Peace Practice

A sweet practice, gently led by Judy, on peace and discovering the difference between an inner world of peace and the outer world of volatility. Experience a sense of stability inside, contrasting the outside world.

Transcript

Here we are at the Halifax Central Public Library.

We're getting ready for Peace Halifax and we're going to do a little meditation to get us in the mood.

So we'll begin our meditation just by sitting quietly in our chair and just allowing your body to relax so that it's not pinched or strained in any way.

Maybe pull your shoulders back or release your hands and just allow them to rest on your lap.

I'd ask you to breathe in to begin.

So a nice big breath in.

Hold it and then release very slowly.

So we begin to ground our awareness in the body.

Another breath in.

Breathe in peace.

Hold it and release.

To peace.

So become aware of the contour of your body against the seat where you're sitting.

Become aware of the environment around you.

Relax your body from the toes to the legs up to the tummy.

Your chest and shoulders and arms.

Your neck,

Find a position for your neck so it's upright but relaxed.

And then your face.

So releasing any tension in your jaw.

Relaxing your eyes.

And imagine a warm,

Comforting hand against your forehead.

Wiping away any tension in your mind.

Just become aware of your body and become aware of your breathing as you sit here to begin your meditation.

Already we're feeling more relaxed.

We've brought our thoughts away from whatever they were caught up in and focused our attention on our body.

Now I'm going to ask you to focus your attention further and see if you can detect your heartbeat.

Now imagine an invisible line from your heart to the center of the forehead.

Behind the eyes,

Which is where the thinking happens.

I'd like you to imagine a room in your head.

This room is clean and spacious and bright.

It's very quiet and it's very peaceful.

And you're sitting on a big comfortable chair in this room in your head.

Any sounds that are coming into this room from the outside world are coming in through speakers.

One on either side of the room where your ears are.

You're also hearing my voice now coming through the speakers into this room in your head.

In the room in your head it's very quiet,

Very still and very peaceful.

I'm going to ask you to imagine now the eyelids that are closed in front of you are becoming now a window.

I would like you to imagine looking through this window where the eyes are to the outside world.

I'd like you to imagine a scene in nature or in the city where you live or on the street where you live as you look out a favorite window.

I'd like you to imagine the world beyond the window.

I'd like you to imagine what's there.

Perhaps there's a tree or a little river or the ocean,

Maybe some sand,

Big blue sky,

Sun.

I'd like you to imagine a peaceful scene beyond your window.

Smile as you imagine,

As you feel the beauty of this peaceful scene.

And now I would like you to imagine that a storm is beginning outside.

You can see signs of the storm brewing,

So the clouds have come,

The sky's maybe a little dark.

The wind is beginning to blow,

So you see movement in the trees.

Perhaps there's a light skiff on the top of the ocean,

Bits of sea foam being blown around.

Well if there are any people outside your window,

You might see their hair blowing in the wind.

You might see umbrellas coming up now as the rain begins.

So the rain starts pouring down and you can hear it now beating against the window.

I'd like you to bring your awareness inside the room in your head where it's very peaceful and very quiet and you're warm and comfortable and dry in the room in your head.

But now turn your attention again outside,

Beyond the window.

You can see now that the storm is intensified greatly.

You can see people bent over against the wind,

Umbrellas doing what they always do,

Turning inside out,

Some even blowing away.

The rain is really pouring down now,

You can see puddles beginning to form on the ground.

If it's a nature scene,

You're seeing the trees are bending a little bit with the weight of the wind.

You might see evidence of the wind blowing leaves,

Maybe even branches breaking and blowing around outside.

You can see windshield wipers if there are cars back and forth,

Back and forth,

Trying to create visibility.

And once again,

You hear the sound beating against the window.

But inside the room,

Bring your attention back inside now,

It's very peaceful,

It's very quiet,

Very still.

In the room in your head,

You are calm,

You're in solitude,

You're dry,

You're warm,

You're very comfortable and content.

And yet you know there is a storm outside.

Play with this awareness for a moment.

Just imagine quickly that you can see the storm.

You become aware of the storm and all that's happening out there,

People getting wet,

Leaves flying around,

Branches breaking.

But bring your awareness now back inside to the calm,

Quiet,

Peaceful stillness of the room inside your head.

Back outside,

You see the storm.

You're aware of the storm,

You know it's there.

Come back inside to the quiet,

Peaceful room in your head.

I would like you now to stay in the room in your head just for another few seconds.

Just enjoy the quiet.

Become aware that this is in fact a sanctuary,

A home base,

A place you can go at will anytime,

Anyplace,

No matter what's happening outside of you,

A busy meeting,

A conflict,

A lot of noise,

Intense road traffic,

Maybe even some road rage.

It doesn't matter what's happening out there.

You always have the choice to bring your awareness inside to this room in your head.

It is our understanding in Raj Yoga meditation that this room inside your head is where the soul resides in the human body.

In fact,

The soul is just a point of spiritual energy,

The sentient,

Thinking being that I am.

But that spark of life energy sits in the front of the human brain.

The brain is the hardware,

The soul is the software.

Without me,

This body would not function.

With me,

My energy fires up the brain and the entire bioelectrical circuitry of my nerve system,

My entire body,

And make this body function.

But I,

As a being of energy,

Am still and silent.

At the very core of my being is peace.

Peace is not something I have to find outside of me.

Peace is something that is inside me,

Behind the noise of my own thoughts,

Behind the tumult of my own emotions.

Who is the one who is still here after all the emotions fade away?

Any big emotion comes like a storm and then it goes.

I am still here.

The silent observer self,

A tiny sparkling being of pure spiritual energy.

Once I remember this is who I am,

I can access this experience at will in the world at this time where we don't find that much peace.

And even when we find it in nature,

We don't get to be there all day.

We still have to come back and make supper for the kids,

Or we have to go to work,

Or we have to write a report.

So at will throughout my day,

I can just pull inside like a tortoise pulls its head inside a shell,

Just to have a moment of quick reflection,

Refreshment,

And reset my energy to the energy of peace and take it back out to the world around me.

This is how we will create peace in the world,

One second at a time,

One thought at a time.

Thank you for being with me.

Enjoy a peaceful day and remember you are a peaceful being.

Reviews

Thank you so much for that peaceful practice. It was exactly what I needed today to just slip away from the chaos going on externally. My own inner peaceful sanctuary. Namaste 🙏

Perfect in all ways...soothing voice, gentle background music. Loved the inner room metaphor and the storm. Thank you!

This was just what I needed to experience today. With the current tumult in the exterior world it felt good to find a place of stillness and calm within.

Loved this meditation! So peaceful

Very helpful imagery practice for newcomers to help grasp one of the important insights of mindfulness and meditation - that we are not our thoughts and that refuge from a sometimes-tumultuous world is always within us. Thank you!

Wow..good for you Halifax..I'm up here in Yellowknife...this is one of the best I've heard on insight timer..way to go.

This was great! Thank you!

I enjoyed this meditation so much! Such a unique and peaceful meditation. Thank you

This meditation was so lovely and is one I will return to when things get hectic - in my head or our in the world. What a sanctuary!

I loved this ! It was nice to know the recording was taken in Halifax,I’m in Montreal and felt connected from here ☺️ I felt a deep shift,and like the flip flop from storm to peace storm to peace. Thank you 🙏🏼

Thank you , what a wonderful deep journey in a short amount of time, I’ll carry this with me forever.. 💚

simply awesome ✌🏻

This is a wonderful practice and insightfully useful. The only issue I had was when I had beautiful imagery of my own outside the window it was difficult to concentrate when other images where being placed upon it. Probably not needed however it was still a wonderful practice!!

Thank you, beautiful, perfect meditation.

Nice visualization.

Lovely imagery. Felt it moved a little too quickly. Thank you. 🙏🏼

I love this practice. Beautiful guidance to return to a peaceful room inside. Thank you! 🙏

Fantastic place to go and clear your head and be at peace... thank you

Amazing. Will be my go to on difficult days. Thank you.