So find yourself in a comfortable seat.
The first few moments of any meditation we are just connecting into our physical position.
So making sure that the spine is long.
Making sure the hips are gently dropping down.
And then scanning the body from head to toe to notice if there's any gathered bits of tension.
Whether our shoulders are in need of being relaxed down or our jaw is tight or the eyes are squeezing shut or maybe the breath is being held.
Letting it flow naturally,
Easy.
And so for this meditation we'll invite in a mantra which is a phrase that we will repeat in our minds and in traditional practice the mantra,
When we say it again and again it fully consumes the mind.
And so it actually helps to quiet the mind because when we pay attention to the mantra,
Pay attention to the rhythmic phrase,
Then we don't have any room for any other thoughts.
It's also a nice way to connect the mind to the breath because we'll be using a syllable of the mantra on the inhale and another one on the exhale.
So our first mantra is on the inhale hum and on the exhale sa.
You don't have to say this out loud,
Just allow yourself to breathe it in on the inhale hum on the exhale sa.
Hum sa hum sa hum sa.
So breathing in this way,
Breathing in hum,
Breathing out sa for five breaths in silence.
Now move on to our second mantra.
Clearing the mind,
Letting hum sa go.
Hum sa meaning I am that.
It's a declaration of state of being.
I'm letting that go for now so our next mantra will be on the inhale ease,
On the exhale peace.
Inhale ease,
Exhale peace.
Ease,
Peace.
Ease,
Peace.
Ease,
Peace.
Ease,
Peace.
And now five times in silence.
Inhale for ease,
Exhale for peace at your own pace.
I'm starting to let ease and peace go.
Knowing that you can use any phrase that either means very little or means a lot and you can use that as a mantra.
When we use a phrase that means very little,
We're using it for the repetition and to have something that consumes the mind.
When we use a mantra,
A phrase that means a lot to us,
Then we can take time and bring energy to meditating upon the words of a phrase and really understand them or get to the deeper root meaning behind them.
So either or work.
But for now,
We'll just bring our awareness back to the breath.
Watching the breath as it moves in through the nostrils,
Cool air coming in and warmer going out.
Watching the exhale as it relaxes and releases the body down towards the ground.
And then in your own time,
Drop your chin to your chest and blink the eyes open,
Allowing the light to travel back in.
Thank you for practicing with me.
Namaste.
