Hello and a warm welcome to today's meditation.
It's going to be a sea and sky meditation guiding you to rest in a vast,
Kind,
Loving space of awareness.
Begin by finding a comfortable position for you today.
You can lie down or sit with a straight but relaxed spine.
Of course you can do some mindful movement or stretching.
Taking some slow deep breaths and with each breath out as best you can let go of any tension you may be holding in your body.
Allowing your body to settle,
Your mind to rest and let the sounds around you simply be part of this experience rather than a distraction.
That you're the vast open sky.
Notice how the sky holds everything.
It holds the bright sun.
The gentle clouds.
The stormy weather.
Stars at night.
Birds flying by.
The sky doesn't try to push anything away,
Hold on to anything.
It simply allows everything to move through it.
Always remaining spacious.
In this same way you are the vast open space of awareness.
Thoughts,
Emotions and sensations are like clouds drifting through your sky.
The sky of awareness remain constant and unaffected.
Gently shift your focus to the deep still ocean.
The surface of the ocean may be filled with choppy waves and storms.
But the deeper you go,
The calmer and more still it becomes.
This deep stillness is like your core,
Your true nature.
And it's not just still,
It's also full of immense loving kindness.
As best you can today,
Imagine this deep compassionate awareness rising from the depths of your being.
Very subtly smile as you do so.
Perhaps placing your hand on your chest.
Imagining this as a gentle warmth that begins in your heart and expands to fill your entire chest.
You can think of this as the ocean of compassion that resides within you.
Now holding both images in your mind as far as you can.
The vast open sky,
The deep compassionate ocean.
Feeling yourself as the expansive sky allowing all thoughts and feelings to pass.
Without resistance.
At the same time,
Feel yourself as the deep,
Kindful ocean.
Embracing everything that arises with affection.
That space that holds it all.
That embraces it all.
Now letting this loving compassionate awareness extend beyond you.
Imagine sending this caring vast energy to a loved one.
You can send it to a person.
See them bathed in this light.
And feeling happier.
Expanding out beyond this one living being to all living beings.
The whole of nature.
With the sky holding them all.
And you're the ocean embracing them all.
In a way that feels meaningful.
Let's enjoy practicing together.
This metaphor of being.
This vast,
Kind,
Caring awareness.
Inspired by the sky and the ocean.
Carrying this feeling of spaciousness and compassion with you.
As you move through the rest of your day.
Thank you for being here.
