Hi,
Hello and welcome.
My name is Julie and I'll take you through a meditation exercise in just a moment.
Today's exercise is a zooming out exercise.
Some may call it a cosmic meditation,
But I like to think of it as a change of perspective.
Meditation can never be a replacement for therapy or for the closeness of other people,
But it can help us to see the bigger picture,
To put ourselves into perspective.
Today we'll start by focusing on our experience in this moment,
And then together we'll slowly zoom out to look at what surrounds us.
Buddhists have many interesting things to say about the nature of life,
Of things on Earth and around the Earth.
In the Diamond Sutra it is said that,
Quote,
Just as in the vast ethereal sphere,
Stars and darkness,
Light and mirage,
Dew,
Foam,
Lightning and clouds emerge,
Become visible and then vanish again,
Like the features of a dream.
So everything endowed with an individual shape is to be regarded.
With this zooming out,
As with a cosmic meditation,
We can gain a different perspective on the reality of our existence and what surrounds us.
I recommend you lie down for the exercise in a quiet place,
But obviously you can do it sitting down if you so choose.
Okay,
To start,
Close your eyes and see if you can fully arrive in this place.
Allow yourself to start to relax,
Allow time to fall away for a bit.
Feel into your body and see if you can become aware of your posture,
From the tips of your toes to the top of your head.
Take a deep breath in and while you breathe out,
Relax your face.
Continue breathing in your own tempo,
In your own time.
Slowly become aware of what is going on in your body in this moment.
Become aware of how your breath moves from the tip of your nose by the throat into the lungs.
Become aware of how your lungs expand with every breath and make your chest and your belly swell and then drop again with every breath out,
How your chest moves down and make some more room for your organs.
Become aware of how your heart beats,
How it pumps your blood to the furthest reaches of your body.
Become aware of the movements in the belly,
The stomach,
The intestines.
Become aware of the life in your arms and legs.
Become aware of how your thoughts float by in your head.
Then bring your attention to your breathing.
Take a slow,
Deep breath in through the nose and breathe out through the mouth.
In through the nose,
Out through the mouth.
In through the nose,
Out through the mouth.
In through the nose,
Out through the mouth.
Continue breathing and keep your attention with the feeling of the breath that enters your body through the nose and leaves again through the mouth.
Breathe in slowly and breathe out slowly.
Feel how your breath relaxes you.
When you're ready,
See if you can broaden your awareness,
Like zooming out with a wide lens,
See if you can look at the entire journey of the breath.
And then all the sensations in the body,
We shift to a broader perspective that contains the whole body and all the sensations and feelings in your body.
Don't worry too much about naming or categorizing the things that are present in your body.
Simply notice that they're there.
And when you're ready,
Widen your awareness again until your awareness contains the whole room.
It's possible that with this wider perspective,
You discover a feeling of space,
A feeling of freedom,
A possibility to change or move.
Let yourself stay here for a moment.
If possible,
Widen your awareness again and see if you can take up the whole building in your awareness.
And then the street.
The journey of your breath is still there.
Your body is within your awareness,
But it is now part of something much larger.
If you can,
If you want,
Widen your awareness further to contain the whole town,
The whole city or the whole region you're in.
If it's possible for you today,
Zoom out again and let the whole world exist within your awareness.
You can visualize the whole planet or allow the feeling of all the people,
All the animals,
Plants and things to come into your consciousness.
Follow what feels good.
Continue breathing softly and see how the planet moves,
How it lives on the rhythm of the breath.
Allow yourself then to travel a bit further with your awareness.
Keep your breath,
Keep your body as an anchoring point.
Zoom out.
Become aware of how the earth is surrounded by the atmosphere.
Become aware of how the moon moves around it.
Become aware of the other heavenly bodies.
Become aware of the closest planets like Mars,
Venus and Jupiter.
And then slowly let the planets become smaller in your awareness while you broaden your perspective to the entire solar system and let your mind rest in this space.
Whenever you're ready.
Whenever you're ready,
Let your awareness return to this world.
To your part of the planet.
To yourself.
To your body.
To the feeling of the breath.
To how you are right now.
And feel what it's like to be here.
To be in your body.
See if you can give yourself some softness and friendliness.
We'll take a moment here to rest in our bodies,
In our breaths and let every discomfort soften the rhythm of the breath.
Take your time to land,
To return to the here and the now.
Whenever you're ready,
Bring some movement into your body.
You can start by taking a slightly deeper breath in and a slightly deeper breath out.
Feel into your body if you can detect the necessity to move and then move from that part of your body.
Follow your body.
When you're ready,
Open your eyes.
Voila,
That was it for this week.
I hope you enjoy the exercise.
As ever,
Thank you for listening,
And hopefully,
Until next time.
