Hi,
This is Dr.
Lavanya Devdas,
Licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania and New York.
Insight Timer is a worldwide app with access to thousands and thousands of guided meditation sessions and courses on various topics for folks who are interested.
Today I wanted to invite you to practice alongside me on meditation toward communal healing while hosting what we are feeling at this very moment.
I will be using the anchor of breath and our body to host whatever is choosing us as I guide you through this meditation.
If at any time you feel uncomfortable,
Feel free to stop,
Take a moment and then come back to this meditation.
So if you could please sit in a comfortable position,
Either on the floor or on the chair or on the cushion,
If your arms and legs are uncrossed,
Please uncross them.
Drawing your stomach in slightly so that your spine gets an upliftment and aligns with the neck and the back,
Tucking your chin in slightly so you can feel the neck rest and align itself with the spine.
Closing your eyes or maintaining a soft downward gaze,
Maybe about six inches.
And now checking in with your breath,
Just noticing how you're breathing and how your body is receiving that in-breath and out-breath.
Noticing how with your in-breath your stomach expands,
As do your lungs,
Your muscle groups tighten and with that out-breath gently and slowly,
Noticing how the stomach simultaneously recedes to its original resting position,
The air deflates from the lungs,
Your shoulder blades dropping a little bit and releasing with the completion of that out-breath.
Taking a deep breath in again,
Noticing how your entire body pivots upward as if toward the ceiling or the sky and breathing out gently,
Noticing how your body comes back naturally to its original resting position with that out-breath.
One more time,
Taking a deep in-breath,
Filling your lungs and your stomach with air,
Letting your body experience that in-breath and breathing out and slowly noticing how the air escapes from your muscle groups,
From your diaphragm,
Your lungs up through your esophagus and out through your nostrils.
As you continue to engage in this in-breath and noticing the dance that your body does with that in-breath and out-breath,
Bringing your awareness and attention to the point of contact between your breath and your body,
The dance between the in-breath and the movement of the body and the continuity of that dance of the body with that out-breath.
Bringing your intention to this beautiful seamless interaction between your breath and your body in this very moment.
Now I invite you to expand your awareness into how you have been relating to the environment around you,
How you've been relating to your neighbors,
Your community,
The people around you and the world,
Noticing what lives in you right now.
It could be feelings of neutrality,
Could be feelings of anger,
Could be feelings of sadness,
Of fear,
Uncertainty.
Noticing how you're relating to those feelings right now.
Noticing how your breath may or may not change as you invite these feelings and open into them.
Being aware that the anchor of the breath and your body does not change as you open into these feelings of sadness,
Anger,
The fear,
The disappointment,
Whatever the feeling may be,
Gently opening into it as you continue to feel the movement of the in-breath and out-breath and your body.
Opening into how the sadness lives in you,
How the anger lives in you.
Opening into it with the stability of your breath and your body as the anchor.
As you open into these feelings that might come up for you and the environment that lives in you in this moment,
Inviting compassion,
Inviting openness to receive these feelings as they are.
Using the compassion and openness to invite the environment as it lives in you.
As you set this intention of compassion and openness to invite whatever is living within you come alive and hosting it with compassion.
Gently reaffirming from within,
May I be compassionate and intentional about healing within me.
May I be compassionate and intentional about healing within me.
May I be compassionate and intentional about healing within me.
May I be compassionate and invite healing in you.
May I be compassionate and invite healing in you.
May I be compassionate and invite healing in you.
May we be compassionate and invite healing in us.
May we be compassionate and invite healing in us.
May we be compassionate and invite healing in us.
May we wish compassion and healing toward all sentient beings around us.
May we wish compassion and healing toward all sentient beings around us.
May we wish compassion and healing toward all sentient beings around us.
Bringing our gentle,
Unconditional attention back to our breath and noticing how we have a steady breath of air going in,
Nourishing the body and breathing out the compassion that we feel toward ourselves and others and inviting healing as a humanity.
Feeling the breath through that in-breath offer its anchor to our body and breathing out the compassion and intention for healing around all of us.
Breathing in,
Feeling that renewed sense of air in conjunction with the nature and environment around us and breathing out the compassion and our intention to heal and offer healing around us.
Now concluding with a gentle reminder to ourselves,
May I be compassionate and offer compassion to others.
May I take the time to be open to whatever chooses me and lives in me.
May I be open to the ways that the environment lives in me.
May I choose the intention to heal from within and offer to others in need of it.
And now concluding with a deep breath in,
Carrying that intention forward and breathing out.
And finally,
Thanking everyone for doing this meditation and setting the intention towards collective healing together.
Thank you.
