A Meditation For Peace In Your Heart & The World

A meditation and prayer for everyone to explore self-awareness, calm the mind, cultivate focus, and find that which is love in your body and your timeless energy and spirit. Practice on focusing on the breath (vipasana), followed by a body scan, and compassion sent to everyone in the world. Suitable for all levels of meditation practitioners.

Transcript

Hello, Welcome to your meditation. Please find a comfortable seat, Either cross-legged or sitting on your shins. Prop your body with pillows, Bolsters, Or if you're more comfortable sitting on a chair, Find your seat on a chair. Make sure that your spine is nice and long, But that you can find ease and relaxation in your posture at the same time. When you're ready, Place your hands on your knees, Or take a mudra that is calling to you. We'll begin by keeping our eyes open, Without staring at anything. See if you can envelop your environment by having a soft, Relaxed gaze. Look directly in front of you, And allow your peripheral vision to be soft, So that you can still see what is going on up, Down, To the left, And to the right, Without moving your eyes. Let's take a deep breath, And on the exhale we'll close our eyes. Inhale, And a long breath out. Allow your eyelids to become heavy. And shift your gaze inwards. Very often we are caught up in our own thoughts. Without realizing it, We are being distracted from one thought to another, Just like a monkey jumping from one tree to another. Sometimes it's fun, And sometimes our thoughts take us on a spiral down. They can affect our mood, Our focus, Our relationships. So it's important to take a moment every day to simply become the witness, To simply observe with attachment, With neutrality, These thoughts. This helps us realize that if we don't cling, That if we don't follow them, They go just as quickly as they come. They are only passing by. One of the ways to stay in the moment, And stay in the role of the witness, Is to watch our breath. For that reason, I invite you to take a deep breath any time you need. With time, You won't need to take any deep breaths, And you will be able to come back to your subtle, Natural breath. But please use this as much as you need to. Observing where your breath begins, How does it travel through your body, How does it circulate, And where does it end? Or perhaps just focusing on one spot in your body where you feel your breath happening the most. Perhaps it's your chest, Perhaps it's your upper lip, Perhaps it's your belly, Your lungs, Your throat. Keep coming back to your breath for the next couple of moments. Every time a thought comes, Acknowledge it, Come back to your breath. It's okay to feel distracted. It's totally normal. Come back to your breath. Come back to this moment. With the next moment, Bring your awareness, Bring your attention to your toes. And imagine a beautiful golden light filling your toes, As if you were dipping your toes into the ocean or a bathtub, And the foam, The water, Is enveloping your toes. It feels nice. It feels peaceful. It feels caring. Continue to move with this golden light of awareness up your foot and up your legs, Passing through your heels, Your ankles, Your shin bones, Your knees, Your thighs and your thigh bones, Your hips, Your lower back and your belly, The whole length of your spinal cord and your spine, Your chest, Your thoracic back, Your upper back, Your shoulders and your arms, Elbows, Forearms, Wrists, Hands and every single finger is dipped in this beautiful golden light of awareness. Allow this warm sensation to come back up to your neck, Your face, Your head, Your hair, All the way to the tip of your crown, The top of your head. Take another deep breath in and along, Exhale. Now this light is not only awareness, It's also the pure love that exists within us and within every single being on this planet, Every single plant, Tree, The food we eat, The water we drink, The feeling you get when you're in nature, When you're in the water, When you're in the forest or on the beach. It's everywhere and it's a frequency we can tune to by simply becoming aware of it. Now let's slowly visualize this light going beyond our body, Surrounding our body a couple of inches, Three, Four centimeters around our body, Like a protective coat or a field of energy. And with each breath let's expand it more and more. Let it go beyond your body, Let it go beyond your crown of your head. Let it touch the people that are surrounding you, The people that live with you or near you. Let it touch the people in your town, In your region, In your country. Let it reach all the people on your continent. Let it go beyond your continent, Let it travel across the world to all the other countries, To all the other regions of this planet. Let it touch all the people but also all the other living beings, All the animals, All the plants. Let everything be dipped in gold, In light and in love. With each new inhale draw your attention back to where you are right now, Back to yourself, Back to your room, Back to your body. Become aware of your breath again, Just your breath, Notice any thoughts, Any sensations, Any emotions that come up and simply observe without clinging or following their lead. Allow your palms to touch and rub them against each other to create heat. Rub them until you feel a burning sensation between your palms and once they're really really hot place them over your eyes cupping and absorbing the heat with your eyes. While your hands are still on your face blink open your eyes, Look down and then look through your fingers like a kid peeking through the fingers. Look around you, Observe your environment for a minute, Simply allow yourself to be. Release your palms and take another minute or two to sit in silence, To do nothing, To simply be. Thank you for joining me for this meditation.