Inner Centre Of Calm Meditation//Balanced Yogi Ep3

Namaste and welcome to Ep3 of the Balanced Yogi Podcast. Today I'm inviting you to create some space to feel into your emotions and connect to your Inner Centre of Calm. 3.16 mins is where the meditation begins.

As always please take a moment to let me know how you found the practice.

Transcript

Hi and welcome to the Balanced Yogi podcast. This is episode 3 and my name is Linz. Today I'm looking forward to sharing with you the inner centre of calm meditation. If you enjoy this episode, Please find a way of keeping in contact. Subscribing is the biggest support you can give me and sharing is the biggest support that you can give to your friends and loved ones. I'd also love to hear how you found today's session or if there's something you'd like me to create, You can give me an urge in the comments below. If you just want to get to the meditation you will find the timings below. But first my friend, Let's have a little natter about emotions. I don't know if this resonates with you, But my guess is as you're listening to this it might just do. But do you ever feel like you're on a rollercoaster of emotions? Sometimes emotions can really take over what's happening in our day to day lives. It's exhausting and in the past it's certainly led me into some questionable places with some very iffy ways of coping. And I can't always blame it on the hormones, Can I? We all have our own ways of getting through the emotional disturbances we experience in our inner world. Some are healthy, Some are healthy-ish in moderation and some, If done on a regular basis, Can really affect our wellbeing mentally, Emotionally, Physically and spiritually. I'm not about giving advice or telling you or telling anybody what to do and how to do it because I wasn't born with a handbook so I'm with you here, I'm working it out, All the lessons as I go along in my life. But I am here to create space for you to address what comes up in a mindful and compassionate way. So if something comes up for you, Then you can use this time with yourself to enquire, To reflect and just to get to know yourself a little bit better. So with that being said, I'd like to create a space for you to come back to in the times of need where you can sit with emotions like a good friend, Listening and giving them space or in those times when emotions feel just that little bit too intense, Then this practice will help you connect to that inner centre of calm that is always present. You don't have to be dealing with emotions or difficult emotions to listen to this and make this part of your life. It's nice to practice when you're in an okay or a good space. In fact, It's a really good thing. Practicing regularly and making it part of life when everything, Especially when everything is fine and dandy, Begins to get it into the cells of our humanness. So when life feels off-centre or out of balance, We have these mechanisms, These go-to coping tools within us that may be a little bit more beneficial than 20 cigarettes and a bottle of wine. That's perhaps just my experience. Okay, So let's get the body prepared for practice. Firstly, There's no pressure. Just have an open mind. Give yourself permission to relax and allow the experience to unfold. Finding that comfortable seated position that is going to help you stay awake and alert, Yet relaxed. Perhaps it feels good to stretch and take a few deep breaths before you let the body become still. You can close the eyes or rest the gaze down towards the ground. Begin to have a sense of the space that surrounds you within the room. And checking into the sounds. We don't want sounds to be a distraction, A way of creating frustration or annoyance in our practice, So that's why it's really beneficial just to acknowledge that they're there sometimes. So have an awareness of the sounds that are outside of the room. An awareness of the sounds within the room. The sound of my voice. The sound of your breath. To help you settle into this practice, We'll take a few rounds of breath together. We'll breathe together the count of five in, The count of five out. So let's take a big breath in together first. And then let the breath go. Inhale, Two, Three, Four, Five. Exhale, Two, Three, Four, Five. Inhale, Two, Three, Four, Five. Exhale, Two, Three, Four, Five. Inhale, Two, Three, Four, Five. Exhale, Two, Three, Four, Five. Let go of the counting of breath. Let the body have the breath back but keeping that awareness on the exhale and that connection of the exhale to the physical body. To softening the physical body. To relaxing the body. To letting go. Letting go and relaxing is the gateway to the present moment. To the here, To the now, To this calm center that is within. Take a moment now to check in with your emotions. Just noticing how you're feeling, What's present. And rather than labeling, I'm feeling this way because of this, Just see if you can notice it as a sensation that's present. It could be something very subtle, Something substantial, Something in between. So often we can feel emotions and push them down, Push them away, Avoid them. So today this is space for them to be there for you to make friends with your inner world. Opening to this poem by Rumi called The Guest House. This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival, A joy, A depression, A meanness. Some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all. Even if there are a crowd of sorrows who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, Still treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, The shame, The malice. Meet them at the door laughing. Invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. So welcoming your experience, Being the guest house and whatever comes through, Just allowing it space and greeting with a smile, With a sense of friendship and kindness and openness. Relaxing deeper into this practice, Start to bring your awareness to the crown of the head. Begin to soften and relax the crown of the head, The temples, The back of the head, The forehead. All of these tiny muscles in this area can get very tense and tight when we're in thinking mode. Also our eyes can turn up as if they're looking up and inwards for the next thought, For the next thing to solve. So soften the eyes down, Relax the muscles around the eyes. Soften the cheeks, The jaw, Some space in between the teeth and relax the tongue. Soften the lips, The whole of the face, The whole of the head. As if that part of the body is just taking a great big exhale. Allow some space in between the ears and the shoulders as the arms become heavy and relaxed. Still alert to your inner experience but the body has this space to rest, The heel to balance. Softening through the back body, The shoulder blades, The space in between the shoulder blades, The mid-back, The low back and all of the tiny muscles around the spine. The back relaxed yet stable and holding us up, You have your own back. Softening through the pelvis, The hips, The legs and with each exhale another muscle in the body relaxes as the nervous system calms down that one bit more. Guide your awareness to the belly and bring a soft belly into the practice. A soft belly and an open heart, Perhaps even taking a breath in to the chest, The heart centre and inviting a sense of openness, Spaciousness. You can use sense being alive and present, The washing and the vibrating and the tingling that's happening. Inviting the possibility that under the movement is stillness, Under all of the sounds is silence and under the physical stuff, The mental stuff, The emotional stuff is spaciousness, This calm centre. The meditation closes, Gently open the eyes and take a few deep cleansing breaths to invite in just enough energy. If you choose you can take a few moments just to digest and reflect on your practice and maybe write some notes in a journal or a notepad. Namaste and thank you for joining me, I look forward to catching up with you again very soon.