The Zoom Sessions No 13: Saturday Meditation Drop-In (20th June 2020)

This is a field recording of a live drop-in meditation session hosted on Saturday 20th June 2020. Due to the Coronavirus, I decided to host a free Saturday night meditation sessions via Zoom whilst we are all locked down. The full session contains a 'Filling the body with Light' meditation, a Loving Kindness (Metta) meditation practice and an Examen; which is a reflection of the day to finish.

The audio is recorded on a laptop and there is some background noise.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Matt Albury.

The following recording is of a Zoom meditation session that took place on the 20th of June 2020.

During the pandemic lockdown we were unable to meet as a meditation group in person,

So we met online using Zoom.

This is a recording of one of those sessions.

The following session will contain a Filling Your Body With Light meditation as a form of body scan,

A loving kindness meta practice which will lead into a time of quiet awareness,

And then we will end the session with an examine of the day.

So really just drop your awareness down to that physical sensation of the feet on the floor,

Feeling supported.

If you like give your toes a bit of a wriggle and just plant your feet firmly on that floor.

And then take your awareness then up to the chair or the cushion that's supporting your body.

So you're feeling the physical sensations there.

And then take your awareness out to the sounds that you can hear all around you.

So firstly perhaps the sounds you can hear outside of the room where you are.

And then taking your awareness to the sounds inside of the room.

And then we'll take two breaths.

So take this lovely deep breath in through the nose and sigh out through the mouth.

Do that again,

Take a lovely deep breath in and just allow yourself to settle for a moment.

And as we're settling,

Just think to yourself what you want this practice to be.

So set yourself an intention what you need this to be for you at this time,

Maybe it's a time of relaxation,

Time of just being still,

Maybe a time of restoring yourself.

Just bring yourself to focus on what you need it to be for you.

And then when you're ready then drop your awareness as I was saying down to your heart centre.

Dropping awareness down to there.

And in your mind's eye just picture your heart centre opening up like a lotus,

Like a flower when the sun comes on to this flower just to the way it would open up.

And as the lotus opens up just picture light starting to come out of this lotus,

A bit like a fragrance really,

Just gently coming out and starting to fill the body.

And picture this light just starting to flow.

In your mind's eye move the light throughout your body.

So you're in control of this just bringing that light to every single part of your body.

It's flowing all the way down the arms perhaps down to the tips of the fingers.

Flowing the light all the way down to the toes,

The tips of our ears.

Just allow your body just to be filled with this light.

And as you do this just bring awareness to the sensation of your breath and your body.

So as you picture this light flowing all around you,

Filling every part of you,

Bring your awareness to your breath moving in your body.

So we're bringing awareness to every part of the body through the light and bring awareness to the sensation of the breath and the body.

And then gradually just allow your awareness to just be of your whole being,

What it feels like to be in your body,

In the space that you're in.

In your mind's eye picture and you being full of this light.

Just taking time just to really delight in what it feels like to be in your body,

In the space that you're in.

And then when you hear the bell I'll start to guide us in our loving kindness practice.

So bring into your mind's eye an image of yourself as you are today.

And picture in your mind this image of you sat opposite you.

Just take a moment just to really focus on this image of yourself.

And as you focus on this image of yourself just be aware of the physical sensations and the thoughts that are present.

Because sometimes we're not very kind to ourselves.

But the key here is that we are going to bring kindness to ourselves alongside all these other people because we are entitled to kindness just like any other human being.

So our intention is to bring kindness to ourselves now.

So if you like as you look at this image of yourself obviously take your hand onto your heart centre.

Just placing your hand onto your heart.

And then we'll say these words of kindness to this image of ourselves.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy and well.

May I be safe.

And may I be kind and loving to myself.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy and well.

May I be safe.

And may I be kind and loving to myself.

Say these words again.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy and well.

May I be safe.

And may I be kind and loving to myself.

Now just take a moment now just as you look at this image of yourself to actually say words of kindness that you need to hear at this moment.

The same words that you would say to a good friend.

Just say those really gentle caring words to yourself that you need to hear at this moment.

It's going to be words like you're doing okay.

Just allow yourself just to just continue to focus on yourself a moment.

And then as you do this picture the image of yourself benefiting from the practice.

Notice yourself smiling perhaps with your body softening as you say these words to you this image of yourself.

And then gently when you're ready just allow the image of yourself just to evaporate away from the moment as we will come back to the image of ourselves.

And bring to your mind's eye an image of somebody who is easy to care about.

Someone who is important to you.

And this can be this doesn't have to be a human being it can be a pet an animal that's important to you.

And picture this person or this animal sat in front of you.

And then we'll say these words of kindness to them now.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy and well.

May you be safe.

May you be kind and loving to yourself.

I say these words again.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy and well.

May you be safe.

And may you be kind and loving to yourself.

Let me just say these words one more time.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy and well.

May you be safe.

And may you be kind and loving to yourself.

So just allow the image now of that person just to pass for now just to evaporate away because we will bring them back into the picture.

And bring into your mind's eye another person you'd like to benefit from your practice but this is what we would call a neutral person so somebody you don't know very well.

It could be a maybe a neighbour somebody you've seen recently who served you in a shop or it could be a colleague that you don't know very well.

But just bring the image of this person into your mind's eye now as if they were sat opposite you.

And then we're going to say these words of kindness to them too.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy and well.

May you be safe.

And may you be kind and loving to yourself.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy and well.

May you be safe.

And may you be kind and loving to yourself.

And then in your mind's eye now just allow that image of that person just to go for now and bring into your mind's eye an image of a person that maybe you find difficult.

And if it's the first time that you've ever done loving kindness don't put someone who's really wronged you into your mind's eye just someone who's irritated you a bit perhaps.

But bring this picture of this person and place them in front of you.

And again take some time to notice what it feels like in your body and what's present in your mind as you look at this person.

But again the intention is to bring kindness even if they perhaps don't deserve it but we are deciding to bring kindness to them.

So as much as you're able to at this moment we say these words.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy and well.

May you be safe.

And may you be kind and loving to yourself.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy and well.

May you be safe.

And may you be kind and loving to yourself.

I'm going to say these words again to them just this one more time.

May you be happy.

May you be happy and well.

May you be safe.

And may you be kind and loving to yourself.

So now in your mind's eye just bring back the image of yourself the person who's easy to care about and love the neutral person and place them alongside the challenging person.

And then take this moment then just to think through any other characters that you want to bring into this picture.

So other important people to you perhaps other people you've seen around you know today that you'd like to bring kindness to.

Or maybe other difficult people or even people that you've seen on the TV or on social media that you want to bring kindness to.

So place these images of these people in front of you like a whole group now.

And we'll say these words of kindness to everybody.

May you all be happy.

May you all be healthy and well.

May you all be safe.

May you all be kind and loving to yourself.

And may you all live at ease.

May you all be happy.

May you all be healthy and well.

May you all be safe.

May you all be kind and loving to yourself.

And may you all live at ease.

Let me just say these words one last time to this whole group.

May you all be happy.

May you all be healthy and well.

May you all be safe.

May you all be kind and loving to yourself.

And may you all live at ease.

So just picture these people now just dissolving away.

And picture the loving kindness that you've sent coming back in with your breath so that you now physically benefit from the practice as well.

So all that kindness that you've generated,

All that goodwill comes back in up through the nose in with the breath that settles in your heart center.

So just picture that just flowing into you now.

So as all those lovely breaths come in,

Just bring in that kindness back into your heart.

And then when you're ready just allow your hands just to relax back into your lap.

And then just for the moment now just bring your awareness then to your breath.

So we're now going to settle ourselves back into an awareness practice,

A mindfulness practice for the next 10 minutes or so.

So just allow yourself just to come back into this breath watching the breath rolling into your body,

Rolling out.

Just feeling that nurturing feeling of the breath rolling in lovely and gently in,

Moving the ribs,

Moving the chest,

Perhaps moving the belly.

And let this be the place where you just settle your awareness now just into your breath.

Just allowing that just to bring stillness as you continue to sit.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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Thank you.

Let your hands find rest and allow your hands to hold the weave from your day.

Come home.

As we remember the day as it was,

Take a few moments now to remember a moment that brought life and light.

Just allow this situation,

No matter how insignificant you might think it is,

But allow it to live again in your mind's eye as a moment that brought light.

As you bring your awareness to it,

Allow yourself to notice the qualities of that experience.

Be still.

Be grateful.

And as we remember the day as it was,

Remember a moment that might have brought frustration or disappointment,

Something that might have had a negative impact on you today.

Gently revisit that.

Allow it to live again in your mind's eye but with as much compassion towards yourself as you can.

Be still.

Be accepting.

Now gently take the moment of life and light and the moment of disappointment or frustration and let them settle in your heart centre,

Allowing the divine love within you to encompass both of those situations.

Allow the divine love within you to take them from you.

Be still.

Be still.

And then gently just think through anything where maybe tomorrow you set an intention to make amends for anything that you have said or done that you wish you hadn't have done.

We do this without setting judgement on ourself.

We don't beat ourselves up for it.

And also be honest that if actually trying to make amends makes the situation worse or causes harm,

We let it be.

We just take this moment just to think of is there anything that we do need to make amends for.

And then in the final stages of our examine we think through tomorrow.

And let ourselves think of anything that we might need to do,

That we want to do tomorrow.

We just allow that to come into the forefront of our minds.

Just for a moment.

And then we trust for our tomorrow.

And then gently as I blow out this candle,

Just return your awareness back to your breath so we come back to where we started our practice.

And just allow yourself just to settle there again until we do the grounding technique together and open our eyes at the end of the practice.

Just allow yourself to settle again until you hear the rings of the bell.

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So gently take your awareness then back to the sounds around you.

Noticing perhaps first the sounds that you can hear outside of the room where you are.

And then taking your awareness of the sounds you can hear inside of the room.

And actually take a moment just to bring awareness to our body again,

Noticing our body as it's softened towards areas of tension.

And if you need to give them a gentle movement rather than your shoulders perhaps.

Just allow yourself to have a gentle movement if you like.

And then take your awareness then to the sensation of the chair or the cushion that has supported your body as you've practiced.

Just noticing that thing that has supported you.

And then take your awareness then down to the chair,

Noticing the sensation of the chair and the feet on the floor.

Give your toes a bit of a wriggle around.

And then we take two breaths,

Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth to end our practice.

So take a lovely deep breath in.

And we do that again,

Lovely deep breath in.

And then gently open your eyes when you're ready.