Welcome.
Welcome to today's meditation.
Thank you for taking this time to sit.
This is how we make change.
We bring awareness and love.
It's a powerful way to make a difference in our life,
To grow,
To evolve.
So thank you.
Let's find a comfortable seated position.
We can broaden the shoulders,
Broaden the chest.
The spine grows tall,
Our sitting bones firmly connected into the ground.
Finding a comfortable position for the next 10 or 12 minutes.
Allow the breath to start expanding the ribs and stomach.
Today's meditation will be a meditation for calming the mind and opening the heart.
What a great combo,
Hey?
If we could have a calm mind and an open heart every day.
Hopefully we're headed in that direction.
Even just a few minutes a day,
It's so powerful.
So that's what we'll be exploring today.
We'll start today's meditation with pranayama,
With breath work to calm the mind,
To calm the nervous system,
To drop into the heart and allow for a deep peacefulness.
So we'll start with a square breath.
Squareish,
Maybe it's more like a rectangle.
We'll inhale for six seconds and hold for six seconds.
Then we'll exhale for seven seconds and hold for seven seconds.
I'll guide you to the first,
I'll do the counting on the first and then for the next few,
It'll be up to you if you want to go quicker or slower,
Please.
This is your practice,
This is your meditation.
I'll be counting on you for the next few seconds.
If you want to go quicker or slower,
Please.
This is your practice,
This is your meditation.
So I invite you to do what feels good for your body.
If we're activating the nervous system because we're holding too long,
Then go quicker.
No need to push ourselves too hard.
So let's do this together.
Take a deep inhale,
Exhale just a clear,
Deep inhale.
Inhale for six.
Inhale,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
Hold at the top.
Inhale for seven,
Exhale for seven,
Hold for seven,
Exhale for seven,
Hold for seven,
Seven second,
Exhale seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
Hold for seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale for six.
For six.
Finding your own rhythm,
Your own pace.
Feeling the belly and the chest.
Perhaps noticing the mind quieting down.
And if there are any thoughts in the background,
Just gently pulling the mind back to the counting,
The present moment.
Softening into the breaths.
Noticing any changes between the holds at the top and the inhales and exhales.
How is this affecting my body?
Just notice.
Bringing the mind back to the present.
Noticing serenity entering into the body.
A calm mind,
Relaxed jaw.
Whatever round we're on,
Wherever we are in our breath,
We'll do one more count of six or seven,
Just an exhale or an inhale.
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
We'll take a deep inhale together and audibly letting go of the practice.
We'll do one more deep inhale.
Ah,
Tension,
Release.
Finding a calm,
Reassuring breath and settling into a natural rhythm.
And I want you now to imagine,
Imagine that you're in this big,
Beautiful hot tub.
It's a big hot tub that can fit a lot of people.
You can feel the warm bubbles and the steam on your face as most of your body is inside.
You can feel the warmth on your feet and your knees and your joints.
Ah,
Feels good to be in this hot tub.
There might be colors,
Might be one of those fancy hot tubs.
And you notice that your hot tub is outside in the middle of this beautiful field at nighttime.
And you look up to the sky,
You can see a blanket of stars shimmering down,
Watching over you.
The cold night sky in your face.
And when you look back down into the hot tub,
You notice that you're surrounded.
Your hot tub is full of people from friends and family and people throughout your life that you loved,
That you still love,
That you have loved from your entire life,
From primary school or elementary school,
High school,
Past lovers,
Even just people on the street that you may have passed,
That you just gave a really good smile to.
You can see your family there,
Your parents maybe,
Your siblings,
Best friends.
As you look around the hot tub,
Everyone is here for you.
Smiling.
Everybody's smiling at you.
In this beautiful community of humans that you've created and cultivated throughout this life.
Everybody here for you.
Let me take a moment.
And each one of them beaming at you just mentions that we love you so much.
We're so happy that you're a part of our life.
You can't even imagine what we would do without you.
Maybe we're still close or maybe we've departed in our paths.
But we hope you know just how important you are to us.
We're sorry if we've never told you or not enough.
But we're telling you right now.
And we really love you.
You're a special human.
You're such a good friend.
Thank you.
Thank you for being here with us.
For taking this time.
And if you'd like you can take just a moment to smile back and address them and just let them know,
Hey,
I love you guys too.
I don't know who I would be without any of you.
All of you.
That each one of you has played a role in my life so important and so special.
And I'm sorry if I haven't told you enough.
But I love you.
And thank you.
Thank you.
And we can take a moment in our minds maybe to give each of them a hug or a bow.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So good to see you.
Maybe some of these people it's been a long time.
So good to see you again.
You look great.
Did you do something new with your hair?
And as we bow we can let them,
We can allow them to dissolve into the background.
Just the darkness comes over this beautiful darkness of our eyelids comes into the foreground.
And as we soak in whatever has come upon us during this meditation,
Whether it's love or kindness or peacefulness or distractiveness,
It doesn't matter.
Just allow whatever to be to be.
Enjoying this stillness can bring our hands to heart center.
And gently bow.
Bowing to this beautiful community that we've created.
This community of individuals that we've collected through our life.
These beautiful humans that have surrounded us.
They've chosen to be with us.
And as we bow we can take an intention for the day that at least one of these people in that hot tub today,
I'm going to send them a message,
A call,
A letter,
A voice memo to let them know how much I care about them and love them.
Even if it's just like,
Hey man,
I really love you,
Thanks for being around.
Or hey,
We haven't spoken in forever but I just want you to know how important you are during that time of my life.
Thank you.
Whoever that is will receive a beautiful message of love.
What a powerful gift to give someone.
Thank you for joining me here today.
Thank you for being a part of this meditation.
I'm sending you that same love.
The enlightened in me sees and honors the enlightened and the love in each and every one of you.
Namaste.
Enjoy your hot tub.
May you always have that space to go back to.
Aho.
Aho.
