Sense Of Aliveness

In this 30-minute mediation, we are using body awareness to discover the sense of aliveness in the body, then expanding that awareness to the world around us. From here we are more open, more at peace, and more at ease with ourselves.

Transcript

Welcome to Marshall's Meditation.

I'm Marshall and today we're going to do a 30-minute body awareness meditation.

I found the best way to become self-aware is through what I would call meditative awareness.

The body's with us,

Of course,

All the time and there's things happening in the body at every moment if we tune in.

A lot of what's going on is at a very subtle level and it helps to refine our awareness to become more and more aware of it and that's where meditative awareness I think is very helpful.

What are the benefits of becoming more body aware?

Well,

There's multiple benefits at what I would say multiple levels.

So this meditation is designed to help that.

We're going to take meditative awareness and kind of apply it to the body to see what's going on.

And at the other end of it,

Hopefully,

We will feel more relaxed and hopefully more aware.

So let's begin.

So if it's comfortable for you,

You can close your eyes.

You can leave them open.

That's fine.

I prefer closing my eyes.

And let's initially tune into the body.

And by tuning in,

Let's at first find a comfortable position and posture that we can sit in for about half an hour.

We can also just notice where there's tension in the body.

We can notice where emotional sort of feel is.

And we can also notice how busy the mind might or might not be.

And we can begin at the third eye between the eyebrows just as a sensing feeling,

Noticing if anything is there in terms of sensation.

It may or may not be.

Whichever,

We'll just stay with that for a moment.

Let's drop our awareness down to our breath.

Just watching the movement in our body as we breathe in and out.

And let's notice just the inhale.

And we can notice just the exhale.

We usually have a tendency to try and slow down the breath when we bring our awareness to it.

Try to smooth it out or relax it.

We're not going to try to do any of that.

We'll just leave the breathing just as it is.

Leave it as natural as possible.

And also notice at the top of the inhale,

There may be a pause.

And at the bottom of the exhale,

We also may notice a pause.

The mind still floats around and generally it'll catch us back into thinking,

Which is fine.

We'll just gently direct our awareness back to the breathing.

The mind can only do one thing at a time as we notice,

So,

Or at least focus on one thing at a time so that if we're thinking,

We're not watching the breath.

And if we're watching the breath,

We're not thinking.

We can also engage the mind as well,

Which would be,

I think,

A good idea here.

So as we inhale,

We can say to ourselves silently the word,

Just,

Just.

And as we exhale,

We can use the word this,

Just this.

Inhale,

Just,

And exhale this.

It's a reminder that we're just staying put in the present moment and remaining with what is here now.

That's very good.

So now let's move our awareness to our hands.

We'll bring you to the fingertips.

And we're going to notice the energy that's all around the fingertips.

That's all around the fingers as well.

Notice,

And it's into the palms,

The hands,

It's all over.

It's a kind of just an alive feeling,

Almost a vibration.

We can also notice that it's not just in the hands.

It can run up the arms,

The shoulders,

Down the back,

Over the head.

There's this subtle energy that's all over the body,

Right at the surface of it,

All over.

It almost takes like a 360 degree inner viewpoint to notice that it's all over the body.

But that's what we're trying to develop here,

That all around inner awareness.

It's hard to keep the 360 degree awareness for any length of time.

It gets better with repetition.

Let's just bring our awareness back to our hands at a much more manageable level.

So that living energy in the body,

It's all around and all through the body.

It's not through our effort that it's there.

It just seems to be there already.

It seems that it's a part of all the systems that are running in the body right now.

Without our even noticing it,

Without us efforting anything.

The breath keeps on even if we're not noticing it.

The heartbeat is taking care of itself.

Our skin cells grow and die off of its own as our hair grows and nails grow without our effort.

All the systems are working right now,

Maintaining our life.

And we don't even need to worry about it presently.

All the chemical reactions in the body right now.

Food digesting,

The enzymes,

The oxygen exchange in the blood at the lungs,

The hormones,

The saliva secretion in the mouth,

All independent of our effort and knowledge.

Almost completely through the life force that we're feeling as well.

And good to be the same life force forever.

And good to be the same life force for every person,

Maybe other living mammals as well.

Maybe that life force is there with them.

And the different creatures and the birds and the fish and the reptiles and the insects into moss and amoebas and smaller and smaller levels of life.

Maybe it's growing the trees and the plants.

Maybe all the living things all around us are vibrating with the life force like our body is.

All vibrantly alive,

Taking care of itself.

And for this moment,

We can just relax and let life carry us and carry all creatures.

And let life carry us.

Let the body do whatever it wants to do.

Breathe however it wants to breathe.

Let the birds sing,

Let the sun shine,

Let the wind blow.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to with its thoughts and images.

Let our emotions be as they are,

No matter what they are.

And in this sense,

We can be one with life.

Just rest now in our natural state of awareness.

You don't need to think or have any focal point in particular.

Just rest in our natural state of awareness for a few moments.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

If we feel drowsy,

We can even allow that.

Just let that in.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

We'll remain here just for another moment.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

Let the mind move and go wherever it wants to.

We can take in the room around us.

We can still sort of notice where the body is.

If we do this meditation repeatedly,

Or maybe even during this meditation,

There may be a sense of gratitude about the aliveness,

The aliveness of you,

The aliveness of all things.

That sometimes is a very natural outcome of doing this.

But the hint is,

Is to let it come to you,

And not to manipulate it so that you are feeling grateful,

Or you should feel grateful,

Or you have to feel love for all creatures and all things.

No,

No,

No.

Just let it sort of find you authentically.

And if not,

No big deal.

It's enough just to notice the subtle energy in the body and keep going with it,

Because there's many,

Many treasures to be unearthed with this.

So thank you for joining me.

Until next time,

I hope you're well,

And we'll see you on the next meditation.

Thanks.

Reviews

Very relaxing meditation in the here & now I will do this again thankyou

Calm and peaceful. Soothing music and voice with wise guidance. Thank you!