Tonight's meditation is inspired by meditation teacher Adyashanti.
He offers both meditations that are instruction in basic meditation technique,
And then he also offers a type of meditation like tonight's that is more about evoking something in the listener.
So this meditation asks very little of you.
It's just inviting you to relax into the words,
Into the imagery,
And to see what that evokes in you.
We'll start by settling into whatever meditation posture has been working for you.
You can think of posture as a string on a musical instrument,
Not too rigid and not too relaxed,
Just open receptive posture.
And you can start with two or three full complete breaths.
Just letting go of whatever you've been carrying from the day.
Just full,
Easy inhalations and longer,
Slower,
Complete exhalations.
Letting go of anything we've been holding on to.
And letting our breath relax into its own natural rhythm,
Just fluid,
Easy breaths.
And dropping awareness gently from the mind,
Letting it drift down into the heart area.
And even down into the belly as it fills with breath and relaxes again.
Just allowing yourself to settle into stillness,
Into a state of quietness.
In this meditation,
There's no need to try to make anything happen.
Just ride along with the words.
Just relax into the words.
Word redeem means to restore something to its natural condition.
Equality of love is equality of love that restores us to our wholeness.
Imagine equality of love,
Of embrace that has the capacity to redeem everything within you that feels broken,
Cast out in sorrow or in pain.
Love is the ultimate healer.
Redemptive love is not something we create.
It's something we receive,
That we allow in,
In unearned grace.
So sitting in a state of ease,
Quiet,
Imagine and get a feel for a column of liquid light being poured down into you through the top of your head,
The flowing liquid quality pouring down into you,
Breathing it down into your body.
With each in breath,
Letting this warm light work its way down into your heart.
Letting the quality of that love touch upon all of you,
Flowing down your shoulders,
Your arms out through your fingers,
Warm glowing light filling your heart,
Down your spine to your belly,
Down through your hips and legs,
Your feet,
Down into the earth,
Connecting you to the earth,
This warm glowing liquid light.
Don't be concerned if you don't have any particular feeling.
It doesn't matter.
Just meditating on the image allows the light to do its work.
If you notice any hesitation,
Resistance,
Anything that feels blocked inside you,
Just allow the quality of that light and love to meet those parts too,
To meet every part of you,
To meet any tightness or resistance,
To meet any hidden sense of unworthiness.
This feeling inside you,
Anything that desires to be made whole,
That yearns for that quality of love.
Anything that wants to be gifted with that redemptive love.
Imagine that instead of the old worn out story of unworthiness or insufficiency that most of us have inherited,
That you yourself in your innermost being are this redemptive quality of love.
That the reason you are here,
That the reason you are experiencing this bodily incarnation is in order to redeem all of it,
To remind it of its wholeness.
Imagine that your existence was in no way a mistake,
That you are here in your life,
In your incarnation,
As an act of love.
And although incarnation can be difficult and trying,
Imagine that you are a love that is so vast,
So unconditional,
That you decided to pour yourself into this life as an act of love.
Just sit with this very simple image of this love,
This light pouring into you,
Touching every part,
Leaving nothing unmet.
Wearing you as pure gift.
There's no right or wrong experience that you should be having here.
Just allow the image to wash through you.
By opening to this quality of love,
You begin to remember that you are here on this earth for two reasons.
One,
To be free.
And two,
To love in such a way that your presence here redeems the sorrows of life.
You are here for two reasons.
To be free and to love in such a way that your presence here redeems the sorrows of life.
Just allowing this redemptive presence in to perform its magic,
Its spontaneous alchemy of restoring sorrow to wholeness and peace.
This is not a technique.
It's not a one or two or three step plan.
It's not something the mind can understand on the horizontal plane.
The invitation is from the vertical,
Transcendent dimension of our existence,
Our deeper wisdom.
Our willingness to open to love.
The courage to open to love.
And as we draw to a close,
Bowing now in the hours and days to come,
To be open to this love at unexpected moments.
To embody it.
Not in a perfect way,
Perfection is just an idea.
But in a way that we courageously meet all life,
All sorrow with love.
May all beings be safe and free and protected from inner and outer harm.
May they be happy and contented.
May they be healthy and whole to whatever degree possible.
May they experience ease of wellbeing.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be at peace.
May all beings be free.
