20-Minute Guided Daily Meditation

This 20-minute meditation is an up-level from my Daily Guided Meditation for Beginners. If 10-minutes feels too easy for you, then you are ready for this next level! Inside you'll be instructed on how to sit for a longer period of time in a focused, calm-abiding discipline. The goal of this guided meditation is to get you into a consistent meditation routine, where eventually you will no longer need my voice to guide you - and you can do these meditations on your own without my voice.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this 20 minute guided daily meditation.

If you haven't already started with my other audio that is a 10 minute guided daily meditation,

I recommend starting there.

We always want to start our meditation practices with short,

Sweet meditations and then as we improve,

We can go for longer meditations.

So if you feel that you have up-leveled from the 10 minute guided daily,

Welcome to now a 20 minute guided daily,

Congratulations.

This meditation is meant to support you in your own meditation practice so that eventually you can put away the headphones and sit in your own practice with your own breath,

Observing the nature of your own mind.

So this practice,

This guided meditation is here for you today to support you on the days when you need my guiding voice to get you through it and also to help you get into the habit of daily meditation.

Okay,

Let's go ahead and begin.

I want you to find yourself in a comfortable seated posture,

Sitting on a cushion,

A folded blanket or maybe even in a comfortable chair.

Notice how you are rooted into the ground underneath you and we're going to start by taking a breath in.

Good,

Exhale all of the oxygen completely out of your nose,

Empty,

Empty,

Empty.

Push all the air out of the nose and when you feel yourself empty,

Push out a little bit more air,

Empty,

Empty.

Hold for a count if you can and when you're ready,

We're going to slowly breathe in through the nose,

Feeling the spine get tall,

Shoulders get wide,

Heart opening,

Filling with air,

Filling,

Filling,

Filling,

Feeling the fullness of your breath,

Holding it at the top for a count and then slowly,

Slowly breathing out the nose,

Empty,

Empty,

Empty,

All the way out.

Hold the breath at the bottom here for a count if you can.

Good,

We're going to do this four more times,

Slowly breathing in through the nose,

Feeling the lungs get full,

Spine is tall,

Shoulders open,

Heart open,

Feeling that fullness,

Sipping in more air and then slowly with control and ease,

We'll exhale out the nose.

Coming to the bottom of the breath,

Empty,

Empty,

Empty,

All the air out,

Hold it there.

Really good,

Let's keep going,

Slowly breathing in through that nose,

Coming to the very,

Very top of the breath,

Sipping in a little bit more air,

Holding it for a count or two,

Feeling that fullness,

That expansion and then slowly when you're ready,

We will exhale out the nose,

Nice and easy,

Empty,

Empty,

Empty.

Holding for a count or two and then slowly breathing in through the nose,

We're going to do this one more time,

Coming to the very top of the breath,

Sipping in a little bit more air,

Feeling that fullness,

Feeling so much expansion,

So much oxygen in the body,

So much awareness and then slowly,

Slowly,

Let's exhale with control out the nose,

Empty,

Empty,

Empty,

Push all the air out of the body,

All the air gets pushed out of the body and at the bottom here,

I want you to hold the breath out on this retention for as long as you can.

If you are still holding it,

You're doing amazing.

And that edge and when you are ready,

You can slowly take a big breath in and exhale to just relax into the breath.

Feeling into the subtle energies of your body,

Slowing way down,

Feeling yourself get really present with your breath,

Making sure we are keeping that spine tall and heart open.

And as you find yourself settling in here,

If your eyes are closed,

I invite you to just gently open them and allow them to just rest on something in front of you.

Without grasping or clinging,

Just allow your eyes to rest in the space in front of you,

Taking in the color,

The light,

The shape,

The form,

Breathing in and exhaling to find more stillness.

Eventually,

We want to allow the breath to rise and fall with ease.

Too much focusing on the breath,

We're just observing what it's like to breathe in,

Observing what it's like to breathe out,

Letting our eyes rest gently in front of us and letting the strength of our body hold us perfectly upright,

Spine as strong and tall as the muscles just hang from the bones,

Exhaling to find more stillness.

And all we're doing is observing the breath in and out.

What is it like to be you today?

What is it like to breathe today?

Sit back and observe.

Beautiful,

My friend.

It's okay if your mind has wandered off.

It's okay if thoughts are arising.

We just notice them,

Allow it,

Oh,

I'm thinking.

Bringing that awareness back to your meditation,

We're breathing in and out,

Focusing our gaze on the point in front of us,

Finding more stillness in the body with each exhale.

Stay with yourself.

Stay with your breath.

Observing if there's anywhere in your body that you are holding tightness,

Tension,

Clenching,

Grasping,

And see if you can breathe into that part of your body and then exhale to let it go,

Release,

Release,

Release,

Exhaling into more relaxation,

More stillness,

And more awareness.

Breathing in and out,

Noticing if we can catch the tiniest glimpses of quiet,

Perhaps the moment in between the inhale and in between the exhale.

You can experience a moment of no thought,

Non-conceptualization,

Just pure awareness.

Breathing in,

Exhaling into stillness and silence,

Noticing where is your mind,

Has your mind wandered off,

And where does your mind wander off to?

Take a breath in,

Call yourself back to focus,

Gaze is resting in front of you,

Taking a breath in.

We want to allow our thoughts to pass like clouds in the sky.

Your awareness of those clouds is the sun,

Always shining,

Whether the clouds are covering the sky or not.

Your awareness is always shining on your experience,

And as we breathe in,

Perhaps the breath can move like wind for those clouds,

Pushing those clouds out of the sky,

Revealing the shining sun of your awareness in the clear blue sky of your clear blue mind.

Breathing in and out,

Now settling into this ease,

Settling into this calm,

Abiding meditation and allowing the breath to flow effortlessly in and out.

Staying with me here,

We want to make sure that we're not zoning out,

Dozing off,

Or becoming dull,

Just like we want to make sure that we're not following our thoughts and running away with them.

We want to take a breath in,

Elongate the spine,

Reset your focus,

Reset your gaze.

You are aware,

You are alive,

You are not escaping anything,

You are not avoiding or shutting down,

You are opening to your existence,

You are opening to your awareness.

Breathing in.

.

.

Stay with yourself here,

Stay with your awareness,

Stay with your focus,

Stay with your breath.

Relax into your face,

Your jaw,

Your teeth,

Your cheeks,

Your tongue.

Relax into your neck and your throat,

Relax into your shoulders.

Relax into a posture of ease,

Noticing where you're still gripping or holding tightness or tension,

And take another breath in,

Exhaling to find more stillness.

With each exhale,

Finding more focus,

More quiet.

Allow yourself to be here now,

Full presence,

Full awareness,

As if we could be here in this moment in time for eternity.

There is nowhere to go,

There is nowhere to be,

There is nothing to do,

And all is well in this moment.

Breathe it in,

And allow.

You're doing amazing my friend,

Keep breathing,

Maintain your focus,

Breathing in,

And exhaling to settle into an even deeper sense of calm,

Stillness,

Peace.

It's okay if your mind is wandering,

It's okay if you're feeling restless and ready to be done,

I'm so proud of you for staying here and sitting with me,

And finding stillness through every moment.

Breathing in,

Allow yourself to be exactly as you are,

There is nothing to change,

There is nothing to fix,

You are already perfect,

And every time we sit down to meditate,

We are washing away the layers of mud and inauthenticity and imperfections that you believe to be yours,

But they are not,

Society has put those on you,

And through this practice we clear and cleanse away all that is not ours,

And return to the true nature of who we are,

An enlightened,

Compassionate,

Beautiful,

Loving,

And kind being,

That is who you are,

Breathe that truth into your heart now,

Good,

Breathing in again,

Good,

One more big breath in,

Good,

Exhale with a big sigh,

Good,

You can start to move your body around,

Look around your space,

Smile,

And celebrate yourself for completing another 20-minute meditation with me today.

You are all ready to face the world,

Please,

Go out into this world,

Be an angel for others,

Look for the angels and the blessings in your life,

And spread that beautiful heart of yours with all of the loving-kindness and compassion that you can.

I'll be here tomorrow to guide you through another meditation,

And I love you.