Welcome to part 2 in this 8 part stay with yourself meditation series.
Part 2 is about clearing internal space.
This 8 part series is designed to help you create and sustain your own meditation practice.
Each part builds upon the last and you can do each meditation and listen to each part as often as you need pick what is best for you.
Let's start by sitting in a chair.
Plant your feet firmly on the floor and feel your spine tall and upright supporting your body so that your heart space can soften and open.
Relax your neck and shoulders.
Tuck your chin slightly.
Feel your arms relax at your sides.
Feel your bottom and your legs supported by the chair beneath you and your feet supported by the ground.
Relax your hips and your thighs,
Your feet,
Your hands.
Relax any tension you are feeling in your face.
If you need to pause this recording to adjust your posture you are welcome to do so and come back when you are ready.
For now let's feel our bodies supported here,
Alert yet relaxed and bring awareness into your breath.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth,
Breathing deep into your tummy and releasing tension.
In through the nose,
Out through the mouth.
Continue breathing this way deep into your body,
Into any part of your body where you need to release tension.
Imagine your tummy is an empty balloon being filled with air on each inhale and on each exhale feel your tummy softening and opening.
Continue breathing this way,
Feeling yourself here,
Supported,
Full of life giving breath.
I want you as you breathe and relax to imagine you are sitting at the bottom of a deep still mountain lake.
If it's too much for you to put yourself in this position at the bottom of a lake,
Cast the vision out in front of you and observe it like you would a movie.
Imagine you are at the bottom of a still mountain lake.
Sitting here,
Feeling the cool water against your skin in the back of your neck,
The sand beneath your feet.
Notice how still it is at the bottom of the lake,
How quiet,
How perfectly dim with its diffused sunlight.
Just feel yourself here surrounded by calm,
Still waters.
And you can look up,
Look up and see the surface of the lake way up there.
And beyond that the sun is shining,
Birds are chirping.
Notice the ripples at the surface of the lake,
Notice the activity up there.
From a distance,
Feel how still it is here while you notice how much more activity is happening up there at the surface.
And bring your attention back into your body here at the bottom of the lake.
And come back to your breath and feel how still and quiet it is as you breathe in and out.
And notice that with each out breath,
Tiny bubbles escape your body and are carried to the surface of the lake where they are carried away and disappear.
Continue noticing this as you breathe in and out.
And now consciously with each out breath and each little bubble that escapes your body and rises to the surface,
Release from yourself anything you are holding onto,
Release it in those air bubbles and let it be carried to the surface of the lake.
Whether it be a circumstance that is causing anxiety,
The people or a person in your life,
An old fear or trauma,
A worry,
A rumination,
A thing you just can't seem to let go of.
Go ahead and just release it now into those air bubbles as you breathe out.
Allow the air bubbles to carry these things away,
Anything you want to let go of.
Allow it to be released and carried to the surface of the lake while you stay down here in the cool,
Still,
Calm waters.
Take your time.
You can do this at any time during any meditation practice or throughout this practice.
If you find that a thought or a worry comes in and starts taking over,
Come back to your breath and those air bubbles and just release it.
Feel your body continuing to relax and rest here at the bottom of the lake.
Feel the edges of your body begin to soften like you are an ice cube melting and feel yourself become one with the water.
Become one with the lake and feel yourself as the still,
Deep waters of the lake,
Deep,
Grounded,
Still.
The active part of the lake is still a part of you,
But it's not what carries you or drives you or grounds you.
Here as the center of the lake,
Be the breath of the lake.
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth and feel how with each inhale the belly,
The center of the lake expands,
Reaches and with each exhale the lake releases tension,
Softens.
The ripples come back around the edges.
In through the nose,
Breathe deeply as the center of the lake and exhale,
Release,
Become fluid again.
Notice how your breath,
Deep still breath from the center of the lake,
Affects the whole lake,
Sends its energy through the water and pulls it back in and expands it.
You are the lake,
Breathing deeply,
Still,
Knowing that all is well,
That you are well,
You are safe.
You have this peace inside you at all times.
You are the center of the lake.
Breathe into this space for as long as you need.
Release anything else that needs to be released in those air bubbles.
Observe the surface without judgment.
When you're ready,
You can come back to feeling the edges of your body,
Rematerialize the bottom of the lake.
Feel again that cool water on your skin and the back of your neck.
Feel the air bubbles being released as you breathe out.
Feel how your breath affects the lake.
I'm going to leave you here with several minutes of soft music so you can continue to sit in meditation and practicing clearing internal space on your own in a way that feels best for you.
Take this visualization and this practice and do whatever you need to do with it to make it work for you.
Thank you for sharing your meditation practice with me today.
May you stay with yourself today and always.
