Embodied Presence and Love

This guided meditation invites you to gently relax into presence through opening to sounds, before shifting attention from receptive listening to a relaxed awareness of the breathing body. The meditation concludes with a few minutes of metta or loving-kindness for yourself.

Please note: This guided meditation was recorded at a live meditation class and so includes some background sounds, unlike a studio recording.

Transcript

Welcome to this evening of mindfulness practice.

So just a reminder of our title,

It's Embodied Attention and Wholehearted Living.

Really what I want to offer this evening and the next couple of weeks is an opportunity to really just drop into practice and then to reflect together on these themes.

So we begin with some meditation practice,

The about 30 minutes practice together.

I think really the practice of this is so central.

If we end up just talking about it in the abstract it kind of loses something because we can read books and we can have conversations but really this is learnt through practicing and through reflecting on our practice.

So just making yourself comfortable,

Finding a balance for yourself between wakefulness and relaxation.

So you want to be sitting in a way where you feel reasonably wakeful but equally relaxed and at ease.

So as we begin this period of practicing together,

Simply noticing how you are,

You might sense the momentum of the day.

So whatever is going on in your life today,

Whatever thoughts and feelings have been around,

Simply allowing yourself to be in a state of complete and complete.

Simply allowing yourself to arrive here fully and just as you are.

So you don't need to make yourself into the new and improved,

Spiritual,

Awakened,

Perfectly wise,

Compassionate,

Insightful being.

You just need to be you,

Exactly as you are.

So welcoming yourself here as you are.

Mind like this,

Heart like this,

And body like this.

And one way we can be really kind with ourselves is to just be simple,

To let our practice be simple.

So there's nothing too complicated going on this evening.

We're just going to be sitting here together.

Just being close with ourselves,

Leaning into our experience a little more fully with a gentle and steady presence,

And really with kindness.

So you don't need to do so much,

Just simply be.

And so sitting here,

Simply letting in sounds,

Letting the experience of sounds be received in awareness.

So not going looking for sounds,

Just letting sounds arise naturally as they do.

That's simply being known in awareness.

And when you find you've become lost in thought,

There's really no need for any drama or fuss.

No need for self-blame or measurement,

Comparison.

It's simply a moment of awareness,

A clear awareness of having been caught up.

And with that clear awareness,

A choice presents itself to choose to go back into the abstraction,

Which can sometimes be really juicy.

Or to come back to the immediacy of the sounds that are happening,

Just a very ordinary experience of your body sitting as it's experienced from the inside.

So that's just a moment of awareness,

A clear awareness of your body sitting as it's experienced from the inside.

And gently now opening to the feeling of your breath in your body,

Seeing if you can receive breathing in the same way that you receive sounds.

Letting the experience of breathing be known simply as sensations,

As movements in your body that are happening naturally by themselves.

Letting the experience of breathing be known simply as sensations,

As movements in your body that are happening naturally by themselves.

Trusting that your body knows how to breathe.

Letting yourself know the experience of breathing in your body,

In the immediacy of sensations,

Just wherever you feel them,

Whether that's in your belly,

Your chest,

Your nostrils,

Or more globally throughout your body.

Just receiving sensations with a relaxed awareness.

So letting breath be in the foreground and letting awareness of sounds be in the background.

Letting the experience of breathing be known simply as sensations,

As movements in your body,

Just wherever you feel them,

Wherever that is.

Letting the experience of breathing be known simply as sensations,

As movements in your body,

Just wherever that is.

And whether you find your mind relatively settled and calm,

Or whether mind is busy,

Distracted,

No matter.

Can you simply be open to how mind is,

To the simple truth of the current mind state?

Resting in awareness of breathing,

Of sounds,

With simple presence and with a gentle interest in your experience,

Without prescribing how experience should be,

Without trying to have some particular or special meditation experience.

What would it be to really let yourself be and let yourself have the experience you're having,

Holding it all in a loving,

Caring presence?

What would it be to really let yourself be and let yourself have the experience you're having,

Holding it all in a loving,

Caring presence?

What would it be to really let yourself be and let yourself have the experience you're having,

Holding it all in a loving,

Caring presence?

What would it be to really let yourself be and let yourself have the experience you're having,

Holding it all in a loving,

Caring presence?

What would it be to really let yourself be and let yourself have the experience you're having,

Holding it all in a loving,

Caring presence?

What would it be to really let yourself be and let yourself have the experience you're having,

Holding it all in a loving,

Caring presence?

What would it be to really let yourself be and let yourself have the experience you're having,

Holding it all in a loving,

Caring presence?

Opening awareness to the experience of breathing.

Simply being with yourself,

With kindness,

With love.

So whether mind is distracted and you're really head-centred right now,

Or whether you're relatively settled and just feeling breathing.

Knowing that whichever is the case,

You're deserving of love.

Whatever state is here,

You're deserving of love.

You don't have to be a particular way to earn it.

And so just in support of really taking in this insight that we are each deserving of love.

Whatever the weather internally is in our minds and hearts.

Just practicing Metta,

Sometimes translated as loving-kindness,

Although I'm not a fan of that translation.

But this is really a way simply of inclining the heart towards the mindful qualities of love,

Of compassion,

Of care.

Of presence,

Actually.

I think love and presence are really inseparable.

So I'm going to offer a phrase to practice with.

And so just gently letting this repeat in your mind.

So you can stay in touch with the feeling of breathing.

But now bringing the mind in a little more actively.

Simply repeating the phrase in your mind.

And to be really clear,

There's no particular feeling you're supposed to have as you do this.

So you're not doing anything wrong if there's no feeling of sweetness or niceness or anything like that.

That's not really what love is anyway.

So a phrase I'd like to offer is simply,

May I know I'm deserving of love,

Just as I am.

And we'll just practice with this phrase for a couple of minutes.

So I'll say it a couple more times,

And then we can practice quietly together.

May I know I'm deserving of love,

Just as I am.

Noticing how the being responds.

Perhaps there's some aversion,

Perhaps the mind wants to go into analysis,

Perhaps distraction or confusion,

Or perhaps real warmth.

There's no wrong experience.

There's no really letting yourself have yours.

Offering this phrase to yourself.

May I know I'm deserving of love,

Just as I am.

May I know I'm deserving of love,

Just as I am.

May I know I'm deserving of love,

Just as I am.

May I know I'm deserving of love,

Just as I am.

May I know I'm deserving of love,

Just as I am.

May I know I'm deserving of love,

Just as I am.

May I know I'm deserving of love,

Just as I am.

Gently letting go of the phrase when you're ready.

And sensing your breath.

Simply noticing how your heart is right now.

Again,

Just doing so without any particular demand,

Or if there is a demand that there should be a certain feeling or shouldn't be a certain feeling,

Just noticing the presence of that.

And letting yourself be,

Just for these last moments of formal practice.

Simply being present with yourself.

Letting experience be received in awareness,

With openness,

With a gentle interest.

And letting yourself be,

Just for these last moments of formal practice.

Thank you.

Reviews

Minimal guidance and long spaces

A wonderful balance of guided, silence and metta. Thanks Danny!

Very easy and complete

Really like it – the voice and attitude of acceptance. Thank you ❤️

Love this. Thank you!

After meditation on opening my eyes, the colours of the world were more vivid. It feels so good to realize that i am good and deserving love just as i am. Thank you so much. I want to return to this meditation often.

Soothing and calming guidance. This meditation helped me relax deeply and quietened my self judgements. I sincerely appreciated the teacher's kind and clear instructions. A good amount of silence too. Recorded at a live class so there is some background sound but this was welcome for me, it was like being part of the class. Thank you!

Exceptional guided mindfulness practice although some of the background noise was a little disappointing. Thank you for this beautiful offering.

So beautiful and supportive. Thank you!

A beautiful and deep meditation. Thank you for this kind, warm and wonderful guidance!

Great!
Long periods of silence but also good messages.

I felt that I was in the presence- in the room with a true meditation teacher. Enough guidance to settle, enough silence to practice/experience.
No hype, just clear and kind instruction. I liked the suggestion of letting the breath come to you
Thank you

Wonderful, thank you!!