Going Within V1 - Live Meditation (For Reuben's Circle)

This is part of the recording from Reuben's live event on Insight Timer in May 2021. It starts with relaxation, notions of self-compassion, moving into anchor points within the body, then into some narrowed concentration practice to prepare us for finding the dimensions of stillness and space within us.

Transcript

Welcome to Ruben's Circle.

My name is Ruben.

This is your circle,

And on behalf of all the admin volunteers that make this circle possible,

You are so welcome.

We are here for you,

Because you are here for you,

Ready to put the practice in.

The following meditation was recorded live from one of my live events here on Insight Timer.

Enjoy the practice.

I choose to step out of the busy world of doing and into myself,

Into being.

This is my time.

This is my time.

And making a little commitment to yourself that whatever the thoughts,

Whatever the content,

They are there to pull us away from the practice.

And we need to have those thoughts in order for us to notice and gently return our awareness.

And so,

The first phase is one of relaxation.

Relaxation is so important.

When we are holding ourselves lightly,

Meditation becomes so much easier.

On the countdown of five to one,

Every time you hear the number,

Allow your body to relax in preparation for coming deep into this meditation that is a gift for you and from you.

Relax five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

And one.

Noticing what you can see behind your closed eyes.

Noticing what you can see behind your closed eyes,

Patterns,

Shapes,

Colours.

Here I am in this moment,

Relaxed.

Here I am focusing attention on purpose.

Noticing any thoughts and allowing them to come and go.

Every time you are hooked by a thought into the past,

The future,

Or even judging this very moment now,

Maybe this very practice.

When you notice that you are distracted,

It is a win and an opportunity to gently notice one more time what you can see behind your closed eyes.

The thought liberates itself because of your focus.

As you notice what you can see behind your closed eyes,

You will become familiar of the activity of your mind.

Pictures,

Streams of words,

Sounds in your head,

Like a recording.

Just noticing what you can see behind your closed eyes and being curious to whether your thoughts are more like pictures,

Streams of words,

Or sounds.

There are some thoughts and here I am.

I allow my mind to do what it will,

Whilst I focus gently and on purpose in this moment.

Gently letting go of that little experiment.

And now on the countdown of 5 to 1,

Again as you hear the numbers,

Check in with yourself and allow your body to relax,

Coming deeper and deeper into this moment.

5,

4,

3,

2,

And 1.

Noticing how in this moment you are held by the flow of gravity with a particular experience here of how your feet make contact with where they are resting.

Noticing as your feet make contact with the floor,

Allowing your awareness to seep into these places.

And the more you feel this,

The more grounded you become.

The less in your head you become,

The more in this moment you are.

Noticing what happens to your awareness as I get you to acknowledge the different areas of pressure between each foot.

Do nothing with this,

No need to balance this out,

Just noticing the different areas of pressure from each foot and noticing how your anchor becomes more alive,

More vibrant as you gently rest your awareness here.

It's like your feet,

Where they make contact with where they are resting,

Are rooted and you may like to even,

If you are a visual person,

To imagine roots coming out from the bottom of your feet going all the way into the ground.

You are grounded in this moment.

Despite what your mind may tell you with your direct experience here,

You are anchored to this very moment.

Just anchoring with this narrowed concentration on your feet,

How they make contact with the floor,

Feeling the pulling sensation here.

Almost like gravity gets stronger,

But your awareness is increasing.

You may like to notice how your arms and hands have been resting in this moment and acknowledge too that your hands,

As you take attention to them,

Are also gently held by the flow of gravity.

What do you notice more,

The pulling sensation at your hands or the energy coming from your hands,

The warmth coming from your hands or tingling sensations?

What do you prefer?

What's easiest for you to connect to?

Remembering these are just experiments to get us to deepen our practice.

In this moment,

Do you have more of a connection to your feet and how they make contact with where they are resting from the flow of gravity?

Or is there more of a connection to your hands?

Or do you prefer both points of connection at the same time?

It's your choice.

Understanding how you make contact with where you're resting,

How you're holding your body,

Allowing your awareness to be fully aware of your body being alive,

The energy in your body,

However you perceive that warmth,

Tingling sensations,

Just how you are holding your body in this moment.

The more in your body you are,

The less in your head you are,

The more in your body you are,

The more able we are to drop further into a space of stillness and observation.

Noticing the different sensations in how you are holding your body with regards to how your clothing is touching your skin,

This whole landscape of different experiences,

So many.

And the more you tune into these,

The more embodied you come,

The more embodied you become.

Remembering that everything in this practice is just an experiment,

Just an experiment.

Now getting a sense of the parts of your body that are absolutely still,

Just like a statue,

Absolutely still.

Here's the pull of gravity gently holding you in this position,

The multitude of sensations here as well,

Areas of pressure and weight,

And here's the parts of my body absolutely still.

I am aware.

I am embodied.

There's nothing else to do in this moment,

This is it.

Just this experiment right now,

This experiment now.

And now on the count of five to one,

Allow your awareness to go right the way down,

Past the bottom of your breath,

Into that place deep within where there is stillness or space,

Wherever you notice that.

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

And one,

Down,

All the way down,

Down below any energies in motion,

Below any energies in motion,

Where there is just stillness and space.

If you find your mind trying to understand or get you to a particular experience,

Let it go.

You can find stillness and space by being with your breath.

There's the movement of my breathing,

And there is space and stillness around it.

There's the experience of how I'm holding my body in this moment,

And there is stillness and space around me.

There's the experience of how I am holding my body in this moment,

And there's stillness and space within me.

Stillness around you,

Space around you,

Stillness around your point of connection,

Your anchor that you're focusing upon right now,

And space around this.

Stillness within you,

Space within you.

This is where we find our spirituality,

Beyond the level of thought.

Seeing or hearing the words,

Thank you,

Appearing in your mind.

And reaching for those words,

Regardless of the other thoughts that your mind may give you.

This is the practice.

As we draw to the end of this meditation,

Acknowledging some of the points of connection that nurtured you and will nurture you again.

This meditation has come to an end.

Reviews

I’ve played this several times now and find it calming.
I’m beginning to understand what focusing and finding the stillness is for me.
Thank you Reuben
🙏

Love every second🙏

Blissful! Thank you! 🙏🏻

Thank. You. 🙏❤️☺️

Loved this excellent guidance thank you 🙏

Excellent guidance for deep stillness!

Oh thank you! I appreciated this meditation so much. You really have a beautiful gift. Between your gift and my allowance this gave me a perfect space and moment to become so deeply still & present. It filled me spiritually. Thank you again my friend. ♡♡♡♡♡♡

The connection with stillness and space was wonderful. Thank you

That's awesome and an easy going, but very deep practice.
Wow
Thanks Reuben.

So enveloping. Thank you. I feelcalm and in the moment now.

🙏💖

You practically praised our thoughts because of them giving us the gift of gently returning to the focuses. My thoughts were so light, almost weightless. But what delighted me about this practice tonight was that I went down and down and dropped right into the stillness AND space in my body. I just experienced it without labeling it, without trying to describe it, especially to myself or asking questions like why stillness and space there? No, I was there. I allowed it to be. I experienced it and didn’t have to talk about it. Just BE in it!!! It was beautiful. It was within me!?!?

Amazing thank you 🙏 took me to a deeper level

Another gem I never listened to before. The beginning was sooooo calming and relaxing. I’m sure the remainder was just as good, but I fell asleep after the first countdown.

Relaxing thank you 🙏