Hi there,
Paul Cullis here,
Sacred Spiral Yoga.
Warm welcome to this meditation.
It'll be quite short today,
And we're going to focus on the word calm.
So this is an inspiration from one of my new courses,
10 Days,
10 Ways to a Calmer,
Happier You.
I'd like to invite us to take our seated posture,
Whether cross-legged or sitting in a chair.
Be comfortable.
Make sure you won't be disturbed for around about 15 minutes.
And let's settle down and just be present-minded.
So be in the space.
It's so important to just come into the present moment.
The past really has gone,
And the future hasn't happened yet.
So it's an opportunity to find a natural way to balance,
Center,
And calm.
Just to help us a little bit,
There's a couple of techniques that we can look at quickly.
The first one is to give yourself a nice,
Gentle smile.
So we all love to laugh and tell jokes because it makes us feel better.
So let's do that as a technique.
It's an ancient Chinese practice called the inner smile.
There's a little bit more to it,
But for today we'll keep it simple and just give ourselves a nice,
Comfortable,
Easy,
Loving,
Warm smile.
Softening the eyes and the corners of the mouth,
Catching the feeling of the smile,
And noticing how the body relaxes,
The nervous system releases.
And then we can also go to the breath.
So a simple way to just emphasize the exhalations a little.
And when you breathe out,
Almost to add in a slight sort of that ah sound when we sigh.
So take a nice,
Comfortable breath,
And then just flush the air out.
And really let it go,
And have the intention to release.
Release stored tension in the muscle groups.
Release mentally,
Emotionally,
And physically.
Try to relax and release the skin all over the body.
The skin is actually muscular,
And when we release the skin,
It has a tremendous effect on the nerves of the body.
So combine that with your comfortable sighing exhalation.
Let's do that again.
So we take an easy,
Full breath,
And simply flush out the air.
Ah.
Be present-minded,
Relaxed,
Easy,
And comfortable.
So let's contemplate for a moment that word calm.
Feel the serenity associated with the word calm.
There's a sense of peacefulness,
Balance.
What would it be like to feel calm physically,
Mentally,
Emotionally,
And in spirit?
Feel the stillness come as we contemplate that word calm.
Keep the breath now gentle,
Easy,
And comfortable.
And just allow the breath to become a little slower.
Allow the breath to relax.
And the physical body and the mind and the emotions tend to follow.
So we can continue now,
And I'd like us to imagine in your mind's eye,
Or perhaps you can see wherever you are,
That wonderful blue of the heavens,
Of the sky.
Contemplate the enormous dome of the heavens with that ineffable blue of the sky.
Feel the serenity and calm of that color blue.
It's sometimes useful to look at photographs or even videos of a clear blue sky,
Nature's surroundings.
So what we can do is,
In your imagination,
Your mind's eye,
Bring that blue,
That magnificent dome of heaven,
Bring it down to your body.
Make it small to fit over your head,
The top of your head,
The crown of the head.
And then I want us to take that magnificent blue right into the head.
Feel that color of the dome of heaven coming down,
Softening and quietening the jumpy thoughts,
If there are still a little scattered and jumpy.
Perhaps there's already a sense of greater calmness mentally.
The blue color is cleansing,
Balancing and healing.
Allow that blue,
That dome of heaven blue,
To saturate through the head,
Through your mental space.
Calm and settle all thought processes.
Then I want us to continue with that color down through into the body,
Slowly down to your hands and slowly down to your feet.
Feel your whole body filling up and saturating.
See that color in your mind's eye,
Cleansing,
Balancing,
Restoring,
Healing.
And we can always think of this as that very blue of the sky.
And now lastly I'd like us to take that color outside of the body or continue it through the body,
As if it was expanding out of your skin into the space around your body,
Forming a large sphere of blue,
Heavenly blue,
Calm,
Centered and balanced,
Quiet,
Serene.
Feel how the systems of the body have slowed down a little.
There is a sense of balance coming,
Present-minded feeling into the color.
Our intention is very powerful,
So let us hold a gentle intention to find equilibrium with these techniques in this meditative process,
In spirit or intent,
Mentally,
Physically and emotionally.
Know that you can return to this space any time that you need to.
And as we practice,
We become more familiar with the meditative process and the state of mind associated with these various meditations and therefore it becomes easier,
Especially in times of difficulty,
Stress,
Worry,
Fear,
Anxiety.
So I'd encourage you to practice regularly and also to use this meditation in combination with the other meditations in the free section of the Insight Timer profile for Paul Kalla's Sacred Spiral Yoga and also to have a look at the courses that are available.
Warm wishes and rich blessings.
Stay well until we meet again next time.
Namaste.
