So when you're ready,
If you'd like to find a comfortable position for yourself in the meditation,
You might like to sit cross-legged or just sitting with your back straight if you are sitting on a chair.
Close your eyes very gently.
Breathe deeply to yourself to allow your body to become quite still and begin to relax.
You might like to become aware of any tension that you are still holding onto in any part of your body.
And at this point you can notice that tension and slowly release it.
Often what we do at the beginning of any meditation is to scan down through our body,
Relaxing the tension in any muscles in our body.
So we start at the top of our head,
Relaxing our entire scalp,
Allowing the tension to float away.
We may feel that lightness and relaxation coming down over our entire scalp.
In the same way we allow our forehead to relax,
We can relax our eyes and the tiny muscles around our eyes.
We allow the whole of our face to relax,
Whether it be our cheeks,
Our jaw or the whole of our face.
We make sure that we're not inadvertently pulling a face.
We move our attention on down to our neck,
Releasing any tension that we're holding there.
And then relaxing all the muscles of our neck until they're completely relaxed.
You may feel as if the tension is just melting away.
And then we allow the relaxation to continue on down through our shoulders,
Melting away any tension that keeps us from total relaxation.
Relax the muscles of our arms,
Our forearms and our hands and fingers so that the way our hands rest in our lap is as light and gentle as possible.
We continue by relaxing our torso,
Whether it be our chest,
Our trunk,
Our tummy.
And then continue with that tide of relaxation down through our hips,
Into our legs,
All the way down to our feet and our toes.
Until we feel satisfied with how comfortable our entire body has become.
So it's almost as if our whole body seems to have disappeared,
Melted away into the atmosphere around us.
And this allows us to turn our attention instead to the feeling inside us,
The sense of warmth or well-being inside our body,
Which by any other name we could call our state of mind.
And our mind also needs to be as relaxed as possible.
The way to do that is by letting go of any uncertainties or worries that we're holding in our mind,
Allowing them to come up into consciousness one by one and then letting go of them,
Whether it be our thoughts or our feelings.
We might notice how effortless it is to let go of them without feeling any sort of regret.
We let all the thoughts go as we sink deeper and deeper into our loving,
Warm abyss of relaxation,
Freeing ourselves from the burden of any difficulties in our lives as we move towards a sense of freedom.
So we can imagine that inside ourselves that we feel light,
Peaceful and calm,
Clearing our mind little by little in keeping with the relaxation of our body,
A state of peace both in body and mind and a sense of focus in the here and now,
Allowing us to reach a profound state of rest in a short period of time.
So we allow ourselves to sink deeper and deeper into a profound sense of rest and relaxation,
Beginning to let go,
Deeper and deeper,
More and more relaxed,
Down into serene relaxation,
Letting go of all concerns,
Focusing on feeling free,
Deeper and deeper,
To the deepest level of relaxation that you can possibly achieve today.
And with this perfectly relaxed state which we've now achieved,
It will be much easier for us to embark on meditation this time and every time that we meditate from now on.
So in our usual way we imagine that inside our body is just an empty space or a hollow cavity with no organs or tissues,
Muscles or bones,
Or like a hollow space inside us.
And in our mind we conjure up a feeling of the positive energy in our life or a feeling of empty space within us,
But in this case it's filled up with tiny particles of happiness and joy.
And inside that empty space of our body we can cast our imagination back to that imaginary object that we had a few moments ago,
A picture such as that of the sun shining.
And this time instead of it being in the sky,
It appears in miniature inside the space of our body,
Shining with a cool clear light,
Maybe golden,
Yellow,
Red or white in color,
Maybe sparkling like a diamond,
Or it may be more of a feeling than a picture.
Every person is going to be a little bit different.
So we have to accept our own personal inner picture for us to work with.
There's no need for us to compare with what we'd like it to be or how anyone else's picture might be.
Whatever it is for us,
Then that's what we're going to work with.
And in this case we allow the picture to float slowly downwards inside us until it comes to rest somewhere around about the very center of our body.
Somewhere around about the point inside us where the breath turns around between coming in and going out.
In the meantime,
If anything distracts our attention away,
We just bring our attention back to this central point each time.
If the picture or feeling disappears,
Then we can just conjure up a new one.
And if the thoughts return,
We do our best to ignore them.
If the thoughts are at a low level,
We can do our best just to ignore them,
To starve them of attention in the hope that they will die down by themselves into silence.
But if the thoughts are too many simply to ignore,
Then we may need to make use of that traditional mantra,
Hearing the sound of the words Samma Arahang.
Samma Arahang.
Samma Arahang coming up as if from the very center of our body.
If these words are too complex for you,
You might use something simpler like brighter and brighter,
Clearer and clearer.
Brighter and brighter,
Clearer and clearer.
And the whole of the time we acknowledge the positive feelings that come up as a result of our cultivation of mind at the center of the body.
Because this special place inside us where we are focusing our mind very gently is a place from which we can derive a special sort of inner knowing,
A special sort of appreciation of the good qualities within ourselves,
Of the extraordinary and unique virtues and values which we have inside ourselves.
And part of what we do with meditation is to magnify and multiply the good qualities that we have within ourselves.
At the very least we can magnify and multiply how we feel about ourselves in a more positive way and to appreciate more than before how much we have to offer the world.
If we're able to appreciate our own potential and love ourselves completely,
We'll be able to turn into the person that we truly are in life.
Turn things around with a new feeling of peace and happiness,
Putting our past behind us and making ourselves ready for something new and exciting in our lives,
New opportunities and a happiness as we start to put ourselves in touch with our own potential and beauty.
As we live our lives in an authentic way,
Being more comfortable with ourselves and realizing that we don't have to try to be someone who we're not,
We can open ourselves up to new opportunities and blessings in life and a sense of happiness that comes from within rather than from the things in the outside world.
So we don't let our past hold us prisoner,
But we can switch up to a new future of happiness and joy and abundance generated by a sense of positive energy of wholesome thoughts,
Speech and action,
Otherwise known as positive energy or merit in our lives that is generated by all the choices for the best things in our lives.
So now for a few moments in silence we cultivate our mind at the center of our body.
If our mind wanders off we bring it back each time,
Even if it's a hundred times or a thousand times.
Little by little our mind will start to establish itself at the center of ourselves more and more naturally.
If our inner object disappears we can think of a new one,
If it changes we just follow it in its new form.
We feel uncomfortable we can adjust our position to get more comfortable and otherwise we just place our mind lightly and gently with nothing more than a feather-like touch at the center of ourselves just for a few more moments now in silence until we come to the appropriate time.
We continue to keep our mind on track at the center of our body the whole of the time,
Lightly,
Gently with nothing more than a feather-like touch at the center of ourselves,
Always with our inner picture or feeling inside ourselves and if our mind should wander away then we just bring it back each time.
Our inner picture or feeling disappears we can conjure up a new one,
If it changes we just follow it in its new form.
And it's true that if we cultivate our mind at the center of our body little by little we change who we really are at our core and if we direct our mind in a positive way it's possible for us to reach towards being our best possible self.
But it's important for us to nurture good affirmations in our mind,
Positive wishes for ourselves and for those around us.
Sometimes we do this in terms of loving kindness which means reaching out to others with compassion compassion towards ourselves,
Compassion towards others.
But another way of reaching out in a positive way is to reach out in terms of a sense of betterment,
Personal improvement,
Spiritual transformation and by planting the seeds of positive affirmations in our mind and those affirmations will gradually come to fruition.
So we might plant seeds of positive affirmations in our mind such as moving past any previous mistakes in our lives and being able to learn from them easily.
Releasing ourselves from any negative thoughts in our lives and moving forward beyond them into a brighter future.
Being more in control of our life and our own experiences,
Always being attentive to our own thoughts and choosing them wisely.
Being in control of how we react to what life throws at us and realizing that to a certain extent happiness in our lives is a choice and a choice that we can choose from wisely.
Releasing ourselves from lethargy or negative thinking or even lazy habits.
And we might top up our own spiritual quest with the wish that we find time each day for quiet contemplation to restore and to renew ourselves and to be able to spend a little time each day connecting to this wise inner part of ourselves and the stillness within to allow us to remain perfectly aligned with what is truly important in our lives.
And reflecting on these positive affirmations we allow our heart and our mind to be filled with compassion that reaches out to the whole of ourselves,
Reaches out beyond ourselves to our families,
To our homes,
To our colleagues,
To our whole neighborhood and our municipality.
Reaching out in ever widening circles around us to all sentient beings,
Those that we can see or those that we are unable to see.
And we allow positive affirmations to resonate in our heart with the wish that we be encircled with love,
Peace and wisdom in our lives,
Surrounded by loving,
Caring friends and family,
Attracting good and positive things into our lives with the intention to add value to the lives of those around us and bring joy and fulfillment to others.
May we be able to feel gratitude for the people and experiences in our lives and that this gratitude becomes steadfast.
And we allow the positive energy to spill over into the people around us just like our loving kindness until the whole of our world will become a better place as a result.
Because if no single person ever thought of anything but their own selfish desires,
Then the future of the world will be hard to improve.
But if each of us cultivates the best in our lives,
Chooses the best of intentions,
Words and actions,
Before long the world will be turned around into a place that's more welcoming,
Abundant with opportunities,
Even for those around us who have less knowledge about the merit energy than ourselves.
So for now we focus on our meditation in this way,
Making our own good wishes for ourselves and others,
For the last few moments of our meditation together until we come to the appropriate time.
Namaste.
Thank you.
Namaste.
Thank you.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Thank you.
Namaste.
Thank you.
Namaste.
