Guided Meditation on Impermanence

This is a guided meditation on impermanence & death. This powerful meditation can remind us of how extraordinary it feels to be alive right now in this moment.

Transcript

So this is a guided meditation on impermanence.

This is an ordinary moment.

If you can,

Close your eyes and just focus on the sensation of breathing.

Try to become aware of the breath,

The in-breath and the out-breath.

Just become aware of this ordinary process that seems so natural that we rarely even think of it.

And yet it's this process of breathing that keeps us alive throughout the ordinary moments of our day.

And now imagine next to you a large platform.

You're standing next to this large platform or a stage and it's empty,

There's nothing on it.

And I want you to imagine your favorite possessions.

This could be your computer,

Your watch,

Your smartphone,

Maybe it's a TV or your car.

Just imagine all of your favorite stuff.

And now imagine them being placed on this platform or on this stage one at a time.

And when they get placed there,

They simply disappear.

Everything that gets placed on the stage dissolves and just disappears.

Just imagine yourself for a moment seeing all of your stuff one by one being placed on there and then it's gone.

And how does that feel knowing all of your stuff is now gone?

And now I want you to imagine all of your friends,

All of your co-workers,

People that you know.

Just imagine their voices,

They're all talking to each other and they're sharing their stories.

And as they do this,

They're all slowly stepping on that stage in single file one by one.

And as they do,

They disappear one by one until they're all gone.

And after that,

I want you to imagine your family,

Your parents,

Siblings,

Children.

I want you to imagine their voices.

I want you to envision their smiles and feel the love that you have for each one of them.

Just imagine them all stepping on that stage,

Each disappearing one at a time.

And notice how now you're standing there next to that stage and you're all alone.

How does it feel now to know your friends and family,

They're all gone.

They've all stepped on that stage.

And I want you to picture the room where you are or the space where you are,

Your bed,

Your books,

All of your other possessions.

All of them on that stage now,

And they all disappear.

And you continue to scale back.

Picture your neighborhood,

Picture your yard,

The feeling of the sun on your face and the feeling of the wind on your skin and rain.

Everything,

Everything you see,

It's all on that stage and it all disappears.

And now as you stand there,

I want you to imagine your memories,

Your feelings,

All the knowledge you've gained from the books that you've read and the school classes that you've attended,

Every word you've ever heard,

Your entire vocabulary,

Every song you've ever listened to,

Every sound you've ever heard,

All being put on that stage.

And it's all disappearing.

And as each of these things goes one by one,

Now there's just you.

And it's just you standing there.

And now you walk onto that stage and you slowly disappear.

And then the stage is the only thing that's there and then the stage disappears.

And now that's it.

There's nothing.

There's nothing left.

There's just the awareness of emptiness,

The emptiness of all that is.

I want you to notice what you feel as you become aware of this emptiness.

And death will come in an ordinary moment just like this one.

Now bring your awareness back to where you are,

The room that you're in,

The space where you are.

Open your eyes if you had them closed.

I want you to just look around for a moment and notice how wonderful it is to just be alive.

This is a simple guided meditation practice that can serve as a reminder that death will come in an ordinary moment,

A moment just like this one.

But for now,

This ordinary moment is anything but ordinary because this is an extraordinary moment of being alive.

And this is the nature of impermanence.

Things are continually changing.

One thing ends and another thing starts,

But in the end it's all impermanent.

And what there is is emptiness.

I want you to think about that,

To just enjoy the feeling of how great it is to just be here with everything just the way that it is,

With the bank account just the way that it is,

The friendships just the way that they are,

You know,

The student loans that you have just the way that they are,

Everything just the way that it is,

And how good that can feel.

And this is the meditation on impermanence.

Reviews

Very profound. Quite a high level meditation

Thank you 🙏🏽

Great voice.. timing.. music. Beautifully done

I found this meditation/visualization yesterday after learning of the peaceful death of my 95 year old father. It was very sad but perfect. Just what I needed. Thank you.

Hard to listen to the first time - but I keep coming back to it, this meditation helps me to be grateful for every moment, every day for everything positive or negative

Wonderful awakening

Very thought provoking, thank you. I will return often.

Thank you so much!

Simple and great... Loved it.. Ordinary becomes extraordinary...

Great and simple

Very Powerful! Was feeling kinda blah, yeah... but now I'm smiling, now I'm happy that my son and husband are in the next room, I'm lying in my comfy bed listening to the traffic. An ordinary moment turned extraordinary. Thank you, and Namaste! 🙏

Reality check for sure! What a deep message in something so short!

I liked this meditation, makes me appreciate what I am and have in my life and yes all will someday go away, but that's not news. Thank you, enjoy the day, enjoy the moment! 🌸

Very intense. Great exercise to be aware of how impermantente life is and being invited to enjoy it now.

Great meditation. Rocked this one twice today.

This was so touching and so needed.
I try and appreciate my life but this really made me think!
Thank you!!
Awesome 🙌🏼

This is challenging, but effective.

Such an important reminder. Thanks. Conor Graaf Pietermaritzburg South Africa

Thank you for this! Some of my family lost their house and three pets in fire last night and this reminder came at the perfect time. 🙏🏼💗✨