Hello and welcome.
The following is a guided meditation by Renee Seals,
A somatic movement educator,
Energy worker,
And astrologer.
This meditation is intended to help support your embodied meditation practice.
If in the recording you are prompted to do something that doesn't feel good for your body,
Please adapt and modify to make it work for you.
Please also note that the content of these meditations sometimes explores deep and subtle states and memories,
And sometimes guided visualizations.
You are encouraged to work with discernment as you practice with them.
If any of the guidance Renee offers feels too activating or uncomfortable,
Please listen to your body's knowing and pause the recording until a later time if you wish to return to it.
These guided meditations range anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes and do not require any supplementary equipment to participate.
We hope you enjoy.
Hello and thanks for listening.
This is Renee and this is a guided meditation on finding the calm in chaos.
So I offer these guided meditations as body-based practice.
They're somatic meditations and what this is is an approach to mindfulness and a state of meditative awareness that comes through the body and comes through sensation.
So as we work together,
I'm going to invite you to bring your attention to different places in your body and use visualization and your imagination.
I really want to encourage you to be comfortable for these meditations.
I think that's important and to not force your body to do anything that doesn't feel natural for you.
So go ahead and take your time to figure out how you want to begin.
You might choose to sit cross legs on the floor or cushion and you can definitely lie down.
You might want to move around or stand up,
However you want to be.
And then let's just take a minute to kind of center in once you've found your space to just feel where you have arrived.
And this could include looking around and seeing where you are and just marking for yourself what this space feels like,
What you notice,
What you hear,
What kind of shapes or sounds are present,
What draws your attention.
And if you're in a space that is a familiar space for you,
You might locate yourself just talking to yourself like,
Here I am in my home or here I am in this garden,
Wherever you happen to be,
And name it for yourself.
And once you've done that,
See if you can reach out to the space around you with some kind of greeting.
And so this might be looking to see where the four directions are,
Acknowledging each of them,
Or somehow greeting the space in a way that feels relevant to you,
Acknowledging that the space is in a relationship with you too,
That you're occupying it.
And in this greeting there's the recognition that you are in relationship.
And of course,
Relationship is happening all the time.
It doesn't just happen between people.
It happens between thoughts and ideas and within our own bodies and of course our bodies to the environment and the larger world.
So as you acknowledge your relationship to this space,
Acknowledge it.
Hey,
How's it going?
Thanks for having me.
And then we'll start to turn our attention inwards.
And if it feels comfortable to close your eyes,
You can close your eyes.
You can simply just let your eyes soften.
And whether the eyes are open or closed,
Try and relax the front of your face and feel that your eyeballs and your cheekbones and the space just behind your forehead,
That there's the potential for breath there and there's kind of a broadening or a widening and a releasing of any forward moving or attentive kinds of sensations.
And then begin to bring your attention into your breath.
And you don't need to change your breath at all.
When we bring attention to things,
They change anyway.
It's the nature of being observed.
So as you bring attention to your breath,
You might notice that you're not really feeling that way.
You're feeling that way when you're breathing.
And so you're feeling that way when you're breathing.
And so it's the nature of being observed.
So as you bring attention to your breath,
You might notice it's been a while since I took a deep breath,
Or gosh this feels lovely to breathe into this part of my body.
And just like a moment ago,
You were greeting the space that Now feel that the touch of your breath greets your inner body.
And as you inhale,
Say hello.
Say hello to your body from the inside.
Feel the way that your breath moves,
Where it expands,
Where it grows.
And as you exhale,
The invitation is to let go of any mental activity that's taking you anywhere else.
So as you inhale,
You're feeling the sensation of your breath traveling into your body,
Taking up space,
Greeting your body from the inside.
And as you exhale,
You're letting go of worry,
Anxiety,
To-do lists,
Preoccupations,
Distractions.
And I kind of imagine this unidentifiable trash heap pouring out of my brain.
Maybe you have a different imagination.
But it's all the clutter in there.
It's all the words.
It's all the constant chatter that happens in our brains.
And one way to think about what we're doing right now is that we're attuning to presence.
And presence simply is.
So as you inhale,
You just feel your breath and you arrive with it.
You're present with it.
And then we're practicing presence.
And practicing presence has this need to let go and to notice when we're holding onto preoccupation and distraction.
So all the thinking.
And discipline,
Especially when it comes to our minds,
Really kind of needs to happen moment to moment,
Instant to instant.
And if you've ever tried to meditate before,
You know that thoughts come in basically immediately.
And so the point of meditation is not to stop your thinking at all.
That's almost impossible.
But the point is really to just be aware of what your mind is doing.
And your mind and your body are not separate.
So when you think about something,
Typically you have some kind of physical or emotional response and of course emotion lives in the body so those aren't separate either.
And one of the things that happens when we practice meditation is we recognize recurrent thoughts and their associated sensations.
And as you practice inhaling and just being present with the sensation of your breath,
This is a tool.
And it's a place where you can come back to something that you can ground in.
It's very simple.
It's just feeling your breath and arriving with it.
And then in the moments between,
Whether this is a number of breaths that you take between these real present breaths or whether it's just in your exhale,
There's kind of a cataloging and a noticing of,
Well,
What's present right now?
What are all the thoughts that are here?
What language is kind of spilling through my body or my brain?
And you might even need to tell yourself,
I can come back to that later.
And then you want to replace the thinking sensation with the presence sensation.
So you feel the sensation of a thought and you replace it with the sensation of your breath.
And this way you're simply inviting your consciousness to reside in the present moment.
And you might find that thoughts become further and fewer between.
And as you practice,
There's less that's catching your attention or less that you're grabbing onto.
And then you can let your consciousness of presence and the sensation of your breath just continue into the exhale.
And just like you would hold a dear friend who you haven't seen for a long time,
And there is tenderness and sweetness,
See if you can bring this quality into your breathing.
So as you inhale,
Allow the touch of your breath to be sweet.
So if it's comfortable for you,
Bring your hands and let them rest on your heart space over your chest.
And now just start to breathe into this space and let any kind of associations just rise.
So as you breathe into your chest,
Notice what feelings come up,
Notice what thoughts,
What images.
And if a lot comes up,
Then continue to just check back in with the sensation of your breathing.
And if not that much comes up,
Then just be present here.
So we'll take the next minute or so of breathing just to activate the heart center.
And this is of course where the organ of your heart is in your chest.
And it's also the emotional heart center.
And as you breathe in and as you breathe out,
You can just continue thinking about sweetness and inviting that quality in.
But you might also want to invite in the idea or the memory of someone or something that makes you feel sweet.
So the person that's dear to you,
Your favorite pet,
Your favorite place on earth.
And the feeling that we're looking for here is one of a steady kind of loving attachment.
And the feeling is,
Ugh,
This connection is really nice and it's not going anywhere.
So as you inhale into your chest,
You might just feel that expansion.
And as you exhale,
Allow yourself to relax and you could even use the message,
This love isn't going anywhere.
So as we breathe into and activate the heart center,
The imagination is and hopefully the sensation is that there's loving kindness,
There's sweetness,
And that that love and kindness and sweetness is steady.
And in whatever way makes sense to you,
Call this in.
And you can use your imagination,
You can use your hands on your chest and just feel their steadiness and their presence.
You can use words to tell yourself.
You can just use my voice and the feeling of your breath.
But let your body fill with sweetness and with love and with kindness.
And then know that those feelings are steady.
They're not going anywhere.
They're for you.
You can find them anytime you need.
So I'd like to invite you to spend as long as you need with that.
And if you need a little bit longer,
Feel free to pause the recording and come back when you're ready.
My hope is that you can get yourself to a place where your heart center feels expanded and soft and warm and where you feel steady.
So your emotional,
Mental,
Physical energy.
Of course there's always movement,
But there's just a kind of safe feeling,
An anchoring feeling.
And now see yourself as a point of light.
And you might imagine just the sky or something and that you're a star or a point of light.
And in your imagination,
In your mind's eye,
Visualize other people or favorite animals or places and their location,
So their proximity to you,
And map in your head.
You might choose your family or favorite friends or something like this.
And if you don't know exactly where they are,
That's fine.
But kind of see the general direction where they are and then imagine them as points of light.
And now imagine that everybody and everything,
So if these are places that you're imagining,
It doesn't have to be people or living beings at all,
But that these places and beings are inhaling and they're being filled with love and they're being filled with kindness and they're being filled with sweetness.
And then as they exhale,
Everybody's getting steady.
And in the steadiness,
There are rays that kind of extend out and connect all the points to each other.
And so as you inhale,
You feel yourself filling with sweetness and with kindness.
And as you exhale,
You imagine the steadiness,
Reaching out,
Expressing out,
And connecting you to all the other things and the people that you love.
And they're doing this simultaneously.
So everybody is getting softer and sweeter and they're filling with kindness.
And then everybody is trusting and they're steady and they're connecting.
And you can let this imagination spread out as big and as far as you want.
And so it might just be your immediate family,
But it could be as big as the whole world.
And as you inhale,
You feel your heart center softening and filling with kindness and filling with sweetness.
And as you exhale,
You tell yourself,
This is mine.
This is available to me at any time.
It's steady.
It's not going anywhere.
And there's plenty of it to share.
And so you can feel your own steadiness and your own sweetness becoming this ray that connects you to another point of light.
And as soon as that connection is made,
You open and you get to receive their sweetness and their steadiness as well.
Until you see everybody moving together.
So everybody in unison inhaling and feeling themselves fill with kindness and fill with sweetness and knowing that they're safe,
That they're steady.
And then everybody all at once relaxing,
Anchoring,
And sharing and reaching out and connecting in.
And the feeling is that there is kind of a lattice or a network.
And which way things are moving doesn't matter.
They're moving in all directions.
And there's a simultaneous expanding and an inhaling and filling with sweetness and an anchoring and a knowing that there's safety and a reaching out and a connecting.
And as you imagine this,
You can remind yourself that everybody else alive right now is going through something.
And whatever you're going through,
You're going through it.
And whatever they're going through,
They're going through it.
And you probably know in your own felt sense,
In your own experience,
That regardless of what you're going through,
If it feels like there's sweetness and if it feels like there's steadiness,
Whatever the experience is,
Is going to be a little bit easier.
So as we imagine this lattice or this network of beings and places and all that we love,
There's also a prayer.
And the prayer is for easefulness and trust and a knowing that there is love and kindness and sweetness.
That every single person and animal and plant and place knows its own connection to love,
To kindness,
To sweetness,
That it doesn't doubt it.
And that that feeling is so steady that it's easy to share and it's easy to connect and it's really easy to feel happiness when other beings or people or places are feeling that way too.
Steady and easeful sweetness.
Right.
So when we're in chaotic conditions,
This kind of practice might not have so long.
We might not have 25 minutes to really just drop in and anchor.
And sometimes conditions are extremely frightening and challenging in other ways.
So what I want to invite you to do right now is make a memory for yourself.
And in this memory that you're making,
Feel all of the sensations of internal steadiness,
Of internal ease,
Of sweetness and kindness that grows inside of you,
And the knowing that it's there.
And this is the impression that we want to keep is the knowing and the trust.
And so feel where that is in your body.
Maybe bring your hands to the places that you feel trust.
And if it makes sense to you to create kind of a visual map in your imagination to see whatever it is that you see,
Whatever images arise with this,
That's a way to locate.
And if you liked the idea of a network and this interconnecting constellation of beings holding space for sweetness and steadiness together,
Then feel that and notice how it feels.
And when you discover any kind of somatic,
This is a body space that feels studying to you,
Say hello to it and build a relationship and thank it.
And if there are any images or words or practices,
Do the same thing.
So it's just building a relationship to the tools that you have.
And when and if you find yourself in a situation that is activating for you,
That's bringing a lot up,
You can call upon these tools.
You can call upon these places in your body,
These images,
These ideas.
And even just one or two breaths could be helpful to breathe in sweetness,
To remember that it's there for you and to exhale and find steadiness.
And this truly is a practice in today's world.
There are zero guarantees.
And when there are zero guarantees,
There's really nothing to lose.
So let this come in,
This steadiness and this sweetness.
Why wouldn't you feel this way,
Even if the whole world is chaos?
Especially if the whole world is chaos.
You can breathe in and find sweetness for anything and breathe out and trust that that sweetness is there.
Please feel free to stay with this meditation longer.
And if you're ready to close,
Then allow your eyes to open.
They've been shut.
And then again,
See the space that you're in.
And in whatever way makes sense,
Allow your inhale to come in and imagine it kind of expanding out and extending out into the space.
And you can thank the space for holding you and any associations that you have to the space of what it means or what it's gone through or who's been there,
Who will be there.
Any ideas of tenderness that come with that,
That's the thing to acknowledge.
Thanking the space for being there,
Thanking whoever has helped create it,
Whoever has occupied it before or will in the future.
And then use your eyes or your hands and just greet your body and we'll just say thanks to our bodies for housing us,
Housing our experiences,
Being multifaceted beings that have all kinds of different experiences.
And many of them are very not embodied or physical,
But our bodies carry it all.
So thanking your body and remembering any places or sensations that held steadiness or sweetness for you and thanking those places.
And in whatever way makes sense for you,
A gesture to close of marking the end of your meditation.
Thanks so much for listening.
These meditations are always made for the new moon and the full moon.
And this particular meditation is made for the new moon on April 15th,
2018.
It's a new moon in Aries.
And if you want to know more about the astrology,
You can listen to my podcast and a collection of audio horoscopes for all 12 signs.
But this is a time on earth when there is a lot of chaos and there's a lot of suffering.
And the more centered and steady and loving we can each be for each other,
The more we can build networks that are resilient.
And I don't know about you guys,
But I think that this is pretty much the biggest and best hope that we have.
So I hope that you can practice this,
Adapt it to suit your needs,
And share it with the people that you care about and invest yourself in creating networks of steadiness and sweetness and kindness.
Thanks so much for listening,
And until the next time,
Bye for now.
