Welcome to your meditation.
Please find a comfortable and stable seat.
Before anything,
Let's take a moment to observe how you are right now.
Many thoughts or not so many?
Lots of feelings or not that many?
How is your energy at this moment?
Just noticing without any judgment.
Observing what is.
Thoughts,
Feelings,
Energy.
It is nice to give yourself this time to train the mind,
To take a moment to become aware of how you are.
Are you comfortable?
Does anything need changing about your position?
Maybe an arm or a foot?
After this,
There is no need to move anymore.
Just remain as still as you can during the rest of this session.
The body relaxed.
The mind at ease.
Relaxing the shoulders.
Relaxing the chest.
Letting go of tension in the belly.
We always hold tension there.
Release the tension in the belly.
Letting go of tension in the hips and the legs.
In your arms and your hands.
Soften.
Notice where your body is touching the surface beneath you.
What are the touching points?
With the bed or the carpet,
Whatever you're on.
Just noticing,
Observing.
No need to do anything with this information.
Becoming a true observer.
Not stepping into anything.
And now,
Please bring to mind a place or a space that feels really good and safe.
This idea can bring you back to a holiday.
Or a specific place in nature.
Perhaps it's from a long time ago.
And maybe it's a place in your house.
Maybe you're there right now.
Whatever place you're choosing to think of.
You just feel so good there.
At ease.
Relaxed.
Safe.
Now,
Truly go to this place and feel.
Imagine.
Notice this place.
What makes this place so special?
Observe this feeling of feeling so at ease.
Can you notice this somewhere in the body?
The sensation of feeling good and at ease?
Maybe yes and maybe no.
Maybe you've never done this before and it's difficult to feel.
And that's okay.
We need to practice these things.
And when you can feel it,
Even if it's a little bit,
You can hold on to this feeling.
Even call upon this feeling outside of the meditation.
As when you practice,
You will start to know this feeling more and more.
Inviting you to take a deep in-breath.
Relax all is well.
And for the next part of our practice,
I invite you to visualize an apple.
The fruit.
We often compare the mind to a mental screen.
It's like you're leaning back in a theater chair,
Watching what comes up on the mental screen.
So visualize an apple on that mental screen.
You can clearly see the color,
The shape,
The skin.
Adding more and more details.
Visualizing,
Clearly seeing this apple.
Oh,
What a fascinating apple.
And now you may let go of this image of the apple.
It may fade out.
Let it fade out.
Where does it go?
And then notice,
Without forcing anything,
Notice what comes next to the mental screen.
What comes up on your mental screen when you let go of the apple?
Noticing what comes up,
Acknowledging,
And then letting that fade away as well.
Whether it's another image or a thought,
Sensation,
Whatever it is,
Let it pass.
And we keep observing the mental screen.
What is on your mind?
Staying in the role of the observer.
If something seems to be stuck,
It doesn't want to fade out,
You can gently ask,
What else is there?
If nothing comes,
Just wait.
Something will come up.
We have time.
There is no rush.
What else comes to mind?
We let it come up.
And then it fades out on the mental screen.
I'll leave a little bit of silence.
I'm here with you.
I'll leave a bit of silence so you can observe what comes up to the mental screen.
This all happens with ease.
We're not even trying too hard.
We're almost coming to a close of this session.
And you can feel a bit proud for another session of training the mind,
Tapping into more peace of mind that is already inside of you.
Letting go of the mental screen and observing how you feel.
Without any judgment,
Observing.
How you feel.
And the invitation is there to say something nice to yourself.
Just because.
If nothing comes and the mind is blank,
You could say,
I'm okay.
And then you might gently start deepening the breath.
Perhaps moving the fingers,
The toes,
Moving the head,
The shoulders.
Thanking yourself for another round of meditation.
Deepening the breath a bit more,
And then you may come out completely.