Stability, Spaciousness And Warmth

A guided meditation focusing on the qualities of stability, spaciousness and warmth. Guides you through mindfulness of body and sensations, with some options to incorporate some visualization practices.

Transcript

Welcome to this practice of stability, Spaciousness and warmth. In this practice we will try to develop qualities in our intentions, In our attention and in our attitudes which we be supportive of wellbeing and greater relaxation. So to begin this practice try to find a moment when you won't be disturbed for a little while and find yourself in a comfortable position. You can be sitting down at home or at a desk at work. You could even lie down if you'd like to. And just letting yourself settle into the support of whatever you are sitting and lying or lying on. Noticing where your body is making contact with the surface that supports you and relaxing into that support, Trusting it. Bringing your awareness to your breathing and just noticing as you breathe in if you can feel the expansion of your lungs, Your belly as you breathe in and as you breathe out letting go, Letting your lungs relax. And see if you can bring some physical relaxation with the out breath. So as you breathe in, Breathing into your belly and as you breathe out letting go, Any tightness in your shoulders, Your face, Your jaw, Your whole being. And bring your attention now to any experience in your body of stability. So this could be if you're sitting down the contact with your body on the chair or with your feet on the floor. If you're lying down it could be the contact of whatever you're lying on supporting your legs, Your back, Your head. And you might imagine yourself as a firmly rooted tree and really bringing to mind a sense of the stability of this tree which is rooted deep into the earth. Or you might imagine yourself embodying the qualities of a mountain. Just like a tree, The mountain endures all kinds of weathers and storms, All kinds of changes. But yet at its core it is firm and stable. Noticing how bringing your mind to the quality of stability feels in your body. And seeing if you can foster an intention to be like the firmly rooted tree or the mountain. As we go through the rest of this practice you might find your mind, Your emotions have various kinds of weather patterns. Sometimes they may feel stormy and turbulent, Very active. Other times they'll be calm. If you find yourself being distracted or troubled by the energy of those feelings or thoughts, See if you can come back to the sense of being rooted to the earth. Stable here in your chair or lying down. And then bringing your attention again to your breathing. And as you breathe, Bringing to mind or focusing on the sensation of the breath entering your body. And as you breathe in, Feeling a sense of spaciousness as your lungs expand. And as you breathe out, Becoming aware of the great spaciousness outside your body. You might become conscious of the air in the room around you, Or the space in the room around you. You might become aware of the space beyond the room that you're in. Another thing you can experiment with to see if it helps foster a sense of spaciousness is to imagine yourself looking out over a vast expanse of view. So this could be at the ocean, Or it could be from a high vantage point like at the top of a mountain. Or maybe even looking up at the night sky on a very clear starry night. And as you bring to mind this imagery or this memory of spaciousness, Notice how this feels in your body. See if you can imagine breathing in this sense of spaciousness and letting it pervade your body, So loosening up any muscle tension or tightness. And also seeing if you can let this sense of spaciousness pervade your experience with your thoughts or with your feelings. Sometimes we have thoughts or feelings that we find distracting or worrisome or irritating, And sometimes we just want to get rid of them. And when you have this impulse of wanting to get rid of something you often have a sense of constriction or tightness, Both in mind and body. One way to cope with these troublesome thoughts, Rather than eradicate them or try to eradicate them, Is to just create a little bit more space. There's a legend about a wild animal like a wild horse, And it's been captured and it's in a very small enclosure, And it's kicking and bucking and causing all kinds of havoc. If you make that enclosure very, Very big, It becomes released into a very wide pasture, Then although the animal is the same, The spaciousness means it doesn't have to kick and bite. It's comfortable in that space. And the antics of the animal become less problematic. So if you allow your awareness to become more spacious, Noticing other things that are happening in your awareness, Not just whatever's bugging you, This can have the same effect of making the irritant or the troublesome thing have less power. And we do this by bringing our attention to sensations in the body like breathing, Broadening our attention so we're not so focused on our thoughts. So here we're using spaciousness to be a quality that pervades our attention. You don't have to get rid of any thoughts. But you can just create more spaciousness by bringing your attention to the broader context, Being aware of the space that you're in, The data from your senses that you're receiving right now. The sensations of your breathing. And then let's experiment with this quality of warmth. So noticing as you sit on eye here, Any feelings or sensations of warmth in your body. And if this is troublesome or difficult for you, You might want to try perhaps putting your hand in your heart. Or you could put one hand on the other hand and feeling this sense of warmth that arises with this contact. And allowing that sense of warmth to spread in your mind's eye. Bringing with it a sense of friendliness, Relaxation. You might imagine somebody, Maybe a person, It might be an animal, Who you dearly love about whom you have uncomplicated, Predominantly positive feelings. And as you bring to mind a happy encounter with this personal animal, Notice any emotional sense of warmth that develops. And notice where you feel this in your physical body. When we focus on this feeling of warmth, We could allow it to affect our attitude. Rather than pushing away our experience, See what happens if you generate a little bit of affection or warmth for yourself. Just as you might experience that for your loved ones. And now as we draw this practice to a close, Just dwelling for a few breaths more in these qualities of stability, Spaciousness and warmth. Noticing how your body feels right now. And maybe congratulating yourself or thanking yourself for taking this time to offer yourself warmth and relaxation. Thank you.