Welcome back friends.
Thank you for joining me today for this Heartfulness practice.
Heartfulness can be defined as a simple,
Practical way to meditate and discover the unlimited resource of our heart.
With practice,
You can experience calmness from within,
Leading to creation of better concentration,
Inner balance,
And true wellness of being.
So,
In today's practice,
I would like to guide you through a Heartfulness and Gratitude meditation.
So,
Whenever you're ready,
Finding a comfortable seat.
I will signify the start of the meditation with a bell,
And we will end the meditation with two gongs of the bell.
Taking a physical seat and a comfortable posture,
Relaxed,
Stable,
Balanced between steadiness and ease.
You can be sitting,
Lying down.
Now,
Taking a mental note of the space and the time,
So the physical space around you,
And the time you are spending for some Heartfulness practice.
So,
We share the space and time with other group people,
Who just like us,
Want more happiness and less discomfort.
Recognizing the sameness,
Shared human experience,
Affiliation networks of the brain can come online,
More connection can arise.
And we've become one.
So,
Whenever you're settled in,
Start to note your breath.
Just noticing that the breath itself doesn't need any help for breathing.
It has been breathing itself without you needing to lead it.
Now,
If breath is not available for you,
I'd invite you to anchor on something which makes sense for you,
Such as sensations of your hand,
Sensations on your legs,
Where the body meets the floor or the cushion or the chair,
Just wherever you feel comfortable.
If breath is your anchor,
Then looking at how it is right now,
Where can you feel it?
Can you feel it in your belly?
Can you feel it in your chest?
Or shoulders or the whole body?
Now sense the breath moving in your body,
Wherever it is most evident for you.
Now,
Just sense in the breath and expanding the breath to the whole body.
You can experience the whole body breathing.
And for those of you,
For your breath might not be the anchor,
I would invite you to send your awareness to the whole body.
So feeling the boundaries of the body,
Feeling the sensations on your body.
Now for the next few minutes,
Staying with these sensations of breathing body and letting go of everything else.
Relax into the simplicity of the whole body breathing or being aware of the whole body.
Relax into the simplicity of the whole body breathing or being aware of the whole body.
Relax into the simplicity of the whole body breathing or being aware of the whole body.
Relax into the simplicity of the whole body breathing or being aware of the whole body.
Now if you notice the mind wandering,
It's okay,
That's what the mind does.
Just trying to bring it back kindly to the whole body breathing or to be aware of the whole body,
Just bringing it back with kind,
Loving awareness.
Now if you feel that you have become too absorbed in the sensations of the body or the whole body breathing,
Try to relax.
Relax into open awareness,
Just letting the body breathe itself and letting the awareness slowly fading into the background.
We all know that as it's there,
We can come back to it anytime,
Any moment.
Now grounded in the simplicity of the awareness of the whole body breathing,
Identifying any feeling tone you have,
You're feeling pleasant,
Unpleasant or neutral.
These are our feeling tones.
We paint pictures based on these three simple tones and we have many narratives about each one of those feeling tones.
So sensing the feeling tone which is present in your field of awareness and what arises in the flow of this experience.
Notice also any reactions in the mind arising in response to the feeling tones and maybe see what it's like to let the feeling tones come and go without reacting to them.
And then returning to the sensation of the whole body breathing or the awareness of your whole body.
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Being curious,
Notice qualities of equanimity.
It often arises when the conditions are ripe.
Notice any sensations of stability,
Any sensations of ease,
Spaciousness in body or mind.
Allowing them to grow and strengthen by paying attention to them,
Relaxing into them and inviting it to grow and strengthen just by paying attention to it and relaxing into it.
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.
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From this place of stability and ease,
Bring to mind something as someone has recently given to you.
Maybe something which was given to you as a gift or maybe it was a smile,
An encouraging word or simply some attention which made you feel happy,
Content.
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Now open yourself to this feeling of being given to.
This is often difficult for us as we have a lot of reluctance in accepting gifts.
And often these thoughts arise of unworthiness or fear of dependence.
The idea that if you receive,
Then you owe the other person something.
Just being open to these feelings which arise.
Try to open past that reluctance into accepting what's offered.
Try to take the good.
Enjoy the pleasures of this.
Let it sink in that receiving a gift as generously given feels good.
Noticing any feelings of appreciation,
Thankfulness or gratitude that arise.
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And again I invite you to remember a time when you received something that was valuable,
Some gift that was given to you,
Someone showing some kindness towards you,
Someone,
Maybe a family member,
A friend,
Stranger or even an animal companion.
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And this could be as given to you by the natural world itself or just life as it happens or even in a coincidence.
Just receiving this heartful gratitude of a simple gift that gives so much pleasure in this moment.
I invite you to breathe in this moment.
I invite you to experience the gift as true heartful gratitude.
Take a breath here right now.
Feel it within you.
Feel that gratitude within you everywhere.
Expanding the consciousness throughout the body,
Every part of your experience.
Try to feel the sense of gratitude and heartfulness for that gift.
Can you be thankful for this moment that's happening now?
Can you feel this sensation?
I invite you to pause here and appreciate what gratitude and moment of thankfulness is.
Really slow it down and experience the gratitude that really lands on you.
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This my friends is gratitude 100% fully encompassed in the body,
In abundance.
This is where we stay.
Let's stay in this moment for another couple of minutes by bringing the heartfulness and gratitude to all living beings and to ourselves.
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May the sense of heartfulness and gratitude be with you.
And rest assured it is always there for you whenever you need it.
Thank you for listening to me.
Thank you for changing yourself.
And thank you for changing the world.
Until next time,
Wish you all the best.
Thanks.
