Forgiveness Meditation

A forgiveness practice to let go of attachment and resentment in the body, mind, and heart. Forgiving others, forgiving yourself and forgiving unknown hurts. Acknowledging the limitations of your own awareness and freeing yourself from shame and anger.

Transcript

Welcome to a meditation on forgiveness. I invite you to find a comfortable position seated in a chair or laying down comfortably, Allowing your eyes to gently close now, Feeling the upper lids join with the lower, As though there were two pieces of silk embracing your eyes, Focusing now on your breath, Breathing in through your nose and exhaling through your mouth, Breathing in through your nose and exhaling with a sigh. One more time inhaling through your nose and exhaling with a sigh. When we sigh, We signal to our bodies that we can feel a sense of relief. The body lets go and trusts that this is a time where we can be fully present and feel safe. Breathing now normally through your nose and tuning into your senses, Listening to the sounds around your body. What can you tune into the sounds outside of the room that you are in? Tuning into the room, Perhaps there are other people around you, Tuning into the sound of your body, Your heart beating, The sound of your breath moving in and out of your body, Thinking and acknowledging your sense of hearing for allowing you to experience the sounds around you, For allowing you to listen in. Tuning in now to your sense of feeling. Feeling the pressure of your body on the surface below you, Sensing where you are in contact with the earth, Feeling the air around your skin. Is it cool or warm? Sensing now the pressure of your clothing against your body. Tuning into your sense of touch, Thanking and acknowledging your experience of sensation, Allowing you to feel. Moving now to your sense of taste, Moving your tongue around the inside of your mouth, Touching your teeth, Thanking and acknowledging your sense of taste for giving you an amazing opportunity to taste the joy of life. Tuning in now to your sense of smell, Recognizing that as you breathe in and out, You also have a sensation of feeling. Breathing in now, What is it that you smell? Is it sweet? Feeling the air moving in and out of your nostrils, Thinking and acknowledging your sense of smell for bringing you an incredible connection to memory and to the lovely joy of experiencing sense of your reality. Moving now to your sense of inner sight, The inner knowing of your body, The inner seeing, Keeping your eyes closed yet becoming aware of the light on the other side of your eyelids. Moving up to your third eye and becoming aware of your quiet consciousness, Constantly aware of what is coming towards your body. These senses allow your body to experience and interpret the world around you so that your mind and your heart and your soul can interpret. What an incredible opportunity we have in this body to experience all of life. Moving into the experience of letting go now, I invite you to bring to mind a situation in which you feel that you have been wronged. A situation where you feel as though you deserve to be asked for an apology, Someone or some experience when you were done wrong. Bring this situation to mind now and allow first your mind to experience images, Visions. What did your mind see? Moving now to your heart and tuning into the feelings that you may have experienced. Allowing your heart to feel, To interpret the stories that your mind started to tell. How does your heart feel? Moving now into the belly, Bringing that experience to mind. How does your belly feel? Is there a tightness? Is there pain? Allow your belly to experience the pain and disappointment that arose from this wrongdoing. And now taking responsibility for your own experience and your own life. Ask for forgiveness. Do not leave it up to the other. So often we believe that by holding a grudge, Somehow we are going to cause pain for another person. However, Honestly, It is not the other that suffers, But ourselves that suffer. So let go now and instead of expecting the other to apologize, Apologize yourself. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you and I love you. Tuning in now to your mind, Your heart and your belly and experiencing how it feels to let go of that resentment. Let go of that anger that you've been holding on to for another. Waiting and expecting the other person to come to you. Why have you waited so long? Allow it to resonate now in your mind. Please forgive me. I'm sorry. Thank you and I love you. Allow it to release from your heart, Letting go of the anger and the tension. Allow it to let go of the hold that it's had on your belly, Chaining you and explaining you, Enslaving you. Allow that forgiveness to wash through your mind, Your heart and your belly. Feeling a bright purple light washing through the mind, The heart and the belly and releasing, Releasing from the body, Knowing that the earth can absorb any negative energy and turn it back into bright healing purple light. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you and I love you. Moving on now to forgiveness of ourselves. We held on for such a long time to the anger and resentment. Yet really that is a reflection of how hard we are on ourselves as we have high expectations of ourselves to be a certain way, To show up at a certain time to achieve and succeed. Those expectations are then expanded and placed on others. When we expect so much perfection from ourselves, We become judgmental and hard on those around us. See how it feels. See how it feels knowing that you have disappointed yourself, Failed in some way. Allow yourself now to forgive yourself. From those high expectations, From that pressure that you have been putting on yourself, Ask yourself now for forgiveness. Please forgive me. I'm sorry. Thank you. I love you. I love you. I love you. Allowing that to be felt now in your mind. Experience how it looks and the story that accompanies this apology through yourself. Allow your mind to experience. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. Allow it to wash down now to your heart. See how it feels in your heart to forgive yourself, Knowing that you held on for so long, Yet understanding that as the heart was healing, It needed to protect itself. Sensing now that the softness of the heart is increasing, There is no need for armor. You can forgive. You can trust yourself. Sensing how your belly feels, Allowing your tummy to relax and let go. Let go of those feelings of resentment. Forgiving yourself for putting your body through this stress and anxiety. Please forgive me. I'm sorry. Thank you. I love you. Allowing a wash of purple light to. . . Allowing. . . Allowing a wash of purple light now to flood through as you forgive yourself. Forgiving yourself and letting go of the story that you need to be perfect. Letting go in your heart, Softening and allowing your heart to be more vulnerable. Apologizing for protecting yourself from experience, From more love, From more relationships. Understanding the limitations that you had and letting go in the belly as well. A purple light washing through your mind, Your heart, And your belly as you forgive yourself for holding on for so long. Moving now to a realization that there may have been times in which you hurt another unknowingly in your simple interactions with other humans around you or with friends or family. Acknowledging now that you may have unknowingly hurt another. And taking this opportunity now to acknowledge the limitation of your awareness. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. To all the beings that I may have hurt. Unknowingly, I take this opportunity to acknowledge and to ask. Please forgive me. I'm sorry. Thank you. I love you. Often other humans hurt us unknowingly. So often we take it personally. Yet as we learn to love and appreciate and forgive our own mistakes, We become that much more empathetic and compassionate to other beings around us. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. Allowing yourself to feel the release that come. Acknowledging that you were limited. Knowing that we are all challenged by our lack of awareness. Our limited knowledge. We mean not to hurt one another. We are merely acting in order to protect ourselves. Yet we release now all of that. The anger and resentment we held for others. The high expectations and harshness we have towards ourselves. And becoming more and more conscious of our limitations and feeling compassion for ourselves and others. Allowing all of this awareness now to wash through our mind, Our heart and our belly. Seeing that bright purple light of forgiveness washing in as we breathe in. Coming in through the top of our head, Cleansing our mind. Moving down to the heart center and purifying the heart. Moving down to the belly. Moving around and releasing. Spiraling around these three mind centers. Centers of consciousness. Allowing it all to release now. Being released into the earth and transformed back again into forgiving, Loving, Compassionate energy. Allowing the earth to absorb and transform. Feeling now a lightness in our mind, Our heart and our belly. And knowing that at any time we can come back to this place and offer forgiveness and love and compassion. Gently moving your hands and feet now. Bringing yourself back into the room. Placing your hands on your heart. Thinking and acknowledging yourself for all of this work you have done. Softening the outer armor of your heart. Trusting and believing in your own ability to forgive, To release, To let go. And to move forward into more rewarding and nourishing and compassionate relationships with yourself and others. Gently opening your eyes now and returning to your day a lighter and more connected now to your own humanity.