Take a giant breath in.
Fill up your abdomen.
Completely fill your lungs.
Hold it.
Now a giant breath out.
Focus back on the breath.
Close your eyes.
Think yourself for making it,
Making this investment.
Investment of time.
Investment in the belief that you can slow it down.
The audacity to remember that you are in charge.
Steady breaths in and out through the nose.
As you do it,
Start straightening your spine.
Correct your posture.
Loosen your shoulders down your back.
Inhale the straightness.
Exhale the anticipation or the tightness,
Tension.
Let it all go.
Inhale the nourishing oxygen.
All the way through to your outermost extremities,
Your fingertips,
Your kneecaps,
Your knees,
Ankles.
Fill yourself up.
Exhale everything you need to leave behind.
Where we're about to go,
No one needs to follow.
Except for you.
Steady breaths in and out.
Forgetting for a moment that we're all connected to our devices,
Gadgets,
The Wi-Fi.
When all that matters is how connected we are to ourselves.
The capital Y-O-U.
The higher self.
Now the gadget,
The Wi-Fi.
It's just a delivery vehicle.
For me to help you remember who you are.
Tune in with what I'm saying through the breaths.
Even breaths in and out.
Gradually make them slower.
More measured,
Deeper.
And however your beautiful body or human form is seated.
Picture that same pose,
That same position.
Seated in one large white room.
Gymnasium size.
White floor.
Beautifully balanced white light.
White ceiling,
White walls.
No doors or windows,
Which means no one's waiting for you on either side.
This is your space.
Your canvas.
For our time here together.
To brighten that image,
To increase the vibrancy,
The realism of it.
All you have to do is continually focus back on the breath.
Hold the vision in the mind's eye.
Put the breath on autopilot.
Let the air in.
Regain control.
You're seated.
This beautiful white room.
Vast space.
You're seated.
And maybe our thoughts or concerns are whirling about us like a storm.
Not all of it bad.
Not all of it good.
Not all of it different.
For now,
Just let it move about you.
Move about the room.
The goal of the meditation isn't pass,
Fail.
It isn't the full absence of all these things.
It's the work we're going to do right now to slow it all down,
To stop it.
Maybe these concerns are related to your family or your health,
Your house,
Your home,
Your work.
People you serve,
The clients,
The bosses.
The little messes that never seem to fix themselves.
The upcoming trip,
Everything you're excited about,
Just let it swirl about you.
And as we're breathing now,
With each breath,
Start slowing down the whirling cloud of thoughts.
On a count from five to one,
We're going to slow it all the way down.
Five.
Feel the pace slow.
You're able to recognize more of them now.
It's not just a blur.
They're old friends you recognize.
Four.
Slightly slower.
You can make out the colors,
The forms,
A few smiling faces,
A few grumpy ones.
And it's slow.
Three.
Pan the camera up above you.
Top down view.
You in the center.
The doughnut of thoughts whirling patterns going around you.
It's slowing down.
It's moving counterclockwise.
Let it slow down.
Two.
The view is from the front.
You're seated facing the view.
Storm moving about you.
It's moving slow enough now that you can see spaces between it.
It's rotating slowly.
Almost like a fluid secondhand moving in reverse.
One.
It's crawling.
Left to right,
Pass your gaze,
Giant white room.
You're able to survey all of it.
Good,
Not so good,
Bad,
Terrible,
Good,
Good,
Amazing.
There's no judgment here.
There's no failure here.
Focus on the gaps between all the thoughts,
The concerns,
The various characters and teachers that we're going to interact with today.
Stare straight through it.
Through those widening gaps.
To the outer white walls.
Recognize your ability to stretch those gaps and slow it down and subdivide the speed as many times as necessary.
It almost appears still.
Though it continues to move.
And to your right is the pause button.
Hockey puck sized,
Shiny white.
Circular silver rectangles on it telling you that you're about to take control.
Your right hand is on the button.
Three,
Two,
One,
Pause.
Everything around you that was moving is fully still.
And as you glide your hand through that cloud,
They all vaporize.
Clear the room.
Smile as you do it.
Because none of that that you're thinking is truly negative,
Good or bad.
It's all led you here and it all leads you forward by your discernment.
But for now,
Completely clear it.
Breathe deeper.
Breathe it in.
While you're in the pause,
Let your lungs expand.
Let your cells be nourished.
Free from your worries or concern.
Full benevolence.
Because now you have this giant white room to play with to express yourself.
Giant white canvas.
Rest your gaze.
45 degree angle up.
Scan the upper corners of the room.
Where so many shades of light come together into corners.
Round them out with your focus.
Take it as fear.
Thoughts may reappear,
Pressing needs.
Remember that they are on pause.
Remind them with your gaze,
With your focus,
That you're in charge.
And let them dematerialize.
This is what freedom feels like.
This is what calmness feels like.
This is what having your own attention feels like.
Deepening your awareness comes from pausing all the thoughts and concerns while remaining alert.
Active with the breath.
Steadfast in your focus,
Determination.
To hold your single pointed focus.
Seated in the giant sphere,
Gymnasium size,
Perfectly balanced light,
No shadows.
Everything is even.
Expand that space with your breath,
Widen it.
Feel it swell.
Slightly contract on your in-breaths and expand out on your out-breaths.
Recognize the peace in your body.
The energy,
The vitality.
Forty thousand psycho hum.
Life energy up and down your spine.
The internal hug of love,
Gratitude.
The acknowledgement that you've given yourself this gift,
This reprieve.
Feel the comfort,
The space in your vertebrae.
The same way you slow down your thought patterns in all the external world,
You could do the same with the internal world.
Find the space between the heartbeats,
Slower.
Space between breaths.
Notice the continuity between the interiorized and the external environment.
Still quiet space without,
Still quiet space within.
Now as you hold your gaze within the sphere.
Let all the colors that inspire you wash around you.
Collide a scope of light,
Of color,
Just let it wash.
Oranges,
Blues,
Greens.
Whatever they may be.
No need for blacks and grays.
Let it become a beautiful,
Immaculate marble that's moving at your command.
In tune with your thoughts,
Your dreams,
Your ambitions.
Your vast infinite love.
All the light that you radiate.
And then project all those colors onto the walls.
Let it swirl slowly,
It's not turbulent.
Maybe it looks like Jupiter,
Saturn.
The Earth from the moon.
Still and peaceful.
But always moving,
Always changing.
Recognize how the light that you project within this sphere is completely singular and irreplaceable.
It's only ever happened once,
And it's only happening once,
Which is right now.
That is the beauty and the value and the true nature of you.
Let it sit,
Let it still.
Let us open our eyes.
Bring our attention back.
Bring the walls of that sphere closer around us.
Form the impervious bubble that we're about to take with us into this very busy day.
This day that demands our attention.
It also demands our love and our focus and our openness to accept whatever comes.
And just remember as we head out,
All everyone needs from you or expects of you or demands of you,
All we should demand of ourselves is our absolute singular presence,
Because it's all we truly have to offer.
And sure we have all the rad skills and tools that we've built up over our experience,
But it's nothing compared to our presence.
But it's nothing compared to our presence.
Thank you.
