Awakening A New Life

This practice invites you to embark on a spiritual journey that takes you beyond yourself and into the vast depths of the world around you. Lou will lead you to see life, people, and the world with fresh eyes, as if encountering them for the very first time. By cultivating this perspective, you open yourself to the richness of each moment, embracing the profound beauty and endless possibilities that exist within your surroundings. Prepare to awaken your senses, expand your awareness, and rediscover the wonder that lies in the simplest of experiences.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to an Insight Timer premium track.

My name is Lou Redman.

I am so excited and grateful to share with you today's practice.

I'm gonna share the briefest introduction I can to set up the work that we're gonna do in our meditation.

And to begin to share the essence of today's practice,

I'm actually gonna start with a part of a poem from T.

S.

Eliot.

He says,

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time.

Our spiritual journey is one of going outwards to explore the depths of ourselves through the world,

Through our journey,

And to come to this realization just as Dorothy did in The Wizard of Oz that we had it within us the whole time.

But it's through going on that journey that we realized that within us and we see our life,

We are reborn in our life as if we see things for the first time.

And this is really the core of our work is to practice seeing life,

Seeing people,

Seeing the world as if we're seeing it for the first time.

Jesus is famous for saying,

Behold I make all things new.

Now the way I interpret that is the Christ makes all things new.

Not the man Jesus but the Christ that is within us,

The Buddha awakened quality within us,

The Buddha nature,

The Krishna nature,

The Krishna consciousness,

Whatever you call it,

That awakened nature within us.

Once we tap into it,

Once that comes into our life,

Behold,

Wow,

Our life feels new,

Feels alive.

There's an essence and a quality that wasn't there before.

It is a rebirth.

All of spirituality is asking us to let go,

To die and be reborn.

This is the essence of transformation.

Yogananda,

The great spiritual teacher,

Would talk about states of Samadhi as ever new joy.

Ever new.

We can't get bored of ever new because that is the nature of presence.

That is the nature of being awakened is to be able to be in that state where everything has that new quality.

We're not seeing things with our labels and our biases and our past.

We're seeing things as if it's for the first time.

Like the the Buddhist practice of not seeing tree and we see a label,

We see bottle,

We see computer,

I see microphone.

No,

It's to just witness these things.

This gets to now the emptiness of life that we are putting the label on in our work,

In awakening,

In our spiritual journey is to let go and to see things as if it's for the first time without the label.

How do we do that?

Meditation helps,

Of course,

And in this practice I'm going to offer something that is also a bit biblical in Isaiah where he hears the voice of the Lord saying,

Whom shall I send and whom will go for us?

And he says,

Hanani,

In Hebrew,

Here I am.

He has been called and he opens to the call saying,

Here I am.

Here I am.

Being willing to take that journey,

Being willing for the spirit to be moved through us rather than us forcing and controlling our life.

And when we can tap into that energy,

When we are being used,

When life is being lived through us,

We more connect to that Christ consciousness,

That Buddha nature within ourselves and we allow our life to unfold and see the newness in each moment.

Now,

Last piece before we meditate is so often what becomes most challenging is seeing our relationship,

Seeing the people in our life without thinking that we know them,

Without our past biases,

Seeing our significant other as if it was for the first time.

And this helps us not only in our relationship,

But it helps us to see the essence of that person and feel more of that connectedness.

And this is really challenging,

Whether it's with your kids,

With parents,

We have ideas of how people are.

And if we can break free from that,

We can start to see reality.

The awakening journey is to see reality clearly.

And it is always coming back to this moment without the past,

Without the labels.

And there's a freshness,

There's a connection that is created when we do that,

Both in our relationships and in our relationship to the world and relationship to nature.

And so I know that it was as brief as I could have done that introduction.

I hope what I'm getting at is making sense to you.

Let's just drop right into our meditation and do some of this work today.

And so shifting gears here.

And before you close your eyes,

I'd actually like to invite you to with your eyes open,

Get into your meditation,

At least your posture.

So feel maybe your feet on the ground or your legs crossed,

And begin to sense the connection to your body.

Noticing the shoulders above the hips,

Ears above the shoulders,

Finding your posture,

But again,

Keeping the eyes open,

Dropping in,

But just keeping eyes open for now,

Noticing your breath.

And then as you continue to soften,

To relax,

To breathe,

I'd like you to bring your visual attention on some object that is near you.

Might be your phone,

Tissue box,

Water bottle,

A picture in the room,

Maybe you see out your window,

And bring your visual attention to one thing.

And I'd like you to practice letting go of whatever the label is dropping the label of tree or water bottle,

And just being with that thing.

Noticing if you can be and see it as if for the first time,

Almost like you're meditating,

Letting go of any label,

Any past association with this thing.

Just seeing its essence,

Being with it in presence,

Just notice what that's like.

And then let go and can now close your eyes,

Coming into more inward focused,

And just being with your breath and yourself working to even let go of the label of your meditating.

That's a word that's an idea.

And just being in pure presence with yourself.

Being with the newness of this very moment.

Heraclitus says we don't step in the same river twice.

Each moment is new,

And we often miss it.

And so take a gentle breath in with me,

Letting that go.

And to invite the awakened nature of our being to come through,

To be felt.

I invite you to invoke that energy in any way that feels true for you.

And so that might look like inviting the Christ,

Or the Buddha,

Or the Krishna nature of your being,

Or might be your inner guide,

Or your inner light,

Or inner healer.

Something that you can feel and connect with a refuge in.

And I'm a believer as we open and answer the callings of our life,

That they bring us on a path that awakens that nature within all of us.

And so using that inspiration from Isaiah,

And if it resonates,

Speaking that silently or out loud.

Speaking hineni,

Or here I am.

Here I am,

Christ,

Lord,

Krishna,

Buddha,

God.

Here I am.

Repeating that and inviting that connection to spirit to come through,

To move in and from you.

Here I am.

And as you do this,

Noticing what parts of your body tighten,

Noticing what parts open,

And seeing if you can soften into all of it,

To be with this invocation,

To allow something greater to come forth,

Something new to emerge.

Here I am.

And if you'd like,

You might even open your palms upwards to the sky.

Here I am.

Inviting in the spirit,

Inviting in something greater to be poured through you.

Here I am.

And then take a gentle breath with me,

Letting that go.

We're going to move into a visualization.

And so I invite you to imagine that you are in a field,

Any field that comes to mind.

And begin to walk,

Seeing what you see,

Hearing what you can hear,

Smelling,

Tasting,

Feeling the ground beneath your feet.

And as you walk,

You notice in the distance is a tree representing the tree of life.

So whatever image that stirs up,

Go ahead and walk over to this tree.

Begin to stand in front of it.

And seeing if you can,

Again,

Drop the label of tree and being with its essence.

This tree is going to act as a portal of rebirth.

When we are born,

We literally see everything for the first time.

We lose that as we get older,

Which is why the spiritual journey continues to ask us to die before we die,

So we can again see all things new.

And so on this tree,

Imagine that a door appears and opens.

Before you step in,

Asking yourself,

What is it in your life that you need to let go of?

Or more bluntly,

What needs to die?

What are you carrying that's causing you to fear or hold or grip or stay attached?

And so just taking a moment to find one thing,

You might have a bunch as we all do,

Find one thing that feels alive for you that needs to be let go of.

And when you're ready to do this work of letting it go,

Imagine that you step into the door,

Go into the tree,

And you start to descend deep into the roots,

Into the ground.

As you descend into the earth,

Into the roots,

Knowing that you can offer up what needs to be given back to the earth,

What you can let go of,

That it can hold it for you,

It can transform it for you.

And so maybe feel where this thing shows up in your body.

And while you're in the dark roots of the tree,

I invite you to do whatever you need to let it go.

That might be a shake,

A shout,

A cry.

It might be a squeezing and a tensing of your body and then a relaxing.

It might be a movement.

Whatever way that you can let your body release and give this energy into the earth,

Move it through you to let this thing go.

And just take a few moments to to release this in any way that you can.

It might just be through your breath,

Breathing it out.

It might be feeling a clearing light.

Whatever way works for you,

Let it go.

Feel it and keep letting it go.

It can hold it for you.

You don't have to hold it anymore.

A few more moments,

Letting go whatever needs to be left here.

And then when you're ready,

Starting to make your way back up the tree,

Leaving behind whatever you are able to.

I'd like you to imagine that you emerge,

Not through the door you came in,

But through the branches on the other side.

Emerging through the branches,

Almost as if you are this newborn in a new land.

As you come out the other side,

Back into the field,

Walk around the field and notice if you can see everything as if it's for the first time.

What's that like?

Can you sense the freshness,

The radiance?

Resisting labeling what you see and just being there in pure presence.

And then taking a breath in,

Letting it go.

And let go of the imagery,

But keep the freshness,

Keep that aliveness,

Newness within you.

We're going to shift to doing this work around someone specific in our life.

And this could have the most immediate impact for you.

So I invite you to imagine someone close to you,

Someone that you know very well.

If you have a significant other,

I encourage you to choose them.

If not,

It might be a parent or a child or a best friend.

And see them as if they are in front of you.

Feel their energy.

And asking yourself,

How am I boxing them in?

How do I think I know them?

Where am I not letting them be new?

How are you boxing them in?

Just notice what answers arise.

How do you think you know them?

And with compassion for yourself here,

Just noticing.

We all do this to everyone.

And there's so many people afraid to be different because it would shake the foundation of how their significant other sees them.

And as you notice the labels and beliefs you have about this person,

See if you can connect and shine the light that is within you to start to connect with that inner healer.

Maybe you connect with your own awakened nature,

Your Christ consciousness,

Your Buddha nature.

Feel that energy like a light within growing.

And as it grows,

The labels start to melt away.

And as the labels melt away,

See if you can see them not as your projection,

But as the pure ray of divinity that they are.

Can you feel both of your rays together without the label,

Without the beliefs,

Without the past,

Seeing and sensing them new?

Maybe as if for the first time.

I also want to recognize this might be challenging,

So see if you can just stay with it.

Be with them.

Each of your rays of light being allowed to shine as they are in this very moment.

And then this last portion here is just to ask yourself,

How can you allow less judgment and more newness in your partnership or relationship with this person?

How can you allow less judgment and more newness?

How can you allow them to be not what you think they are,

But who they are in each moment,

To just be,

Period.

And so I invite you to make that intention around this person,

If that feels true for you.

Intention to see them as if for the first time.

And then letting them go and just staying in your body for a few more moments,

Staying connected,

Noticing what's present right here,

Right now.

Again,

Sensing the newness,

The freshness,

The essence quality of this moment.

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

Whenever you feel ready,

Go ahead and start to open your eyes.

Maybe you see that thing that you saw before.

Notice if there's a different quality to it now.

Or just come back and move in any way that feels good.

Honoring yourself for leaning into this work is such an honor to share this practice,

To be able to walk this journey with you and continue to try and root out those parts of us that is wanting to control,

Is what it comes down to.

It feels better to label things.

And so in sharing this,

You know,

It's a reflection for me to keep doing my own work.

So I thank you so much for allowing that space,

Allowing me to reflect.

If you like this practice,

Leave a review.

Let me know what landed for you.

I love hearing from you.

And if you want to be updated on new meditations,

Definitely join Lou's circle.

If you search that in the groups,

And it's a great place to connect and just be updated with things that I got going on here and share with others in this beautiful Insight Timer community.

All right,

Friend,

I will let you go.

As always,

Sending you lots of love and support and guidance for your journey.

Namaste.

Reviews

So relaxing! Just what my mind needed today. Namaste 💞

An excellent deepening experience . 🙏

Thank you. I see, know anew with through Chriist. I'm very grateful for your journey meditatio.

I heard this for the first time and was blown away by the tree visualization. I want to shed the impulse to react right away to my husband and instead stop to think
What would God's free spirit moving through me, do in this moment. My husband is 6 days recovered from a 100% blockage in one artery, heart attack. A stent was installed. I do need to see US thru new eyes. It has been a difficult 29 year marriage. And Now, seeing US for the first time, I am so grateful for this meditation. I plan to STOP and THINK before reacting to what happens around me. THANK YOU.

Brilliant! Many thanks Lou 🙏❤️

This was wonderful...I think it would make a great course as I'd love to keep working on this concept. Thank you.

I look forward to living this new day with a fresh perspective. Thank you Lou for this.