Welcoming Impermanence

A guided practice to cultivate present awareness, contemplate the flow of life, and make peace with impermanence. This practice aims to help you let go and connect with the qualities of flow and acceptance.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to meditation.

Make sure you have a comfortable position that you can both be alert and relaxed.

So as we start this meditation on impermanence,

I invite you to maybe close your eyes or find a soft gaze.

Feel your body right at this moment.

Notice what is it that your heart is bringing.

What is it that your body is bringing?

And what is it that your mind is bringing?

Checking in with those areas of you that you can access to see just how is it right now.

How does your body feel?

How does your heart feel?

And how does your mind feel?

How does your mind feel?

And how does your mind feel?

Noticing that they can be quite different from each other.

And they can also be aligned and very similar.

And you can find just one word for each of those areas or feelings.

So just name it.

So for example,

For me,

My body feels energetic.

My heart feels happy.

And my mind feels grateful.

So how does it feel for you?

And take a moment to name each of them.

Notice how easy or how difficult it was for you to find a word.

Just one word to name those.

And just connecting with the sensation of them.

Noticing that they might also change with time.

Maybe when you first started this meditation there was more agitation or more thought.

And just notice how it is right now.

Just welcoming,

Welcoming all the changes,

All the fluctuations of your experience.

And I invite you to now deeply connect with your body sensations.

Just finding the ground beneath your feet or just beneath your sit bones,

Depending on how you want to feel ground support.

Noticing the sensations in your body as the body touches the floor,

The cushion,

The chair.

And as you feel the ground,

Bring your awareness to your breath,

If that's comfortable for you.

And just follow the breath as it comes in and as it goes out with your inhale and exhale.

Following the breath from within,

From your body sensations of the breath.

Noticing how the breath is alive,

Which means it's always flowing,

It's always movement,

Always changing.

And you might feel the breath in different areas of your body as the breath flows.

Maybe you feel more in your nostrils when you inhale.

And maybe as you inhale all the way you can feel more on your belly or your chest.

Just noticing,

Curiously,

Where the breath flows,

How it changes from time to time,

And how it's alive.

It's always changing,

It's always different.

Noticing also what the mind brings to the equation.

Maybe there's a thought about this flow or about something else completely unrelated.

Just noticing also the impermanence of the mind,

Of your thoughts.

Noticing that you can see them,

You can notice each thought that comes into your awareness as it comes and as the thought passes away and a new thought comes in,

That's also noticeable.

And the same as the breath,

The thoughts are also alive,

Coming and going.

And can you be the one just noticing,

Just looking at the impermanence without grasping onto your inhale,

Without grasping onto any thought,

Just allowing them to flow naturally as they do.

And sometimes there is a thought that is somewhat charged,

Emotionally,

And we just go with that thought and get involved in what it's saying.

Just notice how that also brings emotions in the body and how those emotions also fluctuate.

How nothing really is permanent,

How it comes and goes,

How even within that same emotion or that same thought there are nuances,

There's difference.

Everything that arises in your awareness also passes away.

Just contemplate this reality of things,

The reality of impermanence.

Noticing how does that feel in the body,

Does contemplating this impermanence bring any emotion,

Bring any sensation,

Feeling into the body,

Into the heart,

Any kind of thought?

And again,

Be the one noticing all of them.

Can you just look at them as they rise in your awareness and see them go as they do?

And see if this can introduce you to a sense of surrendering,

Of trusting life,

Noticing that everything in life is impermanent,

Everything is flowing,

Coming and going.

Can you just rest in that and trust?

There's nothing to be done,

Nothing to be changed right at this moment.

Just to be aware,

Just to contemplate this quality of life.

And if at any moment it becomes overwhelming,

Just return to the breath and follow it,

Just paying attention to the flow,

Or just return to the body sensations,

Whatever it is beneficial to you in this moment.

Sometimes we try to control a lot of things around us in our lives,

And it is actually that that causes us suffering when we don't relax into the reality of impermanence,

When we try to control and change just this natural aspect of life.

And see if you can take a step into this surrendering,

Into trusting.

And just notice what comes to you.

If it is hard and difficult to trust and surrender,

See if it's possible to be kind to yourself about it.

Maybe you can place your hand on your heart and say it's okay,

You're doing the best we can.

And just return to what's easier for you to be with right now,

Either your breath or body sensations,

Or the feeling of ground.

And if you can tap into the sense of surrendering,

Of trusting life,

That this impermanence is just part of life itself,

Notice how it feels to surrender to trust.

What does it bring into your mind,

Body and heart?

And you might be curious to check how is it different,

Your sensations,

Your current mind,

Body,

Heart,

As opposed to when you started this meditation.

Is it the same?

Has it changed?

And again,

Feeling the ground,

Feeling the body,

Connecting with this presence,

With this moment through the body.

And as we end this meditation,

I'd like to share a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh.

It is not impermanence that makes us suffer.

What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not.

Thank you.

Reviews

An elegantly integrated practice of body, mind, and heart to feel and rest in what is and trust it’s impermanent nature.

Thank you, I will remember to tap into impermanence as I go through this day 😊

Very helpful guidance for accepting impermanence. Thank you! I will need to listen again.

This is an excellent meditation on flowing with impermanence. Thank you so much.

This was just excellent. Well paced, skillful, really helpful. I’m sure I will return to it frequently. Thank you so much. 🌸

Fantastic!!💯 Just what I needed & thx too for that Thich Nhat Hanh quote

Slowly getting a into this concept. Thanks for a great meditation.

Covered in goose bumps. My body, heart & mind feel better.

I loved the energy of this meditation and Joann’s voice

Excellent

What a beautiful and soothing meditation to begin a new day 🙏

loved it. thanks. I am a strong believer of impermanence. As a matter of fact I think the impermanence of things even life its what makes it perfect! namaste 🙏

it was a great experience. will do it again. Thank you! 🙏💚

This lesson in impermanence somehow found me at exactly the right time, there is a larger order at work in this seemingly endless choas. Nothing is permanent, lifts off so much weight from me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart... Thank you 😊 Namastey 😇

Just what I needed! A perfect fit for this time of so many uncertainties. Thank you so much!

Lovely soothing space between the amount of guidance and the amount of silence. Very calming tone and speaking volume throughout. The heart felt guidance was very supportive of my deepening practice. Much love to you my friend for sharing your heart with the world.

The comparison of mind, body, heart at the end of the session to the begin of the session is amazing. Thank you for the guided meditation!

Just what I need it. Thanks to the Universe, it was a great message.