Meditation To Remember Who You Are

In the ancient science of Ayurveda (The Science of Life) it is said that the primordial, or root cause, of dis-ease is forgetting who you are. In this meditation we will explore the antedote for said illness - Remembering Who You Are.

Join me as we explore who we are from the denseness of our individual physical body to the fastness of the Soul, Consciousness, Mother Nature and everything in between.

This is a cosmic journey for healing.

Transcript

Welcome to a meditation to remember who you are.

It says in the old ancient teachings of yoga and Ayurveda that the primordial or root cause of disease is forgetting who you are.

And the whole purpose of spiritual practice,

Of yoga,

Of living a lifestyle that is supported by sadhana spiritual practice is to remember who you are.

So that's the the medicine for the forgetting,

For the disease,

The treatment for the forgetting who you are is remembering who you are.

And so today we're going to do a meditation to remember who you are.

And we're going to start with the denseness of the body or the surface of this reality and then we're going to journey through the experience of you,

Your life,

Uniquely you,

And through that process we will experience this awakening to who we are.

And you can do this meditation anytime you forget and chances are you will forget again.

And sadhana,

A daily meditation practice,

Yoga practice,

Spiritual practice,

Whatever that means for you,

Is a commitment to remember.

It's a practice of remembering.

It's a practice of awakening.

So let's begin this meditation to remember who you are.

Sit tall.

You can close your eyes,

Watch the space between the eyebrows.

This meditation can be done in a chair or seated in any cross-legged position.

You could lean up against the wall if your back gets tired.

Just find a comfortable seat where your back is straight.

And then once you're established in this comfortable tall seat,

I want you to notice some parts of your physical body.

First I want you to notice your seat,

Your sitting bones on the ground,

Your pelvis,

This lower region connected to the earth.

Maybe you move a little side to side,

Find a more centered position,

Maybe forward and back.

Just find that spot in the middle where you can extend up and out of the pelvis.

Next,

Become aware of your feet.

You could move your toes a little bit,

Your feet that carry you to all the places that you go in life,

That grew inside your mother's womb.

You can move your feet a little bit.

That grew inside your mother's womb,

That learned to walk,

That have traveled many miles to many places.

A wonderful connection to the earth,

Much like your pelvis.

Bless your feet,

Give thanks for your feet.

You can massage them a little bit if you like.

Take good care of your feet.

And now your hands,

You can move them a little,

Move your fingers a little,

Maybe open and close them a couple times.

Say thank you for your hands,

For your fingers,

Your hands that help you to create,

To write,

To paint,

To work,

To prepare food,

To touch.

And now become aware of your mouth,

Your lips,

Relax,

Upper lip,

Lower lip,

Your tongue,

Your teeth,

Your gums,

Your mouth that allows you to sing and speak and taste.

And then become conscious of your mouth,

And then become conscious of your nose.

Maybe flare your nostrils a little bit and then relax them a couple times.

Wiggle your nose.

Can you wiggle your nose without wiggling your eyebrows?

Not easy,

Is it?

Playful.

Say a blessing,

A thanks for your nose,

Your ability to smell fresh baked bread,

A rainy day,

Green grass and trees,

The flowers,

The smell of a baby or a puppy.

Say thank you for your nose.

And then your eyes.

Notice your eyes resting in their sockets,

Eyelids covering,

Protecting your eyes.

It's such an amazing thing to look into the eyes of another person.

It's the most precious jewel that there is.

It is through the eyes that we see God in all.

Say thank you for your eyes,

For your connection to vision.

But not only seeing outward but seeing inward.

Some of us may have difficulties seeing outward.

And yet even if we don't have outer vision,

Inner vision is always available.

Look within.

Say thank you for your eyes.

And then take a couple of deep breaths here and feel as though you're breathing in and out through all the pores in your skin.

Your skin is like a third lung.

Feel your skin breathing in and breathing out,

Taking in inspiration,

Letting go of what needs to be let go of.

Care for your skin.

Say a blessing for your skin.

Acknowledge the importance of touch,

Especially in our world during these times.

Babies need to be held.

Humans need to be hugged,

Or touched or acknowledged in some way.

There's safety in touch.

Care for your skin.

And now be aware of your ears.

And just for a moment,

Between my words,

Listen to every sound around you as one sound.

The tendency may come up for you to identify individual sounds.

Allow that to arise and then merge into one sound.

Just as waves appear to be separate,

This wave or that wave in the ocean,

Notice through listening that the waves are all the same ocean.

One sound,

Universe,

Listen.

And give thanks for your ears.

And now continuing to explore who you are,

We work through the body,

Your personal relationship,

To the senses and to the sensory organs.

Now expanding into the density of the Mother Earth,

The whole planet of which your body is made,

Of these tattvas,

These elements.

Give thanks for the Earth,

The soil,

The soil that brings nourishment to your flesh and to your bones,

The Earth,

The ground on which you sit,

The Earth that nourishes us all,

Gives us security,

And connects us like roots to expand,

To grow,

To live.

Give thanks to the Earth,

It's who you are.

Remember who you are.

And then to the water.

Your body is made mostly of water.

Your brain is made mostly of water.

Just like the oceans and the lakes and the rivers and the streams and the rain that comes from the sky.

This planet is made mostly of water.

It is the elixir of life.

It is who you are.

Prayers to the water,

Give thanks to the water.

Take care of the water,

Take care of your body.

Take care of the water near your home,

Near your work,

In the places that you live and create.

And then to the fire,

To the sun in the sky that helps everything to grow,

That provides warmth.

To the fire that mesmerizes and takes us into a meditative state as we watch it dance.

To the fire that burns away and prepares the way for new life,

Tapas,

The tapas of yoga and a commitment to the practice.

Tapas,

The agni,

The digestive fire that transforms the food that you eat into the necessary vitamins,

Minerals and nourishment that allows the body to thrive and grow.

The fire that keeps the Earth and the water warm so that we can live.

Without the fire everything would be damp and cold.

We give thanks for the transformative fire and for heat.

It is who we are.

And to the air,

The breath,

The inhale and the exhale,

The sacred exchange between the plants and the animals,

That sustains life.

The breath that carries the life force.

And the great yogis who have taught us for many,

Many,

Many years,

Hundreds and thousands of years,

That the key to life is carried on the breath.

And through pranayama,

Through awareness of breathing,

We can maximize,

Amplify,

Elevate,

Really embody the fullness of breathing,

The healing capacity of the breath.

By paying attention to the breath we can become more present to the what is.

We can remember who we are,

Pavanguru,

Breath as teacher.

Give thanks for the breath.

Each inhale and exhale can be a prayer,

A remembering of who we are,

Inhaling so,

Exhaling hum,

Hum,

I am you and you are me.

We are one.

And to the space,

To the ether that carries all of these tattvas,

A channel for them to move through,

Play and dance and transform,

And we are a part of that.

Remember who you are.

Three strands or qualities making up all of life.

The slow moving energy of rest and relaxation,

Staying still.

The tamas.

And then the active energy moving,

Creating,

Working,

Flowing,

In motion.

The rajas.

And then the sattva,

The lightness,

The clarity.

Expansiveness.

All three interweaved in all of life from the smallest little insect or the smallest little plant to the great whales to the way the seasons interact.

Everything,

One intelligence working together,

Weaving all three qualities in all of life.

And you are this.

And we notice through our intelligence,

Through our consciousness,

Through this human brain that we have,

The space of awareness in which we exist,

We begin to diversify or identify that which appears to be separate.

That's a palm tree.

That's a pineapple.

That's an agouti or a mouse or a bird and that's algae and that's a.

.

.

And this is my friend so and so and that is.

.

.

And on and on and on.

We create these boundaries and these boundaries are great so that we are able to recognize who we are and to steward that which we have the capacity to steward.

If we go too far outside of this area that we are caring for,

We can be overwhelmed by the pain of the world.

And so this identification and diversification can help to care for our bodies,

To care for our families,

To care for and to identify the needs of that which is within our sphere so that we can be great stewards of our area where we live,

Within the body and around the body,

Personally and interpersonally.

And yet if we allow this aspect of ourselves that separates to tell us that is all we are,

It can get us trapped in a game of maya where we see ourselves as separate from the whole.

This is the game of the ego.

And so we acknowledge that part of ourselves that separates,

Creates healthy boundaries and at the same time we know it's a trickster and may try to take over our reality.

And forget,

Cause us to forget who we are which if it happens enough it can cause disease,

Emotionally,

Mentally,

Physically,

Spiritually.

We are here to remember and so we acknowledge you Ahumkar,

We acknowledge you ego and we see the value of the diversification and identification,

I'm a this and you're a that and yet we know that we are so much more than that.

That's part of us and yet we are so much more than just that.

And this capacity to see that is called buddhi,

Like the buddha.

This intelligence,

This knowing,

This universal mind.

Yes,

We see how everything is unique and at the same time it's the same.

One song,

The same intelligence that is in me is in you,

The same intelligence that is in me is in my pets The same intelligence that is in me is in the trees The same interrogation that is in me is in the winged ones and the hoofed ones and the finned ones It's everywhere.

It's into the soil.

This intelligence is in all of life.

All of life.

It's like the Buddha standing by the river and recognizing that he's not standing by the river,

But he is the river.

This is the Buddha,

The awakening of the oneness,

The awakening to who we are,

The remembering,

Which is what we're here to practice.

All of life moving with life force,

With consciousness,

With intelligence.

All of life is the Mother Earth.

All of life is intelligent.

And you are that.

We are that.

All of this is who we are.

May you remember.

May you return to this practice of remembering as often as you can.

And so it is.

Bless you.