Refuge Recovery Mindfulness: Part 5 Death Meditation

This is a reading of the Mindfulness Meditation Instructions "The Body- Part 5 the Corpse/Death Meditation" spoken from page 198 of the Refuge Recovery book, by Noah Levine. Meditations to be read at meetings can be found after the meeting format on page 227.

Trigger Warning: This practice may include references to death, dying, and the departed.

Transcript

Hello friends and welcome back to the reading of the mindfulness meditation instructions from the Refuge Recovery book written by Noah Levine.

This is part 5 of the sections from the reading of the body.

This will conclude this portion and this can be found on page 198.

Part 5,

Corpse,

The Death Meditation.

If you are sitting or lying down in a comfortable place,

Allow your eyes to close and relax into the present time experience.

Feel your breath as it comes and goes.

Notice the heaviness of the physical body,

The pressure against the cushion or floor.

Feel the effects of gravity on your body.

Begin to imagine or visualize your body as a corpse.

See your body as motionless and inanimate.

Acknowledge that this is the inevitable destiny of the body and breathe in and out of the place of acceptance of death.

Now begin to see your body as dead for several days,

Bloated and beginning to rot.

Imagine your body as lifeless and in an advanced stage of decomposition.

Allow your imagination to be as graphic as you'd like,

Worms eating your flesh,

Maggots and so on.

Then move on to seeing your body as a skeleton,

All the flesh and blood are gone,

Bones and ligaments alone remaining,

Even the bones are beginning to crumble,

Eventually falling apart and scattering until finally only dust remains.

Allow some time,

Allow the reflection to end and return to mindfulness of your breath and your body in the present moment.

And remember friends,

This meditation is meant to bring appreciation and preciousness to life.

By acknowledging death and decay,

We remember the importance of each moment of life.

And that my friends concludes the reading of this portion,

The mindfulness meditation instructions part one,

The body.

The next reading will begin with part two,

The feeling tone.

Stay well friends.