Hi,
My name is Josh and this is a guided meditation.
This is a pranayama exercise.
But before we get into the exercise,
I want to note that this isn't just a breathing exercise.
Pranayama is an emotional balancing technique that we have available to us,
Not just as a meditation practice,
But throughout our lives.
And that what we are going to do here is simply practice building a bridge from a sense of negative emotional state to a positive one.
To recognize that we have access to feeling multiple ways about any given experience.
That you,
In fact,
Get to choose how you want to feel about anything.
So for this exercise I ask that you just put down your preconceptions of what pranayama is and follow along with me to see what comes up for you now.
So I invite you to find a space where you can be for the next 10 or 15 minutes uninterrupted and in relative quiet.
And once you've found that space,
I'll invite you to close the eyes and simply be here now.
Simply be aware of your breath,
The feelings of your body,
Of the busyness or relative calm of your mind,
Of whatever it is that's making up your experience right now.
And allowing it to be that way.
Let's not change it just yet,
Although it might.
Let's see if we can find a sense of relaxation,
Of release,
Of rest somewhere in the body.
See if you can locate it.
Good.
Good.
Now let's begin our pranayama exercise.
I'll ask you to recall a moment where you felt just slightly agitated.
This shouldn't bring about strong negative feelings.
This should just be a gentle annoyance,
Irritation,
The kind of feeling that might be provoked when someone cuts you off in traffic or that feeling of anxiousness when you're gonna be a few minutes late to an appointment,
Just something slight.
And call that experience to mind and see if there's an emotional or feeling response.
Only as much as is present.
Don't try to force a feeling,
Especially a negative one.
But whatever slight sense of irritation or annoyance that comes up,
Allow yourself to be with that.
And let's let that go.
Let's simply come back to balancing in neutral.
Come back to your body.
Relax your face.
Relax your jaw,
Shoulders.
And now I'll invite you to call to mind a moment in which you felt excited or joyful or happiness.
A moment where you felt a sense of being content with things being exactly as they are.
Again,
Don't need to force the feeling,
Just allowing whatever feelings to arise spontaneously and naturally.
Good.
And let's come back to neutral.
Allow the belly to rise and fall with the breath.
And can we again call to mind that sense of annoyance,
That moment of irritation first within our mind and notice what feelings arise as a result.
Only feeling what's available.
Good.
And coming back to neutral,
Checking back in with the body.
Let's shift into our positive,
Into our sense of well-being or a moment of being content with things as they are.
Allow the feelings to be inspired by this memory,
This moment.
And rest within those feelings.
Allow them to fill you up so much as you can.
And again coming back into simply our body,
Relaxing the muscles of the full face.
One final time,
Let's shift into that negative space,
That slight irritability,
That slight disturbance.
And release that from our thought as we call to mind our moment of being content,
Of being at ease,
At peace with what's here.
And allow those feelings to spread as much as is available,
As much as is natural for you.
Allow those feelings to begin to grow,
Enjoying the feeling of spaciousness and opening.
Simply enjoying being content with things as they are,
Being content with this experience as it is.
All right,
Let's let go of needing to direct our attention in any specific way.
And simply allow yourself to be with whatever feelings naturally want to arise in this moment.
It's like we're shifting the car into park and turning off the ignition and letting ourselves simply rest and integrate for just a couple of moments.
Finding some enjoyment in the breath,
The easiness of simply resting.
All right.
Let's gently begin to come out of our meditation by taking some subtle movements,
The fingers,
The hands,
Toes,
The feet,
Just gently moving the head,
Feeling the vibrancy in those subtle movements.
And slowly and gently blinking the eyes open over the next minute or so.
And how was that exercise for you?
Did you find it easy or was it a little challenging?
No,
But if this is your first time trying this exercise,
It might be a little difficult or you might find that going in one of those directions was significantly easier than going in the other direction.
And that doesn't mean that you're bad at it.
It doesn't mean that you have the tendency to always be negative or always be positive.
It just that means that today this was your experience with it and that with time and practice that might change.
For the purpose of this exercise is to build emotional flexibility and the more that we practice intentionally shifting how it is we're experiencing a moment or a situation,
The more easily we can build that bridge from a negative emotional state to a positive one.
So I hope to have you back here practicing with me again in the future.
And until then,
Be well.
