Quiet Mind Open Heart

I'm thrilled to invite you to participate with me in this 20-minute guided meditation with instructions for working with two common obstacles that arise in meditation. You can use this meditation to relax and increase feelings of empathy, openness, and love.

Transcript

Welcome to your meditation practice.

Today's practice will be a 20 minute guided meditation and we'll be focusing how to work with agitation and dullness as they arise in our minds.

But as always we begin by first just settling into the environment that surrounds us and taking a good seat.

So please take just a moment to get yourself ready.

This is a longer meditation so make sure that you have what you need to be comfortable in your body.

And let's let the sound of the singing bowl help us to settle in and just arrive into this space and into our practice today.

So so so let your awareness be fully open to your surroundings.

Just noticing the space around you and what it feels like to take your seat right here right now in this place in this moment.

And then a few deepening waves of your body.

And letting the breath help to gather your attention into your body.

Letting the inhales connect you with how you feel physically and energetically.

And letting the exhales bring a further sense of settling arriving in this posture and this way of being in your body.

And letting the breath help to gather your attention into your body.

And we've all become familiar with what meditation posture feels like.

And every time we take our seat we just take time to attend to the details.

To really feel what it feels like to be in this body in this moment.

The most important elements of posture to sit in a way in which you feel supported connected with the earth beneath you.

Sitting with a long spine and an open heart.

Feeling a balance between a kind of strength and a softness.

And a softness which helps us to find a balance between effort really applying ourselves in meditation and relaxation.

So just checking in with how you are holding your body and feeling into what is present for you.

Just being curious about how you can find a greater balance between effort and relaxation.

Between strength and softness.

And when you find a balanced way of being in your body you will be able to feel a sense of relaxation between strength and softness.

And once you find a balanced way of being in your body let yourself settle into stillness and as best you can for the duration of our practice really commit yourself to that stillness.

And within that relative outer stillness turning your attention now to the rise and fall and movement of your breath.

And within that relative outer stillness turning your attention now to the rise and fall and movement of your breath.

So let's reapply the two techniques we learned last week first just really feeling into the place in your body where you can feel the breath most easily so that there's a sense of really placing your attention in the body feeling the breath fully.

So so and now still feeling the breath in your body apply the technique of counting counting the breaths from one to ten an inhale followed by an exhale as one cycle of breath just using the technique of counting for the next couple of minutes as a way of deepening and sustaining attention.

So so now relax the technique of counting and take a moment to check in with your mind.

Noticing first what's on your mind but more importantly noticing the state of your mind noticing how your mind feels and noticing if your state of mind has a tendency in this moment to be more agitated busy anxious or whether its tendency right now is towards heaviness sleepiness or dullness taking care not to judge but just noticing and then we'll spend some time making some subtle adjustments to the technique to our gaze and posture and relationship with breath to see if we can bring the mind into greater balance cultivating both deepening stability and also clarity.

So if your mind feels really agitated or busy you might want to take a moment to close your eyes and notice if your mind is really agitated or busy you might try allowing your eye gaze to close and noticing if closing the eyes brings a sense of quieting or calming that agitation.

On the other hand if your mind feels really heavy or sleepy or dull you might try lifting your gaze up to the horizon just allowing the eyes to take in a little bit more light a little bit more of the space around you.

Take the next minute or so to adjust your gaze and to notice how that affects your ability to relate mindfully with the breath.

So and now since we've been sitting for a while notice how the state of your mind is reflected in your posture.

Notice how the body is communicating to you and see if there are any subtle changes that you can make to bring yourself back into good alignment.

To help the body communicate to the mind that this is a time for practice.

So and then finally choose to either slightly emphasize the inhale to invigorate the breath and bring a little bit more of a sense of freshness.

This can be really helpful if your mind is feeling tired or spacey or welcome a slight emphasis on the exhale really following the breath as it goes out and feeling the settling releasing qualities of the out breath that can help to release any sense of agitation or busyness.

So so now let go of any specific way of breathing or attending or being in your body and just be here.

And just ask yourself what am I aware of right now?

So greeting whatever arises with a gesture of kind-heartedness and acceptance.

And then taking a moment to reflect on your practice and to rejoice in the fact that you have practiced today.

Recalling the benefit of meditation practice not only for you but for the world around you and letting there be some sense of offering or extending that goodness outward into the world as we close our practice.

I'll offer again this simple dedication song that you're welcome to sing along with me if you like.

May all beings be well,

May all beings be happy,

Peace,

Peace,

Peace.

So so so thank you for practicing with me.

Reviews

Wonderful. Space to explore and to focus, a nice balance, for me, of following the breath and letting it center my thoughts. A challenge in some ways, but a good one. Finding my way. Thank you. 🙏🧘‍♂️

Very good! Thanks for sharing! Namastê 🙏🏽

So beautiful, soothing, and uplifting. Thank you!!

Excellent pace und equilibrium between talk and quiet space. Will bookmark! Thank you!🙏🏻

🙏🏻🙏🏻🌈🌞very peaceful...

Beautiful thank you ❤️

Exactly what I needed...thank you 🙏♥️

Bookmarked so I may return again. Thank you for sharing your gift.

Very helpful advice that will help me with my meditation thank you

Lovely. Well paced. Beautiful techniques woven expertly throughout. Thank you. May I be well. May you be well. Om shanti.

Excellent guided practice!!!

Thank you, that was so soothing--- I really was able to relax and count my breaths!
Rebecca

Beautiful simply yet powerfully centering and balancing. One of the better meditations I’ve found here. Thank you so much for sharing this practice