Return To Light Meditation

Find your way home to center and balance in this relaxing meditation practice. Selena [Last Name] lovingly guides you inward — through a gentle awareness of your thoughts, body, and emotions — before opening you to the light that lives within, pouring through your entire being.

Transcript

Let's just place our hands on our hearts and of course if you can't move your body you can always visualize anything that we're doing physically. Take a slow deep breath in. Hold the breath for just a moment. Relax the shoulders and then exhale slowly. Allow all of the air to be released. Inhale deeply. Pause and hold for just a moment. Exhale slowly and completely. One more breath like this. Inhale. Hold. Relax the face, The throat and whenever you feel ready release the breath. If the eyes are open you may wish to close them. Maybe you can sense the beating of your heart. The gentle expansion and contraction of the rib cage with the breath. Notice what's happening in the physical body and if you wish to relax the hands down that's perfectly okay. Let the body feel comfortable. If you're seated you may wish to sit tall. Bring some aliveness into the body. As best as you can without judging, Notice different sensations in the body. What do I mean by not judging in this context? If you find an area that maybe is achy or there's some pain or tension, Rather than meeting it as something is wrong or something needs to change or be fixed, Can you practice noticing it as sensation? Here is heaviness. Here is tightness. Here is heat or cool. Just notice different sensations in the body. You may even notice areas that feel far away or numb. Gently move your awareness through the whole body for these next few breaths. Really sense the body as opposed to just having a mental thought about it. Can you feel the sensations in your body? If the hands are still holding the heart and you wish to relax them down, Please do so. Let's take a deep breath in and out. As we move the awareness now to the mind, Rather than judging the thoughts as good or bad, Can you notice the thoughts as if they are clouds in the sky? So often we spend our days believing thoughts as they arise without having inquiry around them, Without questioning the mind. We just believe it. So right now let's practice being the witness to the mind. The thoughts pass like clouds, Meaning there's nothing for us to grasp, To hang on to and think about more. We notice the thought and then we practice allowing it to pass through our awareness where we will probably notice another thought. It's as if you are the infinite sky, The infinite blue sky, Eternal in your nature, And the thoughts are these clouds that come and go. And there's no right way to have this experience. Let's take another deep breath in and out. Maybe sigh on the exhale. Become aware now of any emotions that are present. Sometimes our emotions feel muddled like a pool of muddy water. We can't distinguish what we're feeling. We just might notice discomfort or expansion. Can you become aware in this moment of any emotions that are present? And if you're having difficulty having a sense of emotion, Bring your awareness to the physical body. Maybe there's an area where you feel a strong heaviness. And as you feel that heaviness, Maybe it's in the chest, You realize, Ah, This feels like sadness. Or maybe there's a knot in the belly and you have the sense, Ah, This feels like fear. And you don't need to be able to name the emotion. Just explore through the sensations of your body what emotions are here in this moment, Knowing that there are no bad or wrong emotions. For these next moments, We will practice becoming aware of emotion and setting aside any story the mind might be telling about it. Oh, I feel this way because of so-and-so or this thing happened. Can you practice feeling emotion in your body and then letting go of whatever story the mind is telling? And just as we imagined ourselves as this infinite blue sky and the thoughts as clouds, We can also experiment with the emotions as clouds as well. Nothing to grasp here. Notice, Allow it to be there. And then maybe you notice something else happening inside. Let's take a deep breath in and out. Sigh on the exhale. Ah. I'll take another breath like that. And now we will move into the four-sided breath. Whatever you're feeling in this moment, Whatever you're thinking is okay. There's no need to try to change it. We'll breathe in for approximately four counts. Then we'll pause the breath for four. Exhale for four. And then again, Pause and hold for four. As you follow my lead, I invite you to find a rhythm, A count that feels relaxed in your body. If possible, We'll breathe in and out of the nose. Let's take a deep breath in. A full breath out. And we'll begin. Inhale through the nose for four, Three, Two, One. Pause. Two, Three, Four. And then we exhale. Four, Three, Two, One. Pause. Two, Three, Four. Inhale for four. Pause and hold the breath. Exhale for four. Pause and hold. Inhale for four, Three, Two, One. Pause. Relax the shoulders, The jaw. Exhale for four, Three, Two, One. Pause. Inhale. Pause. Exhale. And pause. I invite you to continue in this way. Count in your mind. Shoulders are relaxed. Face is relaxed. Throat is relaxed. Allow a slight space between the teeth as you continue to breathe in this way. You may wish to keep the eyes closed, But roll the gaze up between the eyebrows to the Ajna Chakra if you wish. We'll be here for a couple more minutes. Again, This breathing technique, We wish to be relaxed. So find a count. Find a rhythm that allows you to soften into the stillness. Shoulders are relaxed down. One more complete round of breath like this. And then just breathe naturally. Allow the body to be still and relaxed at the same time. Welcome your presence, Your light. When we speak about welcoming the soul or welcoming the presence or your light, We speak about it as if it's something outside of you to welcome. But you are the presence. You are soul, If you choose to believe. You are light. So it is not something separate. It is who you are. However, Because we are identified with the body, Mind, And emotions, We have forgotten. So in this moment, Welcome yourself. Welcome the awareness of who you truly are. Welcome the remembrance of who you are. And you don't need to even understand the words that I'm saying. If you feel called to, Simply say, I welcome my beloved self. I welcome the light I am. I welcome my soul. I am soul. And be so grateful to this light you are, This luminous presence you are. So grateful. Welcome this light with your whole heart, A homecoming. Feel or imagine your entire body filled with this light, This radiant light that moves out from your pores, Filling the space around you. Deepen your breath. Breathe this light. As you slowly move your fingers and toes, Play with this light. Imagine it comes out from your fingertips, Or maybe you feel it in the space around you. Move your body in any way that feels good. And be so grateful. So grateful to this light. So grateful to the body. When you feel ready to, Slowly open the eyes and be in stillness with eyes open. And notice what has shifted inside. What has shifted inside in your experience from when we first arrived here together to this moment? Relax the body. Maybe stretch a little.