Finding Your Center Meditation
This guided meditation will help you find your center during stressful times and situations. It includes the following: a few body movements to loosen up muscles and joints, a couple of yogic breathing techniques (pranayama) to help release stress kept in the nervous system and mind, a body scan and a focus on feeling your center, your Beingness. Please do not do this meditation while driving or doing anything that requires your full attention. You can also do it laying down if you wish.
Transcript
Hello,
This is a guided meditation to help you find your center and to stay there,
Especially when going through tough times,
Difficult situations.
And it includes a little bit of a warm-up with some physical movements,
Okay?
So get comfortable.
Sit down comfortably in a chair,
Sofa,
Or meditation cushion and rotate your head in a nice wide circle.
Feel everything that's been stretched as you rotate your head.
Now change direction.
Don't go too fast.
Good,
That's enough.
Now rotate your shoulders.
Nice wide movements with your shoulders.
Change direction.
Change direction.
Good,
That's enough.
Now put your right hand on your left leg.
Take a deep breath and as you exhale,
Rotate towards the left and reach back with your left hand behind you.
Grab something to help you twist a little bit more.
Good,
That's it.
Try to have a straight back.
Lifting your face so it's slightly upward,
Close your eyes.
Take a deep breath.
As you exhale,
Very slowly,
Gently change sides.
Reach back with your right hand looking behind you but with your eyes closed.
Feel that complete twist of the spine.
Feel the twist in the stretch everywhere that it's happening.
Take a deep breath.
As you exhale,
Gently switch sides again,
Nice and gentle.
Right hand on your left leg again,
Reaching back with your left hand.
Grab whatever you can without forcing it.
Sitting up straight,
Hold your face up slightly.
Close your eyes.
Deep inhale.
For the last time,
Just switch sides as you exhale.
Take a deep breath.
As you exhale,
Gently come out of this back to the center,
Letting go.
Good.
Now again,
Rotate your shoulders but this time we're going to do a little differently.
Take a deep breath first and hold the breath.
Hold the breath and rotate your shoulders.
And exhale.
Again,
A deep inhale.
Fill up the lungs,
Hold the breath and rotate the shoulders in the other direction.
That's enough.
Slowly exhale through your mouth,
Puckering your lips a little bit so you're almost whistling.
Letting go of any tensions in the body.
Good.
Now tighten your feet,
Tighten your legs really really tight.
Squeeze them hard.
Tighten your butt,
Tighten your fists,
Tighten your arms,
Tighten your torso.
Now take a deep deep breath.
Hold the breath and tighten your face.
Squeeze everything really strongly and let go.
Good.
Relaxing.
Move your shoulders,
Move your body a little bit,
Twisting left and right.
Shake your arms out a little bit too.
That's it.
Good.
Now put your hands over your belly button.
We're going to do a proper breathing practice.
I bet you did not know that 85% of people on the planet breathe incorrectly.
They're only using the top half of their lungs.
So now we're going to breathe properly.
Remember this.
Try to apply this to your normal everyday breathing.
So take a slow deep breath and feel the belly coming out,
Really using your diaphragm.
And as you exhale,
Feel the belly coming back in towards the spine,
Letting go of tensions.
As you inhale,
Breathing in calmness,
Relaxation.
Feel the belly coming out.
Hold the breath when you're full.
Hold the breath.
Relax the face,
Neck,
And shoulders.
And slowly exhale,
Feel the belly coming back in towards your spine.
That's it.
Slow deep inhale.
Feel the belly button coming out.
Hold the breath when you're full,
Holding it for a little bit longer.
Relaxing the face,
Neck,
And shoulders.
Pucker in your lips as you exhale,
Almost whistling.
Letting go of tensions.
One last time.
Slow deep inhale.
Hold the breath.
Relax the face,
Neck,
And shoulders.
Sit up straight.
Lift your face slightly.
And again,
As you exhale,
Feel the tensions from the body,
From the nervous system just coming out with the breath.
Good.
Notice any effects you can feel in your body,
In your mind.
The importance of breathing properly with the diaphragm using the stomach.
Now we're gonna do one last breathing technique.
And it looks like this.
It sounds like this.
You're going to take a deep breath.
Just listen for now.
You're going to take a deep breath,
Fill up your lungs,
And then you're going to exhale through your nose.
Not all the way.
And it sounds like this.
And going at this speed.
Okay.
You don't have to put any attention on the inhale.
The inhale will happen automatically.
You're just putting all the focus on the exhale through the nose.
So let's begin.
Take a nice slow deep inhale.
Feel this breath wave moving through your body.
Slow deep exhale.
Letting go of tensions.
Again,
Slow deep inhale.
Again,
Slow deep exhale.
And one last time.
Slow deep inhale through the nose.
Really filling up your lungs.
Hold the breath when you're full.
Good.
Sit comfortably,
Relaxing your shoulders,
Face and neck.
And now let's begin exhaling strongly through the nose.
And one more for good luck.
Good.
Take a deep breath.
Fill up the lungs.
Sit up with a straight back and exhale completely.
And don't inhale.
Just keep your lungs empty for a few moments.
Wiggle your body to release any tensions that might be in your stomach area or anywhere else in the body.
That's enough wiggling.
Relax.
Hold the empty lung state for a few more moments.
Take a deep breath.
Slow deep breath through the nose.
And let it go.
Come back to natural breathing and just feel the effects.
What did that special breath do to you?
To your body,
To your lungs,
To your nervous system,
And to your mind?
What did it do?
Just observe calmly.
And we're going to do it one more time.
The exhales will be about 20 times.
So let's begin.
Take a deep breath.
Slow deep breath through the nose.
Slow deep exhale through the mouth.
Letting go of any tensions in the body and the mind.
Slow deep inhale.
Feel that breath wave moving through you.
Slow deep exhale.
That's it.
Very good.
And the last time,
Slow deep inhale.
Hold the breath and let's begin with the exhales strongly through the nose.
Don't worry about the inhales.
It will happen naturally.
Let's begin 20 times.
And one for good luck.
Good.
Take a deep inhale.
Fill up your lungs.
Sit up straight and exhale completely.
Slowly through the mouth.
Hold exhale.
Don't breathe in.
Hold the empty lung state.
Wiggle your body for a couple seconds to release any tensions wherever they might be.
That's enough wiggling good.
Stay calm.
Observe everything that's happening.
Relaxing.
Observing.
Letting go.
And take a deep breath.
And exhale.
Really releasing.
Letting go.
And just for a few moments let's feel the effects of that breath.
What did it do to you?
Without analyzing,
Just observing calmly.
And now let's go into our meditation.
You can keep your eyes closed.
Sit comfortably.
Straight back.
Lift your face slightly and listen to the sound of this bell.
Connect with the sound of the bell.
You you Take a slow deep inhale through your nose.
Feel that breath wave moving through you.
Filling up your lungs.
And a slow exhale through the mouth.
Letting go.
One more time.
Slow deep inhale.
Feel the breath wave moving through you.
And just letting go slowly.
Good.
Keeping your eyes closed.
Relaxing your body.
And feel your body in contact with what you're sitting on.
Feel that actual contact.
You Feel the touch of your clothes on your skin.
Feel the touch of the air on your skin that is exposed.
And bring your full attention on feeling the touch of the breath as it goes in your nose,
Up your nostrils,
Down your throat and windpipe,
Down into your lungs.
Try to feel the touch of each molecule of air as it goes in and out of you naturally.
Notice if there are any thoughts.
Let them go.
Whatever they are about the past or the future or daydreams let them float away.
Give a gentle priority to just feeling the touch of the breath as it goes in your nose,
Sinuses down your throat and windpipe and down into your lungs.
Let go of everything else.
You Are there any thoughts?
That's okay.
Just let them float away.
Have no interest in them.
Understand that it's just the nature of the mind to be noisy with thoughts.
It's just a habit of the mind.
Accept it.
Don't try to make your mind silent.
That makes it worse.
It's like gasoline on a fire.
Just feel the breath and whenever you notice thoughts arising let them float away.
Feel the breath completely.
Now feel the breath in a smaller area.
Feel the breath just in your nose as it goes in and out naturally.
Notice if your back is slightly slumped try to straighten it out in a relaxed way.
Don't be rigid.
Lift your face slightly.
If there are any thoughts let them float away.
Just feel the breath.
Try to feel each molecule of air as it goes in and out of your nose.
Notice if there are any tensions anywhere in your body.
When you settle down into the present moment you become aware of more and more subtle tensions held in the body.
Try to let them go.
Relax them.
Are there any thoughts?
Let them float away.
Any emotions?
Let them drift away.
Right now just simply feeling the breath completely.
Breathing with a sense of gratitude for this breath that you have done hundreds of millions of times automatically since the moment you were born.
Since you took that first crucial breath when you were born.
Really appreciate it.
Now feel the breath in an even smaller area.
Feel the breath just at the entrance to your nostrils.
A little one or two millimeter wide ring around the entrance to your nostrils.
Try to feel each molecule of air.
Focusing on the breath because the breath only happens in the present moment.
Using the attention on the breath as an anchor into the now.
Good.
Very good.
Now slipping into the next part of this meditation bring your full attention to feeling the tips of all of your toes.
Feeling the tips of your toes and moving a ring of awareness.
A circle of awareness like a little MRI scan towards both of your ankles.
Feeling every square millimeters of skin on both of your feet.
And now move the circle of awareness towards your knees.
Both of your knees.
Feeling every bit of skin on your lower legs in front and in back.
Moving the circle of awareness towards your hips.
Both of your hips.
Feeling every bit of skin.
On the surface of your upper legs in front and in back.
Whatever you're feeling.
Whatever the circle of awareness touches that area,
Those areas become completely relaxed.
So notice how relaxed both of your legs are.
Good.
Very good.
Now bring your full attention to the tips of your fingers.
All of your fingertips.
Moving the circle of awareness from the fingertips towards both of your wrists.
Now towards both of your elbows.
That's it.
From the elbows up towards both shoulders.
Feeling every bit of skin on your upper arms.
In front and in back.
And feeling your shoulders completely really focus on the shoulders.
That's it.
Noticing how relaxed both of your arms are.
How relaxed both of your legs are.
Completely relaxed.
Now bring your full attention to the base of your torso and move the ring of awareness upward towards your stomach and lower back.
Now moving the circle of awareness towards the middle of the chest,
Middle of the back.
Towards the top of your chest,
Top of your back.
Notice if your back is bent.
Try to straighten it out gently.
Again towards the shoulders.
Staying on the shoulders.
Completely relaxing the shoulders.
Moving the circle of awareness up your neck.
Good.
So notice how relaxed your neck,
Your shoulders,
Your torso,
Your arms and legs are.
Completely relaxed.
Now feel the skin underneath your chin.
Feel the chin.
Feel your lips.
Your nose.
Every part of your cheeks.
Your ears inside and out.
Your eyes,
Eyebrows,
And forehead.
And notice how completely relaxed,
How wonderfully relaxed your whole face is.
Now feel the entire back of the head.
Feel the entire top of the head.
Good.
That's it.
And notice how completely relaxed your whole body is.
From the top of the head all the way down to your fingertips,
All the way down to your toes.
Completely relaxed.
You're right on the edge between being awake and being asleep.
Stay right there.
Letting go of any thoughts which may arise.
Have no interest in any thoughts,
Any daydreams,
Any plans,
Any memories,
Any fantasies.
Let it all go.
Meditation is simply about just letting go.
And just feel your beingness,
Your existence,
Your essence,
Your center.
All these words are pointing at the same thing.
Just feel your center,
Feel your beingness.
Letting go of any thoughts which may arise.
You're not trying to achieve anything.
You're not even trying to make your mind quiet.
Remember that's gasoline on a fire.
Just accept whatever's happening right here,
Right now within you.
Feel your body completely in contact with what you're sitting on.
Feel the touch of your clothes again on your skin.
Feel the touch of the air on your skin that is exposed.
Perhaps now it's even easier to feel it.
If there's any discomfort in any part of your body,
Just breathe into it.
Release the tensions,
Release the discomfort with the exhales.
Just feel your essence,
Your most natural relaxed state.
Accepting whatever is arising,
Whether they are thoughts or discomfort in the body.
Just accept it,
Observe it.
Feel your essence,
Feel your center.
Stay right there.
Letting thoughts drift by,
How clouds drift away,
Revealing the sun.
Again,
Notice,
Is your back bent?
Is your head drooping downward?
Very gently.
Straighten the back a bit,
Lift the face slightly.
Feel the aliveness of your body.
Be aware of that part of you that has been unchanging since the moment you were born.
Even though your body's changed so much through the years,
Stay with that.
That is your center,
That unchanging center.
By practicing this,
You become aware eventually of this point of inner stillness and inner silence that is always within you.
It will become more familiar the more you practice sitting in stillness,
Connecting with your center.
And now listen to the sound of the bell.
.
.
.
Take a deep,
Deep inhale.
Sit up straight.
Hold the breath for a moment.
And let it go slowly through your mouth.
One more deep inhale,
But reach up towards the sky with your hands.
Stretch out.
And as you exhale,
Give yourself a loving self hug.
I hope you're feeling more centered,
More relaxed,
More anchored in your deeper,
Most natural self.
Have a wonderful night or a wonderful day.
Goodbye.
