying so much,

For holding so much,

You amazing vast heart.

Thank you.

I'm okay for now.

You can relax.

You can rest.

And feel how your heart responds to the acknowledgement of all that it carries with a tender kindness and a bow with gratitude and saying yes,

You can relax,

I'm okay.

I'm okay.

And now bring the same loving awareness,

The mindful loving awareness to your mind.

This ball of energy,

Of plans and remembering and thinking and imagining and strategizing and figuring out of stories and words and images and all of the tendrils of imagination.

And feel the energy of mind as a whole,

As a field of movement,

Aliveness,

So busy.

And again imagine or feel that you could wrap your arms,

Your heart around this mind with compassion because it's worked so hard.

And holding it with respect and tenderness,

Say to your mind,

Thank you.

Thank you for trying to protect me in all these ways,

Planning and remembering and imagining.

Thank you for trying to take care of me and protect me.

I'm okay right now.

Thank you,

I'm okay.

You can relax.

And let the mind soften in the space of loving awareness.

Hold it all.

And notice now that you have become the loving awareness itself.

You are not your body,

You are not the emotions and the thoughts.

You are the consciousness itself that has been aware of this body,

That has been aware of all the dimensions of the heart,

That has been aware of the thoughts and movements of mind.

You are consciousness,

The field of loving awareness.

You are the witness,

Timeless,

Spacious,

Peaceful.

And let this vast consciousness,

The space of timeless awareness of who you are,

Be filled with love.

Love,

Tenderness and compassion.

For all the beings who get caught up and forget who they really are,

Beam out like a lighthouse in this field of consciousness.

The same tenderness and compassion,

And the same vast openness,

Loving awareness and consciousness that you are.

So you are in a field,

A shared field of love without boundaries.

Rest in it.

Trust it.

It is your home.

Congratulations for being part of this challenge and making a commitment to prioritize your meditation and the tending of your own heart and mind in the New Year.

I wish you well and may you continue on to Day 17 that happens tomorrow.

Reviews

Thank you teacher Jack for this nourishing meditation! 🙏❤️🙏❗️

I found this as a helpful approach to loving-kindness meditation. It offers clear instructions to find love and gratitude for yourself and others if you’re in a headspace where that feels especially challenging.

Great meditation, bringing awareness to give thanks to the body for all it does to support us in our daily lives, thank you 🙏🏼

A loving mediation that helps soften body, heart and mind.

This was a really great way to connect with my root, heart, and third eye chakras thank you 🧘🏻‍♀️

My takeaway: If I'm the conscious witness, most of the time I'm not paying enough attention. Also I like that you admit to not being a morning person. KEY: 5*Insightful 4*Interesting 3*Okay 2*Not For Me 1*Irritating

Thank you so much for this meditation session. I feel so good after it and courageous to start my day

Thank you for this. Simple yet profound. My attitude shifted with the very first prompt. I needed that attitude adjustment. Thank you. 🙏

I mean, it’s Jack Kornfield. When is he not excellent? 🙏🏽

Was nice to appreciate every part of me and let those parts to relax because I am ok. Liked the approach and will use it before sleep too

Beautiful soothing voice to guide us thru gratitude and love and appreciation of all that we are and are capable of being. Thank you for a wonderful experience.

So much learnt from this
So much that we take for granted every single day.
Loved this

Thank you, Jack Kornfield, thank you, heart and thank you, mind. I am grateful that you’re all here for me in meditation.

Thank you, Jack, for your immense gifts to the world, and for being my teacher for the last 3 decades. 🙏💕

The best guided meditation I can imagine. Thank you, Jack! 💚🙏🏽

So calming, peaceful, and inwardly expansive. I will enjoy this again in the future as well. Thank you 🙏💚

I am looking for ward to discovering more of your past practices. Thank you.

Love Jack. He’s always got the right sweetness in his voice and heart.

Absolutely beautiful as always Jack. Thank you so much 🙏

Lovely meditation… body rest, heart rest, mind rest. Thankyou ❤️🙏